4 ELEMENTS

Project logo
Improve the foreign language learning and intercultural competences of adults through e-learning

The project

FOUR ELEMENTS is an initiative called to raise awareness and appreciation of the importance of culture and heritage as well as to train educators working with adult learners who want to improve their skills and competences necessary in today’s EU labour market.

The project will take advantage of the potential of the common European cultural values associated to the 4 elements earth, water, air and fire) to empower adults to improve their digital, foreign language and intercultural competences.

The partnership expects to develop and deliver innovative teaching materials presented in a culturally accessible E-book consisting of European legends and stories – giving visibility to the underlying common EU values and principles, especially adapted to learners with special needs.

To achieved such objectives, partners will develop:

An interactive map: a collection of legends and stories related to earth, water, air and fire, in different EU countries.

Digital Books with national legends and stories related to the four elements.

Methodological recommendations for adult educators.

To find more information, access the Four Elements platform here.

Digital books

The nations of Europe all have rich cultures of myth and folklore which give the different regions their particular individual flavour. Here we have grouped traditional stories from Belgium, Estonia, France, Greece, Italy, Slovenia and Spain according to the four elements: earth, air, wind and fire.

They are specially adapted to adult learners and can be used to develop language or ICT skills among your students while enhancing intercultural understanding.

Alongside the stories, this digital book contains interactive exercises and is in Easy Read format. All the material in it can be downloaded and printed. Teachers and trainers will find tips and suggestions for how to use it on the Recommendations section of this site.

European partnership

Four Elements is an Erasmus+ KA204 project designed to highlight the importance of culture and heritage at European Union level. It aims to train educators working with adult learners to enable them to acquire the skills and competences, including linguistic and digital skills and competences, required in the European labour market.

The project is coordinated by : CVO EduKempen (Belgium). The partnership also includes DomSpain Consulting (Spain), The Central Library of Võru County (Estonia), Les Apprimeurs (France), Istituto dei Sordi di Torino (Italy), Slovenian Third Age University (Slovenia), MyArtist (Greece).

Erasmus+ project

Erasmus logo The European Commission's support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

The Oak and the Reed

FABLE

Main element: Air

Language of the original: French

Date of origin: 1668

Author: Jean de La Fontaine

To find more information about the legend, access the Four Elements platform here.

The Oak and the Reed is a fable written by the famous French poet Jean de La Fontaine during the 17th Century. Fables are very short stories which always conclude with a moral, allowing the reader to learn and be entertained at the same time. Today, Jean de La Fontaine’s Fables are still often used in schools and represent a masterwork in French literature.

The oak one day adresses the reed:

The Nature has been to you indeed

Ungenerous my humble friend.

The smallest bird that flits in air

Is too heavy for you to bear;

The slightest wind that wreathes the lake

Makes your ever trembling head shake.

While my towering form

Dares with the mountain top

I can make the solar blaze stop,

And fight with the storm.

What seems to you the blast of death,

Is for me a zephyr's breath.

If beneath my branches you would have grown,

My branches that spread far round their friendly bower,

Less suffering your life would have known,

Defended from the tempest's power.

Unhappily you always show

In open air your slender form,

Along the marshes wet and low,

That fringe the kingdom of the storm.

To you, declare I must,

Dame Nature seems unjust.

Then modestly replied the reed:

"Your pity, sir, is kind indeed,

But wholly needless for my sake.

The wildest wind that ever blew

Is safe to me compared with you.

I bend, indeed, but never break.

Thus far, I own, the hurricane

Has beat your sturdy back in vain;

But wait the end." Just at the word,

The tempest's hollow voice was heard.

The North sent forth her fiercest child,

Dark, jagged, pitiless, and wild.

The oak, erect, endured the blow;

The reed bowed gracefully and low.

But, gathering up its strength once more,

In greater fury than before,

The savage blast

Overthrew, at last,

That proud, old, sky-encircled head,

Whose feet entwined the empire of the dead!

Le Chêne et le Roseau

FABLE

Élément : Air

Langue d'origine : Français

Date d'origine : 1668

Auteur : Jean de La Fontaine

Vous pouvez retrouver plus d'informations sur cette légende sur le site du projet ici.

Le chêne et le roseau est une fable écrite par le célèbre poète français Jean de La Fontaine au XVIIe siècle. Les fables sont des histoires très courtes qui se terminent toujours par une morale, ce qui permet au lecteur d'apprendre et de se divertir en même temps. Aujourd'hui, les Fables de Jean de La Fontaine sont encore souvent utilisées dans les écoles et représentent un chef-d'œuvre de la littérature française.

Le Chêne un jour dit au Roseau :

Vous avez bien sujet d'accuser la Nature ;

Un Roitelet pour vous est un pesant fardeau.

Le moindre vent, qui d'aventure

Fait rider la face de l'eau,

Vous oblige à baisser la tête :

Cependant que mon front, au Caucase pareil,

Non content d'arrêter les rayons du soleil,

Brave l'effort de la tempête.

Tout vous est Aquilon, tout me semble Zéphir.

Encore si vous naissiez à l'abri du feuillage

Dont je couvre le voisinage,

Vous n'auriez pas tant à souffrir :

Je vous défendrais de l'orage ;

Mais vous naissez le plus souvent

Sur les humides bords des Royaumes du vent.

La nature envers vous me semble bien injuste.

— Votre compassion, lui répondit l'Arbuste,

Part d'un bon naturel ; mais quittez ce souci.

Les vents me sont moins qu'à vous redoutables.

Je plie, et ne romps pas. Vous avez jusqu'ici

Contre leurs coups épouvantables

Résisté sans courber le dos ;

Mais attendons la fin. Comme il disait ces mots,

Du bout de l'horizon accourt avec furie

Le plus terrible des enfants

Que le Nord eût portés jusque-là dans ses flancs.

L'Arbre tient bon ; le Roseau plie.

Le vent redouble ses efforts,

Et fait si bien qu'il déracine

Celui de qui la tête au Ciel était voisine,

Et dont les pieds touchaient à l'Empire des Morts.

La Fontaine, Jean de (1621-1695), Fables.