Activities & Results

For the magazines, please click on the 'Magazines' under 'Activities & Results'.

Summary of the Eger Exchange

Before the exchange in Hungary, the Hungarian hosting students created short videos about Hungarian history, language and culture, e.g. vocabulary, recipes, etc. that they posted online. The students also created an online quiz for the guests that they had filled in prior to the exchange. The results were counted in the score of the international teams of students. The Eger exchange lasted for 5 days and started with a meeting at the host school, where the principal, Ms. Éva Rozmán welcomed the international guests. The international guests presented themselves and played ice breakers and team building activities with the students and teachers of the host schools. International teams were formed with 1 Finn, 1 Icelander, 1 Spaniard and several Hungarians. There were altogether 5 international teams and they were given specific tasks for each day that they had to work on together and hand in to the host teachers. The participants had a walking tour of the school premises in their international teams. In the afternoon the group participated in a scavenger hunt in downtown Eger using an online application. On Tuesday the group visited the capital of Hungary, Budapest and its Unesco World Heritage Sites: Andrássy Avenue, The Buda Castle District and the Parliament. On the third day the entire group spent the day at Eger Castle, taking part in a guided tour, visiting the museum and taking part in an activity where they had to paint their own medieval initials, called Illumination. On Thursday the group visited another Hungarian Unesco World Heritage Site, the Aggtelek National Park and the caves. On the last day the group returned to school and the host organised team competitions and a winner was announced. The students started working on their contribution to the online magazine in computer classrooms. In the evening the group participated in a farewell dinner. The participants of the short exchange were 2 teachers and 5 students from the Finnish, Spanish and Icelandic partner schools and the number of local, that is, Hungarian participants amounted to 30. The participating students were aged 15 to 19. The results of the exchange were blog entries created by the participating students on the project blog and the online magazine that was published on the project website. The international teams of students contributed one page each and every host-guest student pair contributed another page, so altogether the participating students contributed 20 pages to the online magazine.

The participants benefitted from this activity in many ways. They had the chance to learn about the cultural heritage of Hungary, visited its Unesco World Heritage Sites, they improved their English language communication skills, their English writing skills, their IT skills and their intercultural skills as well. After the Eger exchange, the participants were required to fill in an online Microsoft Forms evaluation form and the results of the evaluation show that most of them agree that they had learned a great deal about the cultural heritage of Hungary. They visited the host school and learned about the education system, visited museums and sites where they learned about the history of Hungary and stayed with host families so they experienced Hungarian culture first-hand. The participants improved their English language skills because they had to communicate with their team members during the tasks they had to solve each day and they also had to communicate with their host families in English. Their writing skills also improved because they had to post their blog entries and submit their magazine contributions in writing in English. Their IT skills improved because they used online platforms to communicate, they received information from the project blog and they also created and posted blog entries. They also had to learn how to use an online application to create their contribution, text and photos on a page, for the online magazine. When asked in the evaluation form how they benefitted from the exchange, they listed the following: they learned about Hungarian culture, adapted to the lifestyle of Hungarian host families, met new people, made new friends, spoke English a lot, had a lot of fun, learned new skills, and improved their social skills.

