International meetings | Spain | 9^th March – 13^th March, 2020

The aims are to use innovative methods that make the process a fun learning experience for the students at detecting the values through the books they have read. The pupils revised their in-built feelings like responsibility, success, self-respect and self-esteem via books through innovative teaching methods. They read Spanish books and did cross-cultural activities. Within the context of this study, our students discovered the virtues of Spanish nation by examining its work of literature and had the chance to increase their understanding of the Spanish culture.

1^st day VALUES: WELCOME AND FRIENDSHIP – Welcome tour around Gijón organized by our students. Reception at school. Introduction of the different teams. Presentation “The most…” Tour around the school organized by our primary students. Ice-breaking activities. Walk along the beach promenade all together.

2^nd day VALUES: IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION – „Morning circle“ – sharing the experiences of the previous day. Introduction of the book „The life of Lazarillo de Tormes, His Fortune and adversities. Creating a Timeline game working in groups. Distribution of the scenes of “The house of Bernarda Alba” and explanation of this activity. Visit to the Aquarium of the city and workshop.

3^rd day THE VALUE OF HISTORY – A visit to the caves of El Soplao. Mining Museum. Mining was and still is a very important activity for the economy, society and development of Asturias.

4^th day VALUES:  A CRITIC TO PREJUDICE  IN SOCIETY – “Morning circle” – sharing the experiences of the previous day. Introduction to the book “La Regenta” by Leopoldo Alas Clarín. A trip to Oviedo, the capital city of the region, the place where this novel takes place. Guided tour by our students visiting the most representative places in La Regenta. Creating virtual tour of  La Regenta working in groups and reinterpretation of some comic scenes about the novel.

5^th day – VALUES: AUTHORITY VS FREEDOM – “Morning circle” – sharing the experiences of the previous day. Introduction of the play ”The house of  Bernarda Alba” by Federico García Lorca. Rehearsing and performance of some representative scenes of the play. Screening the videos in the Assambly Hall. Handing of certificates and flag ceremony. Farewell.

The participants learnt different approaches of analyzing the books they had read, found and discussed the values they noticed in the life of past generations and compared them with the life at present. The visits to the cultural and historical places, close contacts with the town community and with the families the partner students lived in gave a better insight of the local culture, the history behind certain behaviors and values.

For students it was a unique chance to increase their knowledge about Spain, raise their awareness, understanding, tolerance and respect of cultural and social differences between the participants, enlarge their foreign language competences and motivation in language learning, build up a higher level of skills such as, problem solving, decision making, cooperation, organizational, literacy, creativity through reading.

For teachers it was a great chance to cooperate with the teachers from the other countries, to improve their pedagogical skills by sharing teaching methods, good practices and ideas that enriched their pedagogical aspects as the teachers gave the lessons to the participants and involved the project participants in the daily activities of this school community.

For the participants and the school community it was an important experience to develop links with other European schools, to get to know about different educational systems and approaches.

For parents and general public it was a great opportunity to find out more about European Union, European projects, to gain new experience by hosting international pupils and to find out more about various cultures in Europe.