Research on immigration in the EU, Spanish pupils raise awareness about the difficulties that some of their migrant classmates had to go through. In the following video they focused on unaccompanied Moroccan minors who speak openly about the realities of immigration.
Furthermore, Lola Zarza, a teacher of Spanish speaks about her experience of working in the EU and the importance of being tolerant to immigrants.
World Refugee Day
In D’Alessandro-Vocino School there are some immigrants coming from Morocco, Romania, Albania, Ukraine, but there is also a teacher who lived many years in Belgium as an immigrant. In order to celebrate the World Refugee Day, the students have asked a Moroccan student and the teacher to tell their stories. Here is the interview to Otman, a very shy boy, who has came to Italy with his family 5 years ago.
And here is the story of Debora, the French teacher in our school.
On the 17th May 2019 Scuola Secondaria di Primo Grado “D’Alessandro-Vocino” celebrated the International Day of LGBTQ Pride with students of the third year. The goal of this celebration was to raise awareness and be tolerant with people who have different sexual orientations and identities.
The event started with the vision of the Italian film “The father of the brides”. This is the story of Riccardo, an Apulian farmer with solid moral principles, who is in Spain as a taster for an international olive oil competition. After his work, before returning to his homeland he decides to visit his daughter Aurora, who to his immense sorrow has left her homeland and has long lived in Barcelona. When he arrives at the girl’s house, he meets her roommates: Rosario, a separated woman, and her daughter. But behind the apparent “normality” of this cohabitation, there is a secret that could be fatal for the “healthy principles” of dad Riccardo: Aurora and Rosaria not only have a relationship, but they have even married. Riccardo is shocked and returns to Puglia. Later on Aurora, her wife and the child escape from Barcelona, threatened by Rosario’s ex-husband and ask Riccardo for his protection. In a short time, Aurora and Rosario gain the sympathy of the whole town despite the difficulty of dealing with a father full of prejudices. Suddenly, due to the ex-husband of Rosario who stabs Aurora, the whole town learns with bewilderment of her homosexuality. In the end Riccardo, after having seen his daughter dying, asks for the presence of Rosario at his side, realizing that love can really have a thousand colours but the feeling that animates hearts is always the same.
After the film vision, students took a discussion about the message of the film against social prejudice about sexual “diversity”, then they did some researches about this International Day and this is what they have learned: the first International Day against Homophobia took place on May 17th 2004, 14 years after the decision (May 17th 1990) to remove homosexuality from the list of mental illnesses in the international classification of diseases published by “World Health Organization”.
In 2007, following some statements by Polish authorities against the LGBT community, the European Union officially established the Day against homophobia on its territory. Here are some extracts of the approved text: “The European Parliament […] reiterates its call to all Member States to propose laws that overcome discrimination suffered by same-sex couples and asks the Commission to present proposals to ensure that the principle of mutual recognition is also applied in this sector in order to guarantee freedom of movement for all people in the European Union without discrimination; ”
(Article 8) “[…] condemns the discriminatory comments made by political and religious leaders towards homosexuals, as they fuel hatred and violence, even if withdrawn at a later time, and asks the hierarchies of the respective organizations to condemn them”
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P6-TA-2007-0167+0+DOC+XML+V0//IT
Then students found some articles about episodes of sexual discrimination in Italy
Today, with a few days delay, students of Scuola Secondaria di Primo Grado “D’Alessandro-Vocino” have celebrated the Europe Day with a Gymkhana shared with students from IES Guadalquivir of Cordoba and 3rd Gymnasio of Naoussa. Italian students, divided into teams, have enjoyed discovering facts about Europe, traditional dishes of European Countries, national dances and songs.
Students have fulfilled all the tasks in order to gain the stars they had to fix on the flags, but the most amazing tasks have been the sport activities with spoons and balls, which were carried out in the corridor of the school, instead of in the open air of the school yard, due to bad weather conditions in a rainy day. Bad weather hasn’t stopped the enthusiasm of the students shown for the Erasmus activities.
Embracing Europe and celebrating Europe Day across Greece, Italy and Spain!
We have also celebrated eTwinning Day “#etw4democracy” continuing our work on this fascinating project “We are European, We are Equal”.
Pupils also took part in an inclusive gymkhana:
Finally, pupils took part in an Escape Room about Europe. An innovative and fun way to learn about the EU and a transferable resource for schools:
Greek pupils of Erasmus+ project have presented their experiences to their schoolmates.
