Hermann Wesselink College

Here is the project from the Hermann Wesselink exchange visit in Amstelveen.

Saturday 19th - Thursday 24th January 2019

Saturday 19th January

Visitors arrive.

Meet host families.

Sunday 20th January

This day we visited Amsterdam. Our first stop was the Anne Frank house. This made a big impression on both the students and the teachers. During the lunch afterwards we talked about the war, the meaning of democracy and peace in Europe. After our traditional Dutch pancake-lunch we walked alongside the famous Canals of Amsterdam to the Van Gogh Museum where we witnessed the famous paintings together.

Below are some photos of the day:

Monday 21st January

The first school day of the exchange programme was all about getting to know each other and our school a little bit better. In order to do so several introductory activities and classes were organised (in school). After a short word of welcome by our Headmaster a speed-date was one of these activities.

During the speed-date all participating students were seated facing each other one on one. Each couple got two minutes to discuss a certain topic shown on the beamer. Some examples of topics that were being discussed are: ‘your family situation’; ‘a typical daily routine’; ‘future dreams’ and favourite music, books and movies etc. After two minutes new couples were formed and a different topic was discussed. After +/- 30 minutes most students had a short one on one talk with each other.

Activity: Discuss personal routine with students from a different country

Essential question: How do they go about their daily lives in other European countries?

Learning target: Cultural awareness; forming your own personal opinion; getting to know each other and yourself; form a group with the exchange students

After the lunch the students had a drama lesson to continue the introduction and a Chemistry lesson on plastic waste.

Essential Question: How can we separate different kinds of plastic?

Learning Target: To understand how to recycle different kinds of plastic waste.

Task: Separate different kinds of plastic in the chemistry lab.

Source: https://cen.acs.org/environment/sustainability/Periodic-graphics-plastic-recycled/96/i17

Welcome to school in Amstelveen

Tuesday 22nd January

Morning: Lesson on sustainability and plastic

Essential question: how can we prevent plastic waste

Learning target: to find out different ways plastic waste is produced and ways to prevent the production of waste.

Task: each group searches for one aspect of plastic waste.

Review of the session

Groups with students of the different countries prepared a presentation on one aspect of plastic wasted, these being:

• What is plastic soup
• Microbeads and microplastics
• Animal cruelty
• Health effects
• Ocean clean wash

They presented their findings tot he other students and the teachers.

Sources:

https://www.plasticsoupfoundation.org/en/https://www.oceancleanwash.org/

Afternoon: Plastic Fishing in the canals of Amsterdam

Essential question: how much plastic waste is thrown in the Amsterdam Canals and how can one help turning this waste into value?

Learning target: Waste can be turned into value and everyone can contribute to this process.

Task: collect as much plastic waste as possible from the Amsterdam Canals, in order for the foundation Plastic Whale to create furniture and boats from it.

Below are some photos from the day.

Wednesday 23rd January

Excursion to Rotterdam

The main goal of the excursion to Rotterdam was to provide a more comprehensive view on the ongoing processes of globalisation and world trade. To put our own consumption behaviour in a bigger perspective the group visited Maasvlakte 2. Driving pass the oil refineries and car terminals the students got a first glimpse of the immense amount of goods and resources that pass through the port of Rotterdam every day. Maasvlakte 2 is the newest part of the port of Rotterdam where the biggest container ships of the world load and unload their goods (more than 25.000 containers per ship). At the visitor centre a lecture was given about Maasvlakte 2 and students learned more about the creation of this unique site and its huge output. After strolling around in the visitor centre to finishing an assignment the group entered a boat to pass through Maasvlakte 2 and see the huge container ships and cranes up close.

After our visit to Maasvlakte 2 the bus drove to ‘Hotel new York’ for a group picture next to the Erasmus bridge. During the city walk that followed the students got to know more about Rotterdam and its history. We concluded the day in the beautiful Markthal where the students got some time to explore the Markthal on their own and get some food before driving back to Amstelveen.

Activities: Watch dvd in the bus; lecture at Maasvlakte 2; assignment in visitor centre; boat trip; city walk

Essential question: Where are the goods in our shops coming from? How is my own behaviour related to the processes of globalisation?

Learning target: Learn more about world trade; Learn about the outcomes of the consumption society; Learn more about the development of and processes at hand in the biggest port of Europe; Learn more about the history of Rotterdam (bombings ww 2/ city planning)

Thursday 24th January

Morning: Looking back to the plastic fishing and the trip to Rotterdam. Look back on our Erasmus-adventure and look forward to the future.

Preparing a Kahoot quiz about the visit to Hermann Wesselink College.

Essential question: what did we learn during a week in Amsterdam/Amstelveen

Learning target: getting an overview of the week’s activities and all the knowledge gained.

Task: prepare a quiz that can be taken by both students and teachers, showing what you learned in the past week in the Netherlands.

Review of the session

Groups of students made five to ten questions on the different activities of the past week. All quizzes were put together to form a final quiz, covering all activities of the week. The questions and possible answers clearly showed that the week has had a huge impact on the students and that they gained a lot of knowledge on the topics concerning the past and especially the future of the Netherlands and global sustainability.

Afternoon: Visit Clara Maria

Before the farewell party we visited a traditional Dutch farm to see some cheesemaking and a wooden shoes demonstration. Below are some photo’s of this visit:

Evening: Farewell party

At the farewell party we played the kahoot-quiz that we made earlier that day and we ate food from different countries, that we (for some part) made ourselves.

FOND FAREWELLS, food and a little 'Kahoot'