Summary of the Pori Exchange

Before the exchange in Finland, the Finnish teachers posted videos online about Finnish culture that the visiting students could watch before the exchange to get acquainted with Finland. The Pori exchange lasted for 5 days and started with a meeting at the host school, where the local coordinator welcomed the international guests. The international guests presented themselves and played ice breakers and team building activities with the students and teachers of the host schools. International teams were formed with 1 Hungarian, 1 Icelander, 1 Spaniard and several Finns. There were altogether 5 international teams and they were given specific tasks for each day that they had to work on together and hand in to the host teachers. The participants had a walking tour of the school premises in their international teams. In the afternoon the host teachers gave a walking tour of Pori and the group visited an old factory that had been repurposed as a shopping mall/community centre. On Tuesday the group visited the old town of Rauma, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where the group visited museums and the old town hall. In the afternoon the group visited two schools that belong to Winnova and tried a marine simulator as the sea plays an important part in the culture of Finland. On Wednesday the group visited the coastal area near Pori, including Reposaari and its church, Mäntyluoto and the famous Yyteri Beach. The group also visited the Pori City Hall and the Satakunta Museum. On Thursday the group learned about the history of Finland and visited the Leineperi Ironworks in Ulvila, and the Forestry branch of Winnova. In the afternoon the participants rowed an old church boat and visited a sauna, one of the most famous and popular part of Finnish culture. On Friday we visited the Ark Nature Centre because Finnish culture is closely connected to nature and returned to school to work on computers. At school the participating students worked on their contributions for the online magazine. At the farewell dinner the host school presented the results of the activities done by the international teams of students and announced a winner. The participants of the short exchange were 2-3 teachers and 5 students from the Hungarian, Icelandic, and Spanish partner schools and the number of local, that is, Finnish participants amounted to 20. The participating students were aged 15 to 19. The results of the exchange were blog entries created by the participating students on the project blog and the online magazine that was published on the project website. The international teams of students contributed one page each and every host-guest student pair contributed another page, so altogether the participating students contributed 20 pages to the online magazine.

The participants benefitted from this activity in many ways. They had the chance to learn about the cultural heritage of Finland and Satakunta, they improved their English language communication skills, their English writing skills, their IT skills and their intercultural skills as well. After the Pori exchange, the participants were required to fill in an online Microsoft Forms evaluation form and the results of the evaluation show that most of them agree that they had learned a great deal about the cultural and natural heritage of Finland, and how different it is from their own (Hungarian, Icelandic and Spanish cultures). They visited many schools that belong to Winnova and learned about the education system, visited museums and sites where they learned about the history of Finland. The participants improved their English language skills because they had to communicate with their team members during the tasks they had to solve each day. Their writing skills also improved because they had to post their blog entries and submit their magazine contributions in writing in English. Their IT skills improved because they used online platforms to communicate, they received information from the project blog and they also created and posted blog entries. They also had to learn how to use an online application to create their contribution, text and photos on a page, for the online magazine. When asked in the evaluation form how they benefitted from the exchange, they listed the following: they learned about Finnish culture, met new people, made new friends in three countries, spoke English a lot, had a lot of fun, learned new skills, improved their social skills and felt refreshed.

 Summary of The Reykjanesbaer Exchange

Before the exchange in Iceland, the Icelandic students created short videos about their language and culture, e.g. vocabulary, recipes, etc. that they posted online. The students also created an online quiz for the guests that they had filled in prior to the exchange. The results were counted in the score of the international teams of students. The Reykjanesbaer exchange lasted for 5 days and started with a meeting at the host school, where the local coordinator welcomed the international guests. The international guests presented themselves and played ice breakers and team building activities with the students and teachers of the host schools. International teams were formed with 1 Finn, 1 Hungarian, 1-2 Spaniard and several Icelanders. There were altogether 5 international teams and they were given specific tasks for each day that they had to work on together and hand in to the host teachers. The participants had a walking tour of the school premises in their international teams and received their first tasks. In the afternoon the group visited the Viking World museum where an extremely erudite Icelandic student gave a short description of the Icelandic Sagas and the group collected information about a Viking ship. On Tuesday the group visited the Rock’n’Roll museum where they learned about Icelandic music and the history of pop culture in Iceland. In the afternoon the group visited the Reykjanes Peninsula and marvelled at the rocks formations and the coast. On Wednesday the group continued exploring the natural beauty of Iceland and visited Gullfoss and Geysir. In the afternoon the participants visited the Ljósafoss power station and learned about the uses of natural resources to create electricity. In the afternoon the group visited the heart of Iceland, Þingvellir, where they took part in a guided tour. On Thursday the group visited several attractions in Reykjavík, including the Perlan museum, Flyover Iceland and visited stables where they could see and ride on Icelandic horses. On Friday the host teachers organised a team competition for the international teams and students started their work on the online magazine. At the farewell dinner the host school presented the results of the activities done by the international teams of students and announced a winner. The participants of the short exchange were 2 teachers and 5 students from the Finnish and Hungarian and 3 teachers and 6 students from the Spanish school and the number of local, that is, Icelandic participants amounted to 30. The participating students were aged 15 to 19. The results of the exchange were blog entries created by the participating students on the project blog and the online magazine that was published on the project website. The international teams of students contributed one page each and every host-guest student pair contributed another page, so altogether the participating students contributed 20 pages to the online magazine.

The participants benefitted from this activity in many ways. They had the chance to learn about the cultural heritage of Iceland, they improved their English language communication skills, their English writing skills, their IT skills and their intercultural skills as well. After the Icelandic exchange, the participants were required to fill in an online Microsoft Forms evaluation form and the results of the evaluation show that most of them agree that they had learned a great deal about the cultural and natural heritage of Iceland. They visited the host school and learned about the education system, visited museums and sites where they learned about the history of Iceland and stayed with host families so they experienced Icelandic culture first-hand. The participants improved their English language skills because they had to communicate with their team members during the tasks they had to solve each day and they also had to communicate with their host families in English. Their writing skills also improved because they had to post their blog entries and submit their magazine contributions in writing in English. Their IT skills improved because they used online platforms to communicate, they received information from the project blog and they also created and posted blog entries. They also had to learn how to use an online application to create their contribution, text and photos on a page, for the online magazine. When asked in the evaluation form how they benefitted from the exchange, they listed the following: they learned about Icelandic culture, lived with Icelandic families, met new people, made new friends, spoke English a lot, had a lot of fun, learned new skills, visited UNESCO World Heritage Sites, met the president of Iceland, saw how other Europeans think and behave, and improved their social skills.

Summary of the Orihuela Exchange

“The Spain of the 3 cultures: Christian, Jewish and Muslim”

The IES Gabriel Miró hosted the first school exchange of the Erasmus+ project "Cultural Heritage in a European context" the week 7th to 11th March 2022.

The exchange agenda began with a welcome ceremony in the assembly hall of the IES Gabriel Miró, where our director Miguel García Ferrer welcomed our European partners. We then dedicated a minute of silence in demand for world peace, looking at the conflict that is happening right now in Eastern Europe.

This was followed by the presentation of the participants from each country with the delivery of welcome material and the organization of international student teams. 5 teams of international students were formed, with participants from the 4 countries. Each team had a name associated with the visits that we would make each day of the week of the exchange, thus the names of the teams were: Mediterráneo, Alhambra, Orihuela, Lorca and Palmeral.

Once the teams were constituted, the tasks to be carried out by the students throughout the week were explained. Each team had to answer a questionnaire about the cultural content of the visits made each day. This questionnaire had been prepared by the teachers of the IES Gabriel Miró, organizers of each of the visits. The students also had to take photos and videos to use on the last day in the edition of the digital magazine of the Orihuela exchange.

To begin to break the ice, we carried out several very fun group dynamics. After these dynamics, a team visit to the facilities of our center was organized. Then, it was time for a break where the students were able to try the potato omelette from our canteen and join our patios at recess time and the teachers were able to try typical sweets from our land (almojábanas), dumplings and a refreshing fruit basket offered by the Parents and Mothers association of the IES Gabriel Miró.

After finishing the welcome activities, we travelled to the Mediterranean coast. We visited the exhibition of the interpretation center of the Natural Park of La Mata in Torrevieja and we made a small route through its trails. This first day of the exchange ended enjoying delicious paella in front of La Mata beach.

