Comenius Bilateral Meeting - Day 7

Last but not least.

In Workshop 5, students finished up preparing their power point presentations, the blog post, the site report. They wrote new documents and rehearsed. At the same time, a group of them gave presentations for the English lessons. They explained what the Comenius Project is like and what they had done during the Bilateral Meeting.

In Workshop 6, in teams of 5, they presented their products, in digital format and in posters. They showed their research finding on national identities by explaining the similarities and differences between both countries. This has been the first step before studying our Common European Identity in the Trilateral Meeting next term.

Bilateral Meeting Day 7 from J. Carlos Martínez

After break, they started their last session with a song: Iratxe Cea and Carlos, the Comenius teacher and composer,  sang “Welcome Home, to Europe”, our Comenius  students’  European Anthem which will be sang by students of four different countries (Norway, France, Germany and Spain-The Basque Country) in the Trilateral Meeting in Garbsen in March, 2015.

Finally, they answered the questions of the Evaluation of the Meeting, which another group of students had previously prepared.

At quarter to three, German and Basque students kissed and hugged one another and expressed their  strong wishes to meet again, this time in Garbsen, Germany in March, 2015. But a little surprise was reserved to them at Bilbao’s Airport.

Comenius Farewell

Comenius Bilateral Meeting - Day 6

Thursday 27th was a very hard day. To begin with, they had a very long non-stop session of tree hours (Workshop 3) in which they searched and discussed about similarities and differences between Germany and The Basque Country-Spain. In new teams, some reflected their ideas in posters and others created digital documents (docs, pp, etc).

At break our guests enjoyed an amusing and amazing break  by playing traditional Basque Games (Herri Kirolak). 

After that, a three-hour workshop-4 was held. Those who had finished went on with new tasks such as writing a post for the Comenius Blog or a report for the Comenius Site, record the activities and take pictures of the different teams for the Slide Show, review the activities for the National Evening, etc.

Bilateral Meeting - Day 6

The National Evening was a real success in many ways:  It was started by giving the prizes to the winners of the Treasure Hunt. Later, two teams competed to win the European Quiz they had created. Prizes were handed out, too. Then, they moved to the school canteen, where they enjoyed wonderful food prepared by families. Finally, they were surprised when they went into the gym and saw that Itziar and Ignacio’s team had made a wonderful disco of it.

Time passed very quickly, but it resulted in a memory for all their lives

Comenius Bilateral meeting - Day 5

All the Comenius students received a lecture on The Basque Country (Euskal Herria) by María Jesús Domínguez, supported by a PPT offered by Begoña  Ibarra (Basque Department), in order to understand the importance of their visit to Gernika (Assembly House, Peace Museum, Historical events through centuries, etc.)

At 9:00 a bus took them to our emblematic small town in the heart of Biscay. Once there, their watched a video about the Assembly House and Gernika, which was very instructive especially for German students. "Below the Oak Tree"  an iconic picture was taken to be remembered for the rest of their lives

The Peace Museum, once more, made them realize and think over the physical and moral destruction that all wars convey. As everybody knows, it is a small museum with big ideas to preserve Peace as the best gift among human beings.

Bilateral Meeting - Day 5 

In Mundaka they had lunch. Fortunately, rain had not arrived yet. They took wonderful pictures of the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve.

Finally, Bermeo closed a wonderful field trip day. The small fishing town discovered them our sea traditions and a particular seaside landscape.

Comenius Bilateral Meeting - Day 4

Comenius participants have enjoyed a varied time full of  novelties today.
They started their second workshop with a new discussion and conclusions about their findings.
They produced  posters that were displayed in a gallery show where everybody could appreciate the similarities and differences between the German and Basque (or Spanish) identities.

In order to deepen in our common European identity, there were put into new binational teams to work out similarities and differences concerning the following: food, clothes, music, sports, works of art, daily routine and events, religion, festivals, folk traditions, etc.

Comenius Bilateral Meeting - Day 4, 2014 

At midday they visited the Diputación, where a guide explained in English the way we are ruled in Bizkaia. They were also given a short lesson on our History through that institution and government.

After lunch, they visited our world famous Guggenheim Museum, where they learnt a few things not only about modern architecture and Frank Gehry but also about the new concepts on arts.

Finally, they spent the rest of the day on shopping and enjoying their time in Bilbao.

Comenius Bilateral meeting. Day 3

Today it has been a very interesting day for the Comenius participants: After the welcoming by the Principal of the school, and some warm-up games to meet one another, they were received by Kepa Miñanmbres, representative of Getxo's Town Hall.

Later, they walked from Ereaga Beach to the Suspension Bridge in Las Arenas. During the walk they had to complete the Treasure Hunt questions about the Municipality.
In the afternoon, they started their First Workshop session.
As usual, we upload a visual diary.

Comenius Bilateral Meeting Day 3, 2014

Comenius Bilateral Meeting, Garbsen - Getxo

Yesterday, November the 23rd, Saturday,  at 16:50 p.m.15 German students from Garbsen and their teachers, Martin and Nora, arrived at Bilbao Airport.
All our Comenius students and parents were waiting for them. Having arrived earlier, nerves and excitement floated in the air.
But, as the saying goes,  an image is worth more than a thousand words.

Bilateral Meeting, Day 1, 2014

Today, Sunday the 24th, our new friends have spent all day with families. Some of them have gone sailing or  have had a basketball game; others have been sightseeing our beautiful country.

Tomorrow, The Comenius Bilateral Meeting Project, 2nd year, is starting at our school.

Let's welcome them

4º ESO-1 MET in A.E.

4º ESO – 1 MET are having a special time in A.E. this year.  They are Improving Reading, but in English, as part of the new subjects in English that our High School offers.

Here is the summary of their activities for the first term:

They started by reading a witty, funny short story –“Happy Days”. They read it and worked with a comprehension and vocabulary exercises. In a second and third session, they dramatized the text and finally they performed and recorded it.

Their second task was entitled “Classical and Modern Fables”. They learnt how to construct a short story, following the structure of the fables. After reading a few of them, they told them to the rest of their classmates and brought more to be told in class.

Their third approach was “The Black Cat”, a classical short story by the world famous E.A. Poe. The text was read twice. Then, they worked on comprehension questions, vocabulary and the structure of the story. Finally, every one of them learnt a part of the story by heart and performed their monologue.

Urban legends is a must to encourage teen to read. They were handed out a few of them to be read in class and at home. They worked with them and brought more for the next two sessions, which were presented and recorded.

And the last proposal for the current term will be “Poems for Teens”. They will be given some about different teenage topics, and some links to surf the net, too.  After reading and studying them, they will learn part of them by heart, bring one or two each and finally they will create their first English poem.

And that’s all for now. Who said that reading was boring?

4 ESO-1 - MET in A.E. 2014 from J. Carlos Martínez

Comenius Bilateral Meeting: Getxo - Garbsen (Germany)

There are only 3 days left for the 15 German students from IGS High School - Garbsen (Germany) to arrive at Getxo for the Comenius Bilateral Meeting

They are spending a whole week with us, from the 22nd to the 28th of November. 

They will be accommodated in our students' houses. During the week they will work together, share information on the Comenius Second Year Project and live new experiences.

They will visit our Town Hall, The Diputación and Guggenheim Museum, Mundaka, Bermeo, Gernika... they will go on working on the Second Year Project "National and European Identity? and they will even have time to have a go at surfing and other freetime activities.

In the following pictures we can see parents and students in the last meeting (18th November)