Tourism 

(G.E.L Filyrou)

The meeting in Filyro, Thessaloniki (Greece) took place from the 2nd to the 6th of May 2022.

During this week, both teachers and students participated in a variety of activities which aimed at raising awareness of alternative types of tourism, as well as the need to becoming more sustainable tourists. Sightseeing and visits to relevant cities were also included in the program.

Here you will find listed and explained all the activities carried out as far as the topic sustainable tourism is concerned.

Workshop about sustainable and alternative tourism

This activity took place during the first day as an initiation to the subject of the week, sustainability in tourism. Pupils were requested to fill in a questionnaire in order to find out what they already know on the topic and reflect on their habits as tourists.

After this introductory activity, they had an interactive lesson on the topic with the use of the Nearpod platform, during which the students, divided in groups and using a tablet, had to perform a number of tasks such as polling, fill in the blanks, match, choose the correct option, post your opinion, create a slogan etc. Throughout the lesson, the pupils reflected on the negative impact that mass tourism has on the planet, studied the types of alternative tourism that are considered to contribute to sustainability and discussed the ways in which tourism can become more sustainable.

As a closing activity, every group was requested to create trivia cards on the topic of sustainability and sustainable-alternative tourism to be used on the last day’s games at the schoolyard.  Moreover, during the week, students were requested to upload on a padlet photographs taken in the different places to be visited depicting sustainable or unsustainable habits.

Apart from the above tasks, during the 1st day students also presented the most popular tourist destinations of their country, as well as a popular song / type of music.

Presentations of tourist destinations. GREECE  HUNGARY  SPAIN  LITHUANIA BELGIUM

Presentations of a popular song / type of music:  GREECE  HUNGARY SPAIN LITHUANIA BELGIUM

Interactive lesson:  Post Session Report 

Workshop: “Thessaloniki - Sustainable City” at the centre of Thessaloniki by the Environmental Education Center of Kordelio and Vertiskos.

The Environmental Education Center of Kordelio and Vertiskos is an education centre established by the Ministry of Education in order to promote Education for the Environment & Sustainability.   Students, divided in groups, had to observe and reflect on different sustainability issues concerning the city centre, as can be seen in the worksheets that they were asked to fill in.  In the end, students were asked to become “journalists” and write a paragraph that they finally presented, based on the conclusions drawn concerning the specific fields that they had already worked on.  Their final work can be viewed here.

Presentations in Halkidiki and Epanomi.

On Wednesday students were transported to the traditional village of Arnaia in Halkidiki where they were informed about pure local products of our country and the process of their production in the past and present time. Afterwards, they had the opportunity to learn about the impressive history of the Metropolitan Temple of St. Stephen, which is also a place of historical and archaeological interest as it is built over important antiquities that are visible in their most part through transparent panels.  Moreover, they went to Stagira, the homeland of Aristotle, where they experimented with the original interactive instruments that exist in Aristotle's Park, a unique theme park of Halkidiki;  these instruments operate on the basis of the natural laws that refer to the philosopher's writings and especially to his work "The Naturals".

Finally, on Thursday, students and teachers were guided to “Ktima Gerovassiliou” Winery in Epanomi. Specifically, they visited the vineyard, the winery (production, bottling and aging areas) and the Wine Museum. The pupils came into contact with nature, were informed about viticulture and the wine production process and at the same time, at the Wine Museum, they had the opportunity to travel to the world history of vine and wine and come into contact with the concept of time, heritage, collection and culture in general.

Workshop at “Anemoesa Handmade Cosmetics Laboratory”

The “Anemoesa Handmade Cosmetics Laboratory” is a local family business that focuses on the creation of natural cosmetics without any chemicals, based on the herbs that the Earth has to offer.  During their visit, the students were informed about the gifts of nature and the ways in which these can be used for the manufacture of pure cosmetic products without harmful substances and preservatives and actively participated in the preparation of a natural detoxifying face mask that was given to them in the end to try on.

Presentation

Making the point and educational Tic Tac Toe game

At the end of the week and after all the information, excursions, workshops and presentations concerning sustainable tourism, pupils were asked to fill in the same questionnaire as on the 1st day and the answers were compared. According to the results, students showed more awareness about what sustainability means and the negative consequences of mass-unsustainable tourism, as well as certain willingness to adopt new habits as tourists and try specific forms of alternative tourism.

Moreover, they all participated in a discussion initiated by the photographs on the padlet, each one trying to explain the significance of their picture and the rationale behind it.

Finally, divided in 4 groups, they all together participated in a Tic Tac Toe game at the school yard, where the cards the students had created on the first day were used.