Erasmus ZŠ Dolany
The main topic of the international meeting from 2nd to 8th May 2022 was to expand knowledge about languages related to the countries involved in this project and, obviously, the European History and Culture about these countries.
On the 2nd May, students and teachers from the different countries arrived at D.João I School and met the Portuguese students and families, where all of them had the possibility to know each other and to visit the surroundings which would be the match point of their staying in Portugal.
On the second day, students and teachers met in school for a welcoming reception, and all had the chance to taste some traditional Portuguese pastry and salty dishes, find out similarities and differences among cultures and countries.
Afterwards students were given a plan of work and met the representatives of local government and the mayor, participating in an informal welcoming event meeting. Then, the students made a local visit to different monuments in the region and learned about the main historical, economic and geographic aspects of the region and language was the basis for the communication among all the participants.
Later on, the students had the opportunity to experiment open air activities- canoeing- in Tejo River. The interaction was moved to student and student relation and relied on their communication and cooperation.
On the third day, the students from the different countries made a short presentation about their hometown country providing each other knowledge about their owns culture and countries. Following this, the students enthusiastically participated in the game 'Guess the Ingredient', where students from different countries had to taste a traditional sweet or savoury dish from each country and identify the ingredients. This platform can be shared by everyone, pupils and teachers alike, and gives us an insight into the vocabulary in the different languages of the countries involved in the project. As it is an interactive platform, it is always possible to add topics and vocabulary and thus enrich the knowledge of students and teachers of the different languages.
During the afternoon, all the participants could go for a boat ride on the Sado River and have a close look at the dolphins in their environment as well as the surrounding landscape of this Natural Reserve of the Setubal region.
On the fourth day, all participants of this project had the opportunity to go on a Hypotrip through the capital city of Lisbon and on the Tagus river having this way the chance to visit the main landmarks of the city.
Therefore, students from partner schools saw the cultural heritage of Portugal by participating into a field trip in the city, and consequently, all forms and channels of learning and acquiring information were used e.g. oral, listening, visual and speaking in a friendly environment.
Going on the previous schedule the fifth day was the day of experiencing Art and Portuguese Traditional Games. So, the students were divided into two groups in order to participate in two different workshops.
Each country from a large canvas painted with the flag identifying each participating country was asked to write the word Peace and related phrase in their own language. Reinforcing once more the knowledge and learning of the same vocabulary in different languages.
At the same time other group participated and shared among the partner countries the different Portuguese traditional games. This activity allowed the involvement in a wild range of all the school community in sharing the different cultures and it also allowed a different and universal way of communication and furthermore vocabulary.
After these workshops and final activity all the partner countries and school community had the chance to know, share and explore the different languages, cultural and artistic competences in a friendly environment.
On the last day students were able to accomplish knowledge about a typical day in a Portuguese family, therefore they spent a day visiting further places in the region, monuments, museums and seaside landscapes. They had the opportunity to experiment water sports and typical dishes in the region putting the students and families at the centre of the learning process.
The partner teachers also went on a visit to Óbidos and Peniche visiting the Portuguese major landmarks and tastes in an environment of sharing the differences and similarities among all the countries in this project
This mobility in Portugal of the Erasmus+ Project “National Languages as a Way to know each other" was very positive for all the participating countries, managing to involve students, teachers and the whole school community in their knowledge and learning process. Main goals achieved: