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BRAGA
13. 2. – 26. 2. 2022
DESPITE COVID
In the middle of the then Covid February, we tried Portugal for two weeks.
Right before our departure, one of our participants was affected by Covid. But at least, 9 of us landed in Portugal, safe and sound (Braga, near Porto, in the north of Portugal.
The whole stay was marked by the anti-Covid measures, at the airports, in the accommodation, in restaurants, at work. Wearing face masks, using desinfection, keeping the distance, filling in arrival forms, Covid certificates, tests...all this does not appeal now, but in that situation we got really busy doing all that.
Kindergartens: Colégio Leonardo Da Vinci and Colégio D. Diogo de Sousa
Our girls from the Upper Secondary Pedagogical School and from the Pedagogical College were teaching in two kindergarens, in two groups of four. Each girls was assigned to one class and one local teacher/mentor.
Centre for the mentally handicapped clients: CERCI Braga para Cidadãos Mais Incluídos
One of our Social College students worked in the centre for the mentally handicapped clients. She worked with various age categories, because of the fact we were not allowed to work with seniors, due to the local strict anti-Covid restrictions. Nevertheless, she she was in her element. She could speak Portugese.
The girls were really exhausted after the first week. They had to cope with various twists and turns when beginning to work. But after the harsh beginning, everything went on smootly the following week. To be honest - English is great. Connecting people. But anyway, it is still better to speak Portugese when in Portugal.
Because of GDPR, of course, we could only take pictures from the outside, or with the children's and clients' faces covered.
EXPERIENCE FROM THE STUDENTS' PERSPECTIVE
Our days in the kindergarten...
Being a part of Erasmus+ project, we visited Portugal, Braga, from Feb 13, 2022 to Feb 26, 2022.
Braga is a beautiful historic town in the north of the country, it boasts the title of the most beautiful town in Portugal. We spent great two weeks there, we'll be always happy to rember those days. At the weekend we also had a chance to see two more spectacular places, Guimarães and Porto.
During the week we went working in the kindergarten, which was a part of the school Colégio Dom Diogo de Sousa. It was a private school, including the children aged from kindergartens to secondary school. It was quite a big shool, with large spaces, including several play fields, even their own swimming pool. As for the kindergarten, there were several classes here, divided according to age categories. Each of us was assigned to a different class. My class was for the youngest children - the four-year old ones; one girl was with the youngest ones (three years old) and two girls were with the five year old children. In my class there were 25 children. There was a teacher and an assistant in each class. The teacher's working hours were different from ours. There was only one teacher for one class, so she was in the kindergarten both in the morning and in the afternoon, but having several breaks during her shift. In the time of the teachers' break, the children were watched over by the assistants, all classes together usually. They were or in the spacious inside corridor or they went out to the playground with climbing frames.
In the morning the children were gradually coming in and they were free to choose from various activities. Their classroom was divided into several centres/areas- bookshelves, theme centre with the kitchen, construction area with building kits, games area with drawing and creative stuff, also a science area with a microscope or sand. Upon arrival the children recorded their own attendance with their names on the boards fixed on the wall.
At nine a.m. the didactic activities with the teacher started. They started with the morning circle. The children were sitting on the ground, greeted each other, the teacher checked if everyone had put his/her name in the board.Then they sang the song Bom dia alegria, they revised some counting, they said what day it was, perhaps what the weather was like, the season of the year, month, etc. They said how thy were and the teacher told them what they were going to do. Then the children went to their desks (all of them had their own seat - the chairs were labeled with their names and photos), each of them took his/her pot with writing accessories. The pots were labeled with names. Sometimes the teacher told some children to distribute the pots to the others. Quite often they got a sheet of paper. They started with cpopying the word Braga down on the sheet of paper, together with te date and their name in handwriting. Then they were asked to draw a picture. But sometimes they made some introduction to some activities following the tea time, or they started some activity in which they continued then. At ten the children had a tea break, the teacher then left and she had a break till half past ten. Then the guided activities followed. In case they were doing some arts activities, the teacher took the children to the desk in groups, the others continued at their desks with the set work. Some days they were attended by a teacher, having Enlish lessons with her. One day in a week they went to the gym. At twelve o'clock they went to the common dining room. After lunch the teacher delegated the children to the assistant and she had a lunch break till two p.m. Then the afternoon activities followed. The teacher usually startd by sitting the children in a circle, reading them a fairytale. Then some guided activities followed again, sometimes thy continued some activities which hadn't been finished in the morning. After everything had been finished, the children were free to chose from various offered activities. At four they had a tea break during which the teacher usually played a recorded fairytale for them. I was leaving at that time. One afternoon I also went to see a ballet lesson. The school also offers various activities, like ballet, swimming, karate, yoga and others.
As for comparing the system with the Czech pre-school system, there are some differences, for sure. For example, the working hours of the teacher and the daily routnes differ, they have no regular morning exercises. As for the didactics guided activities, I missed the music activities, the exercises in the gym had no structure and exercise units like in our country, they have no rest after lunch, they have no sleepbed time (except for the youngest ones). On the whole, it seemed to me that they somehow tried to do as many activities as they could, just to get the children ready for the school. To accomplish all the asigned activities. They made much bigger demands on the children than in or country. Even in the kindergarten, they were supposed to copy sentences and words, several times it happened that the theacher threw away their pictures or task sheets, making them do that again till thy did it better. The children were led to independence, for instance to be able to change their clothes on their own. Nevertheless, we were in a private kindergarten, so it perhaps differs from the state ones.
Generally, I liked it in the kindergarten very much. I also used my methodology sheets, because the English lesons which I had prepared were quite similar to those they had in the kindergarten, so I could also try teaching. Other than that, I tried to get involved into all activities and help with whatever I was aked by the teacher. It as definitely rich experience and a great input into my practice.
Verča
Day centre Cerci Braga
THE VISION OF CERCI BRAGA IS TO BE A REFERENCE SUBJECT IN THE SPHERE OF SOCIAL INCLUSION AND PROVIDING THE CONSUMERS/CLIENTS A BETTER QUALITY OF LIFE.
ME AS A TRAINEE STARTED AT 9:45 AND FINISHED AT ABOUT 17:00 EVERY DAY.
THE CLIENTS ARE DIVIDED INTO GROUPS DURING THE YEAR, ACCORDING TO THEIR LEVEL OF INDEPENDENCE AND INTERESTS.
IN CERCI THERE ARE FOUR "CLASSROOMS" AND EACH ONE DEALS WITH DIFFERENT ACTIVITIES - MANUAL JOBS (ESPECIALLY MAKING THE HAND-MADE PAPER AND PAPER PRDUCTS, DRAWING, INTERACTIVE GAMES ONE TO ONE, LEARNING TO READ AND WRITE, EXERCISING, STRETCHING, AROMATHERAPY AND OTHERS).
I WAS PRESENT JUST AT THE ACTIVITIES MENTIONED ABOVE.
THE GROUPS ARE MADE BY 10 PEOPLE AT MAXIMUM, TOGETHER THERE ARE ABOUT 30 CLIENTS IN CERCI, ALL THE YEAR ROUND.
Anička
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