The students created a map on their classroom wall showing the origins of their families, connecting colored strings from grandparents' hometowns in various countries to the students' four hometowns. The map revealed that half of the French students' families came from abroad, from countries like Italy, Germany, and North Africa, showing France has long been an immigrant nation. In contrast, the Polish students' families were all native to Poland, and the same was true for most Norwegian and Southern Italian students, though those countries have recently seen more immigration from Africa. Creating the map helped the students understand how migration has interconnected the peoples and histories of different European countries.

1. The map of the origins

4. The map of Europe we’ve drawn on the wall of the class room enables us to
see the origins of the families. Colored strings were placed from the original
towns or countries of the grand parents to the 4 towns
(Moreste, Nowa Deba, Carovigno, Hoyanger).
It appears that half of the French students’ families come from abroad :
Italy, Germany, Portugal, Belgium, Poland, Austria, Russia, Turkey, North
Africa… France is clearly an immigration land.
On the contrary, Polish families are native of Poland which makes Poland
rather an emigration country. It is roughly the same for Norway and South
Italy even if these two countries have become lately countries of
immigration (from Africa especially).
This work was interesting because students became aware that Europe is a
continent where people moved a lot and the different countries are
connected to each other through migrations.