22nd April
arrival of participants, accommodation
teachers‘ meeting in Badola
23rd April
welcome ceremony at Escoles Fabra (Mayor)
On the first day of Erasmus plus, the school organized a visit to the town hall of Alella to make a previous introduction to the village and the country.
We left the school at 10:30, and went to the town square, where we spent a few minutes taking photos of the village on saint George’s day. Then the mayor and the education chief of the town, guided us to the conference room, were they explained a little bit of the town’s history, famous places and things that make Alella a great place.The next thing that they said was a brief explanation of the political situation that is happening in Catalonia to clarify some symbols that they will see later in Barcelona.
When we finished the explanation, we had more free time, that most of people spent in buying summer fruit in a local store. At the end we returned to the school to do the next activities.
SPA
welcome ceremony at school, Erasmus feast at school, St. George’s literary celebration
On April 23, four hours of class had to take place before the celebration of Sant Jordi began.
But there was something strange and unusual: students from the Czech Republic, Estonia, Slovenia and Portugal had arrived to make their one-week stay in Alella, because of the Erasmus + project. We adapted the party so that they could understand everything; the presenters repeated what they had said before in Catalan, in English. fo
At the beginning of the ceremony, a dragon, made of cardboard, started the party; he was carried by students of the fourth course of E.S.O. Among the different prizes that were given, of Catalan, English, Latin and Spanish literature, the Cangur Tests, Mathematical Photography, Fem Mates and the design of the diploma, some students from Alella sang and played different instruments (piano and violin); all anthems of foreign countries were played on the piano. A student representing each country went to the stage to read a poem from the most famous writer in her country.
To conclude the party, Lina, the head teacher of the INS Alella, said a few words in English and in Catalan.
Without a doubt, this Sant Jordi 2018 was a cultural exchange for everyone, learning something new and where we could practise our English apart from making new friends.
SPA
visiting book stalls in Barcelona
visiting Casa Batlló and La Pedrera in Barcelona
After a morning in the school, we went to Barcelona by train. When we arrived, we started walking up Passeig de Gràcia, and arrived at Casa Batlló, which was beautilully-decorated, with red roses all over the main wall.
Then we continued walking up the street, and visited La Pedrera, the last place to visit.
After having seen the house, we went down the street again, and visited the city by ourselves.
It was very crowded, and a little bit stressful, but everything was really nice-decorated, and people seemed happier than other days.
SPA
teachers‘ meeting in Barcelona
24th April
introducing the school, presenting „Our schools, regions and countries“
On Monday, 23rd of April we visited the school for the first time and had a really nice girl from the school, Júlia, show us around the school. She showed us their classes, library, playgrounds, cafeteria and the schoolhouse overall. She talked about the classes and subjects they have while we were walking around the school. She also showed us the nice posters and projects they had up all over the school. Some for Erasmus+ to introduce the different countries and to welcome us to their school and some from their usual art classes. It was interesting to see the differences and similarities between our schools and students.
So this was the first time we got to know each other’s countries. It was very educational but very exciting at the same time. Students had prepared interesting presentations about their country, home place and schools. We got to know many fun facts about different countries. During the presentations I thought to myself how different our countries are but how similar the people are.
EST
presenting „How it works and what it offers“
game „Live routers“
On Tuesday, 24th April we played a game called „Live Routers“.
We were divided into groups of 4-5 and they were in turn divided into groups of 2-3. Every group also had (a) teacher(s) from a different country.
Every little group got a map, on a map there were different „router points“ marked. The „routers“ were Spanish / local students. The groups had little papers with different order of routers they had to go through. In every point they got a symbol from the Spanish student. When they had collected all 4 symbols, they had to deliver this paper to a Spanish teacher Elena. All the symbols represented a word and at the end they formed a question. The winner was the group who delievered all the papers fastest.
This game was a good opportunity for students from different countries to discover beautiful Alella and also to get to know the other students better, because the game worked on the basis of communication and teamwork.
EST
teachers‘ meeting
25th April
visiting Universitat Politècnica de Barcelona
On the 25th of April we went to Barcelona for the whole day. First, we went to see the supercomputer Marenostrum 4 located in the Barcelona Supercomputing Center – BSC. The computer was installed in 2017 and it is a first-rate scientific and technical facility managed by the BSC. It is a tool of great value to the scientific community in Europe. The Spanish government pays for 60% of all costs, Catalonian government pays 30% and there are 10% left to the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (UPC). There are 524 scientific projects that are enabled. Some of them are making personalized medication, improving energy efficiency, designing wind farms, making simulations of the universe that would take 30 years to make on a normal computer and more.