The theme to work on in this exchange has been the Spain of the 3 cultures: Christian, Muslim and Jewish, so on the second day of the exchange we undertook a trip to the Alhambra in Granada, to see this glorious representative monument of Muslim Spain. Within the Alhambra complex, we visit La Alcazaba, the Carlos V palace, the Nasrid palaces and El Generalife. Without a doubt, it was the favorite visit of the majority of participants due to its immense beauty, both artistic and scenic, with its beautiful gardens.

On Wednesday was dedicated to discover our city, Orihuela, representative of Christian and Muslim Spain. We begin the tour at the Door of Santo Domingo school, the only remaining gate of the old walled city, and then we continued to the Cathedral, where we enjoyed a guided tour of its interior. After the visit we proceeded to the interior of the Wall Museum, which houses the remains of the ancient Muslim city of Orihuela. We continued to the facade of the church of Santiago and from there we go up to the seminary, to have a magnificent view of the entire city and Orihuela orchard. In the afternoon we visited the interior of the Santo Domingo school, with its 2 cloisters, its beautiful church, its peculiar staircase supported laterally to the wall and its recent museum room. We ended the day enjoying an exhibition of flamenco dances by several groups of children from the Santo Domingo school, followed by a flamenco workshop. We learned in a very fun way to take the first steps of this dance that is so representative of our culture.

On Thursday, we dedicated it to Jewish Spain, moving to the Murcian city of Lorca, where we visited the Jewish room of the archaeological museum and the castle of Lorca to visit in its surroundings the only Jewish synagogue that is preserved in Spain as synagogue since its creation. In addition to the synagogue, we were able to see other remains of the Jewish quarter that allowed us to learn about the design of the houses and customs of the Jewish population. The visit to Lorca continued with the ascent to the Torre Alfonsina of the castle and the visit to the museum of the Blue Step of Holy Week in Lorca, where we were able to observe first hand the meticulous work of the embroiderers of this step and the beauty of the work finished with the exhibition of numerous cloaks and outfits throughout the entire museum.

On Friday, we dedicated it to get to know another natural area, such as the Palmeral in Orihuela. We started with a guided visit to the Palmeral Interpretation Center and a route through the Palmeral trails to learn about its irrigation system and unique palm trees. After the visit, in the Palmeral itself, the teachers of the IES Gabriel Miró prepared a fun Gymkhana for international teams, which showed the great competitiveness of the teams. The winning team of the Gymkhana was the Alhambra team. And the time had come to replenish the energy spent in the Gymkhana with a tasting of dates, Easter cakes and Spanish chocolate bars.

After a very fun start in the Palmeral of Orihuela, we returned to the IES Gabriel Miró to edit the exchange's digital magazine. Each international student couple and each international team edited a page of the magazine. We are looking forward to seeing the results of the digital magazine of this exchange.

The week of the exchange ended with a gala dinner, with a lot of art, since it began with a dance performance by the teachers of the flamenco workshop and ended with the magnificent musical performances of students from the IES Gabriel Miró. To end the evening, the certificates of attendance were delivered to all the participants and the winning team of all the activities of the exchange, which was the Alhambra team, was awarded.

It has been an unforgettable week for all the participants, students and teachers from the 4 countries, and proof of this are the testimonies they are leaving on the project blog that we encourage you to visit: https://culturalheritageeurope.blogspot.com/

Behind this week full of activities, there has been a lot of teamwork by IES Gabriel Miró teachers, to coordinate an endless number of tasks. We have to thank all the teachers of the IES Gabriel Miró who have done their bit to make it an unforgettable week for all participants. THANKSSSSS!!!!

We also want to thank the 14 Spanish host families of the IES Gabriel Miró who have welcomed the 14 European students participating in this exchange, all of them have felt super welcomed in these families, and they commented on it in the interview they were given on the IES GM radio on last day of the exchange:

https://www.ivoox.com/erasmus-interview-audios-mp3_rf_83379006_1.html

We are looking forward for a new adventure in next Erasmus+ school exchange!

Spanish teachers Erasmus+ team