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As a European I´d Like to Teach the World |
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As a European I´d Like to Teach the World |
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Finland 2010 On 26th February two teachers and two students went to Kiiminki, Finland, to attend to the 2nd meeting of The Comenius Project “As a European I’d like to teach the World....” We left on Friday morning at 3.30 and arrived in Oulu, the capital in the north region of Finland, at 18:00 p.m. The 20 degrees celsius in Murcia was a big contrast to the minus 5 degrees of Oulu. It looked like an ideal Christmas landscape. When we arrived at the airport, two Finn girls were waiting for our students each with their notices: “Lucía and Marisa”. Queru and I went to the hotel where our colleagues and the Finnish hosts were waiting for us to have dinner. Later on we went to a pub where Max, one of the teachers of that country, played with his band Banjocaster. On Saturday Anna, Eija and Venly took us to the Oulu museum and they showed us around the city. At lunch time, after walking as far as Pikisaori Island and passing across the frozen sea, we had the typical salmon soup in the market square. In the afternoon we went shopping and bought some terva sweets – tar – so that our Spanish colleagues could taste something typical of this country. Later at night we could taste the reindeer meat in a picturesque restaurant. On Sunday morning we left early to go on an excursion with the students from the project countries towards the Arctic Circle to meet Father Christmas. It was a dream! We saw reins, ice swings and we shook Santa Claus’ hand. We recorded that magic moment. Coming back to Oulu, we stopped in Kerni where we visited a snow castle. We had already seen something similar on television but let me tell you that it is completely different to lie down in one of the beds of the hotel, to enjoy the peacefulness of the chapel and to have a drink in an ice-cup. On Monday morning we visited the Kiiminki School, it was 20 km far from Oulu. The head teacher welcomed us and showed us around the school. After that we gathered to present one of the activities of our project “As a European I’d like to teach the world my neighbourhood through photos”. Our students presented the activities that they had already done with their classmates about Finland: First, a poster about their preconceived ideas and stereotypes of Finland, then during the research what they had found out about the town and finally a movie or power point presentation. We went on with the evaluation of the activities. At 12:00 we had lunch in the school and in the afternoon teachers and students entertained us with typical songs and different performances about their culture, traditional dances that are held in their graduation party every year and even la Letkajenkka – our “Yenca”. All of us enjoyed a lot. The atmosphere was really warm and you could feel the familiarity among the teachers. Congratulations! On Tuesday, back to school again, we carried on with our meeting agenda: the presentation of the following activities: our project website, the decisions made about our blog structure, the CAYAC club and we also decided the dates for future meetings to be held. After having lunch in the school like all Finish students and teachers do, the RE teacher , Mr. Happonen went to local church with us where he told us about their Lutheran customs. In the evening, they took us to Jaari to visit a small house near a frozen lake. We, of course, had a great time with the typical snow games: cross-country skiing and sledge-race. We couldn’t come to Spain without taking a sauna, but the typical one with a snow-bath in the middle. It was a feeling of pleasure! A real bathing of adrenaline! At night we enjoyed dinner with the Finish teachers. Thanks to all of them for their warm welcome and the pleasant moments we shared with all of them. On Wednesday we met our students and their Finish hosts at the airport. They said goodbye to each other with a lump in their throats, there were also tears and hips. However, it wasn’t a farewell since they have made plans to see again this summer- We were very pleased because we had carried out our target: to bring Europe nearer to the Europeans.
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Begoña Toro Velasco Coordinator of the Comenius Project |