After we saw that we visited the Universitat Politecnica de Barcelona’s collection of old computers. One of their students told us more about the history of computers and their development. Although abakus is known to be the father of all computers, the one we know nowadays had its beginning with a 19th century English mathematics professor Charles Babbage. In ancient times, simple computers were used by merchants to quickly add up numbers as today the most capable computers are used even to predict certain events and explore the unknown.
SLO
visiting Parc Güell in Barcelona
When we first arrived to the parc, we had a picnic lunch. Later in the afternoon, we visited the most interesting part of the parc – the monumental area. Parc Guell is a park in the middle of Barcelona. It was designed by Eusebi Guell, who was inspired by Gaudi. It consists of roads which lead to the most attractive area which has a terrace with pillars and two staircases. They are guarded by a lizard. Nearby, there are two pavilions that formed the porter’s lodge. Almost everything is made out of mosaic and you get the feeling of being in a fairytale.
SLO
visiting Sagrada Família in Barcelona
On wednesday we spent the whole day in Barcelona and we also visited Sagrada Familia. this is the church that is mostly known for being building more than 100 years. the construction started in 1882. they are expecting that the church should be done somewhere between 2026-2028. it was designed by Antoni Gaudí. he devoted 49 years of his life to this church. it has three different fascades with different meaning. the first one, the Nativity facade, was completed in 1935 and is influenced directly from the Gaudí’s style. It is dedicated to the birth of Jesus with the symbolic sunrise to the northeast. The facade also shows elements related to the Nature and the creation of life. The second one is the Passion facade is simpler and dedicated to the suffering of Christ during his crucifixion. The facade was supposed to show the sins of human beings. The facade is directed to the West and faces the sun as a symbol for the death of Christ. The last one is the Glory facade, the largest facade which is still under construction. It is dedicated to the glory of Jesus and the road to reach God going through death, final judgment and glory. Indeed, when it is finished, Sagrada Familia will have 18 towers: 12 dedicated to the Apostles, 4 to the Evangelists, one to Jesus and one to Mary, with the highest spire reaching 170 meters high. inside, on the ceiling we can notice golden patterns, but the most beautiful thing to me in this church is the light that shines throug the colorful windows. it gives you some kind of magical feeling. there is no straight lines in this church because Gaudi was imitating nature and he thought that in nature there is no straight lines, just curved. what interested me the most is the fact that the church was never founded by the state but from private patrons. nowadays most of the money for construction comes from entrance tickets.
SLO
teachers‘ meeting in Barcelona
26th April
visiting the historical centre of Barcelona
Thursday morning was time to explore the old town of Barcelona. We were divided in some groups and we had a tour guide that gave us a game with a map of the old town, a compass and binoculars. With them we explored that old town and got to know much more about it because we had clues to find spots and answers to give. It was really interesting and we learned while having fun. We got to know a lot about the history and mythology of Barcelona and we were able to discover it by working with students from the project, communicating and helping each other.
POR
visiting private company Movistar
We visited the company Movistar on Thursday afternoon, and we realized that Movistar was really important in Spain and Catalonia because it was right in the center of Barcelona, in Plaza Catalonia. The company is one of the most important providers of communications in Spain and in other countries and also is a research center, with many scientists working there.
We had a presentation about facts and maths about artificial intelligence and we realized that its very interesting to be able to create machines that can learn from data and can make conclusions about that data. We also learned that we are advancing in that technology really fast and in some years a lot will change.
After the presentations we were able to go play with the Virtual Reality Headset glasses which was so much fun and interesting.
POR
teachers‘ meeting in Allela
27th April
presenting „History of the internet“ and „How to educate and fun“
activity „The true face of internet components“
farewell dinner, teachers‘ meeting
On 27.04. our hosts organized a farewell party. The party was hold in the gym which was decorated with a bunch of colorful lights and balloons. They also arranged food for us so we‘ ve had a lot of foood including local spread and many sweets and fruits. Students and teachers were dancing to the sound of spanish music and when they got breathless they could go outside and play football on field. Students who didn‘ t like the loud music sat in the benches away from the noises. I learned that Catalans are quite sociable and they have great music taste. This whole exchange was an amazing experience and I am sure we will remember it with only positive memories.
CZE