Grundtvig Forave: 2010

Saturday 23 October 2010

Meeting in Finland

When September arrived and year 2 of the Grundtvig Program begun the whole group got together again, this time in Laihia, Finland. Kyronmaan Opisto received Ana Clara Santos and Andreia Brandão that represented our school - Forave.

The main goal of the meeting was to analyze the results of year 1 and to prepare the tasks of year 2.

Some German learners who are having Finnish lessons in Hannover have also participated in this meeting and in workshops prepared for that purpose.

The group had still time to visit some historical places around Kyrönmaa area by bus, to visit
Terra Nova – Nature Centre in Vaasa, to walk to Palosaari and to taste a wide range of herring dishes.

Wednesday 23 June 2010

European Identity

To "measure" the impact of the Grundtvig Project on our learners by the end of year 1a questionnaire about European Identity has been created by the Spanish partners. Here are the results:

100% regarded their nationality PORTUGUESE
100% regard their home country as PORTUGAL

29% are strongly connected to Europe
85% are strongly connected to Portugal
71% are normally connected to Europe
7% are normally connected to Portugal

14% strongly feel European
78% are strongly connected to Portugal
7% don't feel European at all
21% regularly feel connected to Portugal
78% normally feel European

21% strongly felt European 30 years ago
21% strongly felt Portuguese 30 years ago
14% normally felt European 30 years ago
14% normally felt Portuguese 30 years ago

93% find European citizenship important
85% find it important to be Portuguese
7% find European citizenship normal
14% find not at all important to be Portuguese

7% visited 0 European countries
42% visited 1 European country
29% visited 2 European countries
7% visited 3 European countries
7% visited 4 European countries
7% visited more than 5 European countries

64% feel that the experience was positive
36% find the experience negative

86% think that European politics are important
14% think that European politics are unimportant

100% think that European currency is important
100% think that Cultural values are important

78% would like to live/work elsewhere in Europe
14% would not...

50% find the influence of EU membership positive
50% find it neutral

100% say "European identity means something to me"

It is quite clear that European identity is developing amongst our learners now, although they feel strongly connected to their country.
The importance of Europe 30 years ago (for those who can remember) in their lives has deeply changed.

Wednesday 26 May 2010

Meeting in A Coruña

The last meeting of the first year of the Grundtvig Program was in A Coruña, Spain.

From left to right: Irma (Finland), Mic (Germany), Leda and Adelmo (Italy), Ana Clara (Portugal), Pilar (Spain), Teresa (Portugal) and William (Ireland - coordinator country).

Sunday 21 March 2010

in Hannover

After a long day in planes and airports the "get-together" took place in the Hannover Zoo, where everybody met and had a snack before they got the deserved rest. The next day would be a long one...

The day started with some ice-breaking activities so that everyone would feel more at ease and it continued in the Town Hall with an explanation of the history of the city, through models.

The afternoon was spent in workshops and coordination meetings and, in the evening, our new Hannover friends had prepared a story telling Café where they talked about their German History through their own stories of life: the war, the reconstruction of the country, the Berlin Wall...

On Saturday morning, each group presented their work. It was time to share experiences and learn some more about each partner country. Here we are presenting our model of the Douro Valley!

The last hours of our visit were spent visiting the city. The whole experience was really great!

Thursday 11 March 2010

Flight to Hannover

Finally the day arrived.

Learners and coordinators were about to meet. Francisco and Vítor (learners) were accompanied by their teacher Inês Silva and by Carlos Paiva, coordinator of one of the Courses they represent.

Monday 8 March 2010

Preparing for the presentation in Hannover

Three days to Hannover... Students give their best to finish the model that represents the Douro Valley.

Friday 29 January 2010

Gastronomy research

The students have done a research on northern gastronomy, chose a recipe and, of course, they had to test it...and taste it!

Don't let them scare you with the ingredients: pork coooked with tripe and blood of the animal!

Wednesday 27 January 2010

A field trip to the Douro Valley

On the first days of January students and teachers went on a field trip to the Douro Valley, one of the most important and oldest demarcated regions of the world, where wine-growing has been a practice since immemorial times and has even increased during Roman occupation. This particular estate is called Quinta do Seixo and is situated in the superior sub-regions of the Douro - Cima Corgo.

The purpose of the visit was first to observe the landscape, since one of the tasks to be developped by the students in a near future is a model which represents the geography and a traditional estate in the Douro Valley. The second purpose of the trip was to understand the processes of planting, production and vinification, which will also be a source of useful information for the groups and their respective work.

Of course wine tasting was inevitable to close the trip with a golden key.