Meeting in Portugal
Rio Maior – 15th to 19th November
Tuesday, 15th November, 2011
Dear Diary,
Finally all the partners met at Portuguese school!
Students were all very excited to host their European friends and were here at last!
We welcomed everyone in our school and our 6th graders played the anthem of European Union in their flutes.
Comenius teams got together for the 1st work session; each student’s team presented their country, city and school for everyone. After the morning snack, it was teachers’ time to present their countries’ education systems.
We offered a nice Portuguese lunch at the school’s canteen to the whole team and in the afternoon we showed our school around.
To finish this first day everyone painted different canvas together at the Arts classrooms.
In the afternoon students went home with their host families and students had dinner together and tried get to know each other better.
Finally all the partners met at Portuguese school!
Students were all very excited to host their European friends and were here at last!
We welcomed everyone in our school and our 6th graders played the anthem of European Union in their flutes.
Comenius teams got together for the 1st work session; each student’s team presented their country, city and school for everyone. After the morning snack, it was teachers’ time to present their countries’ education systems.
We offered a nice Portuguese lunch at the school’s canteen to the whole team and in the afternoon we showed our school around.
To finish this first day everyone painted different canvas together at the Arts classrooms.
In the afternoon students went home with their host families and students had dinner together and tried get to know each other better.
Wednesday, 16th November, 2011
Dear Diary,
For the second day of this meeting Portuguese partners were prepared to go on with project work but were also anxious to show them a lot.
So after our morning work session in which we analyzed the logos from each school and chose the one we liked, we also decided on the title for our magazine.
At lunchtime we had “Bacalhau à Braz”, a traditional Portuguese recipe cooked by students in a vocational course in our school and offered to all teachers and students in Comenius team.
In the afternoon we visited the Sports Training Centre Complex, in which a lot of Portuguese and foreign teams and athletes prepare themselves to competition and also the Salt-marshes and the Eolic park. This was opportunities to show our colleagues how we are concerned with renewable energies, natural resources or ways to stay fit which are topics to develop in the articles for our magazine online.
After all that we had the opportunity to know more from the Portuguese culture and from our hosting families.
For the second day of this meeting Portuguese partners were prepared to go on with project work but were also anxious to show them a lot.
So after our morning work session in which we analyzed the logos from each school and chose the one we liked, we also decided on the title for our magazine.
At lunchtime we had “Bacalhau à Braz”, a traditional Portuguese recipe cooked by students in a vocational course in our school and offered to all teachers and students in Comenius team.
In the afternoon we visited the Sports Training Centre Complex, in which a lot of Portuguese and foreign teams and athletes prepare themselves to competition and also the Salt-marshes and the Eolic park. This was opportunities to show our colleagues how we are concerned with renewable energies, natural resources or ways to stay fit which are topics to develop in the articles for our magazine online.
After all that we had the opportunity to know more from the Portuguese culture and from our hosting families.
Thursday, 17th November, 2011
Dear Diary,
Today was the third day together and we learned a lot about ourselves as learners, ways to work together in the same project and a bunch of different tools we can use: we had a brainstorming on learning styles and another one on cooperative learning.
After lunch we had an afternoon to know about main Portuguese religion and visited Fátima’s sanctuary, in the centre of Portugal, not far from Rio Maior, and also visited Mira d’Aire Caves where we could admire the beauty of the interior of a mountain crossed by water.
When we came back in the evening we had dinner together with all European friends and teachers at a restaurant. It was a great meal and we even had a karaoke session! It was very funny!
Friday, 18th November, 2011
Dear Diary,
“Sightseeing Portugal Tour” (teachers, partner students and hosting students): all day sightseeing… showing our friends the beauty, the monuments, the wonders of our country!
We left Rio Maior at 8.30 am.
1st stop: Óbidos village – guided tour through a medieval village, churches and castle;
2nd stop: Roca Cape (important Cape related to Discoveries and Europe’s most western place and this was the reason for everyone to get a special certificate for being in this specific place).
3rd stop: Cascais city (important beach resort near Lisbon);
1.00pm – Lunch/Free time
4th stop – Lisbon – Parque das Nações (place for the 1998’s World Exhibition) and guided visit to Oceanário (centerpiece of the XXth Century's last World Fair, themed "The Oceans, a Heritage for the Future");
18.30pm- We arrived to Rio Maior
We all got together at the canteen of the school for the Final Informal Dinner (school) offered by parents/host families and Portuguese school. It was hard to say goodbye to all the teams who were visiting us during ther week.
(Presents and Certificate’s Delivery)
(Presents and Certificate’s Delivery)
Saturday, 19th November, 2011
On Sunday, everyone returned home and, we hope, enriched by this experience in Portugal!!
(Anabela Brígida-Comenius Coordinator at EBI Fernando Casimiro Pereira da Silva)
(Anabela Brígida-Comenius Coordinator at EBI Fernando Casimiro Pereira da Silva)