The students of the 3rd Gymnasio of Naoussa have celebrated the International Romani Day a little bit late becouse of the Easter holidays. The students have watched videos about the Romani’s people history and culture and they created the following quiz about it.
On the 29th April 2019, students of the third classes gathered to watch videos about Roma people and to learn more about their origins, their culture and their life in Italy and all around the world.
After watching the videos, a discussion has followed and these are students’ conclusions:
Roma people is one of the main ethnic group of the world population, they mainly live in Europe. They suffered many persecutions because they weren’t accepted by the local population everywhere they moved. About 17 millions of Roma people live in Europe, they speak Romani language. Roma people prefer to be called “Romanes”, that means “men” and they define other people “the others” as the rest of the world are “not Roma people”. They are sometimes defined scruffy, thieves and ignorant, but it’s a mistake because they are only stereotypes as they work, study and live in normal houses, as common people do.
Here are the videos and articles found by our students about the situation of Roma people in Italy.
https://www.agi.it/cronaca/rom_sinti_italia-5292892/news/2019-04-08/
https://www.istat.it/it/archivio/196456
Last 8th April we celebrated International Roma Day in Spain.
Some of our Roma pupils were proudly wearing bracelets with the Roma flag.
We also played a Kahoot in Spanish to test how much Roma pupils knew about their own culture:
We have also created a Page on our Twinspace “Ethnicity” and a Factsheet about the Roma community in Europe, where our pupils have posted excellent resources about the Roma culture.
Finally, we played songs such us “Orobroy” and “Gelem, Gelem” the Roma anthem and danced Flamenco.
MARCH 2019 NEWSLETTER
The journey began with our Italian team made up of 4 teachers and 14 pupils flying to Thessaloniki on Sunday 24thof March. The Italian group had time to enjoy the local parades which celebrated the Greek Revolution and the Annunciation (a religious festival). The next day, Monday 25thMarch, 14 Spanish pupils made the long journey from Cordoba to Malaga to Brussels to Thessaloniki where we met our Italian and Greek friends! We arrived late to Naoussa, but the streets were still lively as the celebrations were still going strong. We arrived at the Dellagio hotel at 22:00. Spanish pupils then went to try Greek fast food before returning to their rooms to rest up for the start of the activities the following day.
DAY 1
On Tuesday 26thMarchwe enjoyed a very fulfilling day. After a delicious breakfast at the hotel, we took the bus to 3rdGymnasio of Naoussa, where we were overwhelmed by the official reception and welcoming ceremony given by primary and secondary school pupils. Some of the Greek pupils who took part in the pupil exchange in Spain gave a thorough presentation of the history, landmarks, food, and other interesting info about Thessaloniki. Following their presentation, EEEK’s representatives from the local Special Needs School gave a presentation about the amazing dessert they had prepared for the teacher training event. To end the official reception we exchanged gifts and presents. We especially loved the handmade decorations with the flags of the three countries.
You can find all the details in the following video “Welcoming Ceremony to 3rdGymnasio of Naoussa”:
After this event, we took part in Socio-Emotional Learning group dynamics as Ice-breakers. The Greek team recreated this reception in the following video “Breaking the Ice”
We then walked to Body Control, one of the most local reputated dance schools where we learned the choreography for our Flashmob. After this, the three Coordinators had time to meet the local Major who welcomed their visit and offered wine local products as a souvenir.
The entire group then enjoyed a welcoming lunch together at the Italian restaurant “Da Ellio”.
Later in the day we learned that Naoussa is one of the most important places for textile industry. However, during the recession, many companies left the area. We saw some of those factories during our stay, including a significant one named Vetlans.
Greek pupils worked very hard a gathering all the collaborative materials based on the 7 project themes that we have uploaded in Twinspace, linked it with Greek History and Mythology and created an outstanding presentation. We finally had a quick tour of the town and had dinner at the restaurant “Paradosiako”.
DAY 2
On Wednesday 27thMarchwe visited Saint Nikolas grove, an amazing Natural Park with the river Arpitsa and its waterfalls. Later, we enjoyed a modern version of the historical Olympic games. Promoting sport and healthy activities amongst youngsters is an added value of our project and so we played Tug-of-War and skipping. Pupils and teachers then divided by teams according to their favourite sport. Most of the Spanish group played football and most of the Italians played Volleyball. We then gathered together to do two competitive speed and resistance races.
