Italy Meeting
The last Project meeting, which had teachers from all the schools participating in the project, was held in Torre del Greco (Napoli, Italy). The host school, Istituto Comprensivo Statale 7º Leopardi – Succursale (http://www.settimodonmilani.gov.it/newsite/), programmed many activities for the visit that took place from the 3rd to the 6th of December. Besides the teachers from all partners countrie, in this mobility were involved students from Turkey, Poland and Croatia, who were hosted by local families, attended lessons at school and participated to some of the planned activities. They spent most of the time with their Italian hosts, thus having the possibility to experience real life in family and tighten friendships.
Even though we did not participate in the activities developed on the 3rd of December (due to bad weather conditions in Corvo that caused the plane to cancel), we know that a guided tour was made to the Herculean Ruins. In the afternoon of that same day, there was the welcoming ceremony, in the school, followed by a presentation of some products made by the Italian students that were the result of their projects concerning entrepreneurship. The visitors also had the opportunity to participate in interactive workshops. In the evening, there was an international dinner, for which every participant contributed with a delicacy from their native countries.
We were present the next day and we spent the morning with a second grade class. They performed for us a traditional Italian song and also prepared a typical pie. We presented a short film about Corvo, about how we live in our little island and how our school works. In this class, we also had the chance of working with a special need’s student, who is integrated in the class, and learn from the projects he developed with his support teacher.
After that, the Project meeting took place, and we discussed all the pressing issues related to the project. We revised and updated the activities that have to be done by the schools until the next meeting. The date for the meeting in Latvia was altered, so this meeting will be held from the 24th February to the 1st March, 2015. With this meeting we perceived how each school is organizing and developing the activities designed for this project.
In the evening we enrolled in several activities that allowed us to experience a more cultural side of the programme, contacting and exploring the local surroundings. We visited the city of Sorrento, famous for producing limoncello, a digestive beverage made out of the region´s abundant lemons. On the 5th of December, we visited Salerno and had a boat tour to see the coast of Amalfi and Positano. We walked in the city’s historical centre to see the fantastic Christmas decorations and lighting, as well as, the Amalfi Cathedral. On the 6th, in the morning, we had the opportunity to visit Napoli, and went to the Chapel of San Severo, known for its impressive marble statues (http://www.museosansevero.it/en/). We also walked in the streets of San Gregorio Armeno, to see the traditional napolitan nativity scene, made by local craftsmen. In the afternoon, we visited, with some of the students and the families that fostered the visiting students, the Royal Palace.
All the activities that we developed were very enriching because they allowed us to understand how other European schools are organized, what their teaching methods are and what sort of activities they develop with students. The programme of this project meeting fulfilled the main goal of our project, allowing us to learn a lot and experience new things that will boost our learning process.