As part of its 2024 Awards Week, the Princess of Asturias Foundation has convened the ninth edition of the “Taking the Floor” cultural programme for schools in the Principality of Asturias aimed at Primary, Secondary, Baccalaureate and Vocational Training pupils. This year’s programme consists of nine activities aimed at different ages and is inspired by the work of the Laureates in the eight different categories: the Arts, Communication and Humanities, Concord, International Cooperation, Literature, Social Sciences, Sports, and Technical and Scientific Research.
This initiative aims to bring the work and careers of the individuals and/or institutions granted the Princess of Asturias Awards into the classroom. Since its launch in 2015, this programme has had 42 981 participations by pupils from 233 schools in the region. In 2017, Her Majesty Queen Leticia took part in respective meetings at the El Quirinal state primary school (Avilés) and the Jerónimo González state secondary school (Sama de Langreo) with a delegation of teachers and pupils from the 74 schools who had participated in the 2016 edition. The “Taking the Floor” programme was suspended in 2020 due to the healthcare situation resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Taking the Floor 2024
“Counterpoint to Serrat”.
A proposal focussing on the career Joan Manuel Serrat, 2019 Princess of Asturias Laureate for the Arts. The Foundation encourages students to approach Serrat’s music and listen to three of his emblematic compositions: “Mediterráneo”, “Hoy puede ser un gran día” and “Esos locos bajitos”. Using the same melody, they are to create lyrics as a counterpoint to the original. They will then record the song they have sung with the new lyrics in an audio file, either accompanied by an instrument or without music.
-
Aimed at 5th- and 6th-year primary and 1st- and 2nd-year secondary school pupils.
-
Deadline for receipt of applications and projects: 7th October 2024 (inclusive).
“ConVerts to Serrat”.
Joan Manuel Serrat has set music to poems by Antonio Machado, Miguel Hernández, Rafael Alberti, Federico García Lorca, Luis Cernuda and Pablo Neruda, among others. Furthermore, his personal style is influenced by the work of numerous authors. For this reason, students are asked to listen to some of Serrat’s songs inspired by poems. Then, guided by their teachers, they are to set to music and record a poem of their choice. The music may be of their own creation or the melody of one of the Laureate’s compositions.
This activity may be carried out in Spanish, English or French.
-
Aimed at 3rd- and 4th-year secondary school and baccalaureate pupils.
-
Deadline for receipt of applications and projects: 7th October 2024 (inclusive).
“Complicity in Cartoons”.
An activity focussing on Marjane Satrapi, Princess of Asturias Laureate for Communication and Humanities, in which pupils are asked –inspired by the relationship that the Laureate had with her grandmother, as shown in her work Persepolis– to make a graphic interpretation (in cartoon, comic or scenic form) of the advice they have received from their own grandparents or from any other person of that same generation.
This activity may be carried out in Spanish, English or French.
-
Aimed at 5th- and 6th-year primary and 1st- and 2nd-year secondary school pupils.
-
Deadline for receipt of applications and projects: 1st October 2024 (inclusive).
“Kalokagathia, the Good and the Beautiful”.
A proposal focussing on Ana Blandiana, Princess of Asturias Laureate for Literature, in which pupils are asked to create a visual work (video or animated photomontage) based on one of the Laureate’s poems that reflects what her verses suggest to them. The purpose is to capture the “inexpressible” –which is, for Blandiana, the foundation of poetry¬– and thus connect with the classical Greek concept of kalokagathia, the union of the good and the beautiful. The Foundation will provide schools that request it with a basic training session in audiovisual narrative language and techniques imparted by experts.
-
Aimed at 3rd- and 4th-year secondary school and baccalaureate pupils.
-
Deadline for receipt of applications to take part in the activity: 12th September 2024 (inclusive).
-
Deadline for receipt of projects: 4th October 2024 (inclusive).
“Everyone Has The Right To...”.
This activity is dedicated to Michael Ignatieff, Princess of Asturias Laureate for Social Sciences. With the background of universal rights as the core of Ignatieff’s thinking, each student is to select an article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that he or she considers needs to be modified or completed, or suggest adding a new one. After sharing their ideas, the group is to reach an agreement and finally select two articles to present along with the reason for their decision. In addition, in order to encourage critical thinking on the part of students, the Foundation will organize round tables on different topics in advance, which will be chaired by philosophers and thinkers from the contemporary Spanish scene.
This activity may be carried out in Spanish, English or French.
-
Aimed at 3rd- and 4th-year secondary school and baccalaureate pupils.
-
Deadline for receipt of applications to take part in the activity: 13th September 2024 (inclusive).
-
Deadline for receipt of projects: 30th September 2024 (inclusive).
“The Value of Accord”.
This proposal is based on the work of the Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture (official Spanish and Portuguese acronym, OEI), 2024 Princess of Asturias Award for International Cooperation. The activity aims to deepen pupils’ knowledge of the 23 member countries of the OEI via the creation of a mural at the school. This mural is to include a map with geographic, historical, economic, educational, ethnic and cultural information on each country. The teacher will then ask the students questions to highlight the diversity of these countries and their links to the OEI’s areas of activity. The aim is for students to understand the differences between member countries and appreciate the work of cooperation carried out by the award-winning institution.
-
Aimed at secondary school students.
-
Deadline for receipt of applications and projects: 30th September 2024 (inclusive).
“The Key to Health”.
The youngest members of the school community feature in this activity focussing on the work of Daniel J. Drucker, Jeffrey M. Friedman, Joel F. Habener, Jens Juul Holst and Svetlana Mojsov, joint 2024 Princess of Asturias Laureates for Technical and Scientific Research. Pupils will be asked to use drawings to illustrate topics related to the endocrine bases of diabetes and obesity, as well as the treatments that have been developed based on the Laureates’ research that are improving the quality of life of hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
-
Aimed at primary school pupils.
-
Deadline for receipt of applications and projects: 24th September 2024 (inclusive).
“Believe That You Can”.
Via this activity dedicated to Carolina Marín, Princess of Asturias Laureate for Sports, teachers are encouraged to help their pupils take up or advance in the practice of badminton. Pupils will face four weekly challenges, accumulating points individually, which will be added to the totals of the class and the school, via which they will compete in a general classification with the rest of the participating schools. The proposal aims to enhance pupils’ skills through badminton, as well as contribute to their knowledge of this sport. To this end, pupils will also analyse a match played by Carolina Marín from a technical, tactical and strategic point of view.
-
Aimed at 5th- and 6th-year primary school, secondary school and baccalaureate pupils.
-
Deadline for receipt of applications to take part in the activity: 17th September 2024 (inclusive).
-
Deadline for receipt of Points:
o 24th September (before 3:00pm)
o 1st October (before 3:00pm)
o 8th October (before 3:00pm)
o 15th October (before 3:00pm) -
Deadline for receipt of Strategies: 15th October 2024 (inclusive).
“The Goal… Concord”.
In this proposal focussing on Magnum Photos, Princess of Asturias Award for Concord, students are asked to act as photographers and try to capture their idea of concord by taking a picture of their surroundings. They will then have to present it to their classmates to check whether the perception of the image corresponds to their intention. The goal is for students to understand that photography can have many interpretations depending on the observer’s perspective and that it can vary depending on the way in which the initially captured image is edited.
Finally, some of the photos taken will be chosen to be included in an album on Concord, taking into account the Magnum Photos Code of Ethics in the selection criteria.
This activity may be carried out in Spanish or English.
-
Aimed at secondary school, baccalaureate and vocational training school pupils.
-
Deadline for receipt of applications and projects: 2nd October 2024