You can find a summary of all the sport activities in the following video:
After lunch we walked to school where we had the chance to see many Peach trees. Once there, we took part in a Masterchef activity to learn how to make healthy Greek salads. A collaborative work methodology was used so that each pupil had a role in the team. Then they tried the recipes from each country participating in the project. We must give a special mention to the two Greek mums who do such a great job helping with this workshop.
It was then time to learn entrepreneurial skills. With digital equipment, each team created a food company and created their own advertisement for a business before finally doing a presentation about their ideas.
After that, we sang songs for equality to prepare for our performance that would come later.
DAY 3
Thursday 28thMarchwas a one-day trip to Thessaloniki. Listening to a local tour guide, we learned about the rich history of the city. Starting from the Byzantine walls and castle, we visited the Rotunda, Byzantine Churches such as St Demetrious, as well as the Ancient Agora, the Arch of Galerious, and the Aristotle Square before ending at the White Tower where we enjoyed the local gyros.
After lunch, we had time to walk along the beach and the port and even buy souvenirs for the families.
DAY 4
Friday 29thMarchwas a thrilling day as we rehearsed the three project songs: “Count on Me” by Bruno Mars, “It’s my Life” by Bon Jovi, “Don’t let me down” by The Beattles and “One” by Bob Marley. We also practiced the Flash-mob and had time to enjoy some dancing. We gathered a big crowd with local people who came to see the pupils performing three songs. We were proudly wearing our project t-shirts. The Spanish pupils danced a traditional flamenco song and the Italians pupils sang a classic Italian song. The entire group then performed the Flash-Mob. The performance was a success and gave a sense of collective achievement to all the pupils who made it possible and gave it their very best.
FINAL DAY
On Satuday 30thMarchwe visited the Macedonian Tomb of Philip II in Vergina. One parent of one pupil from the Greek school was our guide and informed us of the complex history of all the places we visited. We then went to Isvoria to enjoy the beautiful sceneries of the School of Aristotle. Finally, many generous families from the school prepared a goodbye party with a barbeque for us in a distillery where we enjoyed football, traditional dances, and cried many tears at the end!
The second pupil exchange was a tremendous success thanks to the perfect organization, effort and attention of the Greek teachers, as well as the priceless support of pupils and families. We must also thank Spanish and Italian pupils for their continuous collaboration. Together we make a top team!
OUTPUTS AND RESULTS
Each of the activities has a corresponding Lesson Plan created by Greek teachers: Concert, Masterchef, Entrepreneurship, and the 7 themes.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DoTc2F6-uiQjivjrPidbPv7ZqC9LwywF/view?usp=sharing
Following the pupil exchange, the three countries have completed the booklet prepared by Greek teachers to assess what they had learned as well as aiming to encourage critical thinking and reflection upon their experience.
Pupils have also prepared a Travel book with photographs, videos and oral archives recounting their emotions about the trip. Teachers have also prepared videos about the events and presentations to share the experience with the Spanish and Italian families.
“Photo Album” (Greece) :
“#Equal in Greece” (Spain) :
“Equal In Greece Pupils Exchange to Naoussa (Spain) : https://www.storyjumper.com/book/index/67767195
“After mobility presentation for families”: https://view.genial.ly/5caa5601e4401c23df86f1b8/presentation-reunion-posterior-intercambio-grecia
“Presentation Equal in Greece” (Italy): https://view.genial.ly/5caa26eaa5f6ee6c14342767/presentation-equal-in-greece
“Travel Book with Storyjumper” (Italy): https://www.storyjumper.com/book/index/67665765
“Completed Equal in Greece Booklet” (Italy): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tEMkMn8kbb1qEHR0RKrdJfgUFhNOFz33/view?usp=sharing
All these activities and outputs have been posted in our website, Social Networks (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Telegram) and in our Youtube Channel.
You can also find this information on our Twinspace “We are European, We are Equal”.
DISSEMINATION:
This pupil exchange has lead to fantastic dissemination in the three countries:
In Naoussa (Greece): https://blogs.sch.gr/3gymnaou/
In San Nicandro Garganico (Italy): https://www.sannicandro.org/notizie/scuola/5976-progetto-erasmus-i-ragazzi-della-dalessandro-vocino-in-grecia
In Cordoba (Spain): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYykFj73CDU&feature=share