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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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Murcia, 13th-18th November 2009 The 1st meeting of the new Comenius Project took place from the 13th to the 18th of November, 2009. Twelve teachers from Belgium, Bulgaria, England, Finland and Poland came to our Region. We also met three Belgian students: Margaux, Larissa y Landelin, who were hosted by students from 4º ESO: Marisa, Manuel and Lucía. Since it was the beginning of our common project, we decided to show them around the city. On Saturday morning we walked around the historical city center and we were lucky to be able to visit and enjoy the Casino with them. It had just been reopened after several years of refurbishment. After visiting the Cathedral and listening to its organ, we took them to San Antonio El Pobre, a chapel in La Alberca, where we watched a didactic video about the area and we also had a walk in the surroundings enjoying --mainly the visitors--, the fantastic and incredible weather that we had. We kept on with more local colour, and we had roast lamb for lunch at the visitor centre of “La Luz”, and then looked around its museum. Coming back to Murcia, we stopped at the Sanctuary of the Patron Saint La Fuensanta. There, we were fortunate enough to listen to the nuns singing during their moment of prayer. On Sunday we visited the Castle of Lorca, where our European colleagues could learn a bit more about our culture. At lunch time we went to Mazarrón to show them our coast and a luxury sunset: palm trees silhouetted against a turquoise, red and orange sky. On Monday, once at school it was the Headteacher who welcomed the European teachers. Students from the “Come As You Are” club also had heart-warming words for them. We toured the school and used of the opportunity to have a group picture taken at the TV studio of the audiovisual vocational training course. Then, they were welcomed by Pablo Reverte, Section Head of the European Projects, on behalf of the Education, Training and Employment Council of Murcia. He thanked us for the effort and enthusiasm to carry out such a project, and thus, try to enhance the quality of teaching and at the same time “make future”. His visit coincided with the moment when we were visiting the music room, and he could listen to an improvised jazz band: James playing the drums, Markus playing the piano, Javier on bass and Juanma on the electric guitar. During that fruitful school day we prepared the logo exhibition in the hall with the selected logos of the different schools. At breaktime some Spanish colleagues brought sweets and coffee and we shared the free time together in the staff-room. Later we dedicated the rest of the morning to elaborate the project blog: http://etwcomenius.blogspot.com, and its website. The Arts students of Bachillerato performed for us an exercise of improvisation and symbolism prepared in the class of self-expression through movement. Tuesday was also an intense working day. We chose the logo that will represent the project. It was one made by a Polish student (the second one chosen was made by Matías, a Spanish students from 4º ESO) Together we discussed about the dates for the following meetings, we talked about the format, implementation and evaluation of the imminent activities: the database of the students from all the schools for the CAYAC (Come As You Are Club) and “As a European I’d Like to Teach the World … my Neighbourhood Through Photos”. The first activity mentioned was quite complicated because each school has different rules and we had to form mixed groups, groups of only girls, or groups of specific ages, having to leave out of the club those students of 20 years and over. Once again we shared the breaktime with all the teachers in the staff-room and enjoyed the typical sweet things that some colleagues gently made for the occasion. Later on we could not miss a Latin dances lesson given by Juanma, the music teacher, that was really delightful. We dedicated the last morning period to the design and outline of this website. In the afternoon, we were fortunate to be allowed to attend a flamenco lesson and a castanet lesson at the “Escuela Superior de Danza de Murcia” Both were a resounding success and really interesting for all of us, either Spanish or foreign teachers. It was captivating to see how the future professional dancers are trained, and also to listen to the explanations of their teachers regarding technique and practice. In the evening, after a pleasant dinner we said good-bye to all the teachers except the Belgian, whom we saw off at the airport on Wednesday afternoon. The Belgian students spent the weekend with their Murcian families assimilating into our culture, and on Monday morning they went on a school trip with their Spanish hosts and their class to Molina de Segura, to visit the CIFEA, a factory where they learn about food handling and preservation. On Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, they shared classes with their Spanish friends, except for the time they devoted to the whole group of teachers to introduce their town and country. Once at the airport, they didn’t hesitate for a second when a tearful mother asked them if they would like to stay in Murcia. They replied ‘yes!’ with a grateful smile for the great times spent here. Of course, they have already made plans to see each other during the summer holiday. Now they think about the world as a smaller and more accessible place for them: aim reached!!
Begoña Toro Velasco Co-ordinator of the Comenius Project |