Trilateral Meeting: March 28th, Friday

Friday has been an exciting work day. Teams have finished their tasks.  Some students have been to regular classes to present the project on Comenius Trilateral Meeting, and then they have presented the whole project to their pairs.

In the evening they have celebrated the National Evening Party. Polish,  Hungarians and Basque students have presented their countries by means of PPTs and videos. Ander Arias danced the "Agurra", and all students sang "Welcome home, to Europe".

After a food break where  the trikitixak played by Markel, Haize and Ane were listened to, they had a disco at the gym, which had been  beautifully decorated by the students.

Finally, the Image Team showed a video with "the best of the week" before leaving, which made all of them feel that something important had been done during the week.

March 28th, Friday from J. Carlos Martínez

Trilateral Meeting: March 27th, Thursday

Thurday has been a really hard day. But there has also been some entertainment time.
They started working dividing the big group into several teams to prepare the new activities:
- Some prepared the Presentation for regular English classes.
- Others worked hard with the Timeline to upload all the National Festivals from the three countries with all the information they had got.
- A third group prepared a Debate.
- A fourth one worked on a Roleplay.
- Others were wrting a Report for the Comenius blog.
- Onother team wrote another Report, but for the Comenius site.
- The image and sound team took pictures of everything and prepared the gym for the "National Evening"
-Finally, the big group prepared a short Drama Play on two of the festivals they had been working on: Christmas and World War II.
At break, after having a sandwich or a cup of coffee, they enjoyed two amusing activities: Basque dances and sports -Herri Kirolak-  led by them themselves.
A lot of energy, interest and work was given in the workshops.
In the evening, surfing, shops and TV interview were waiting for them

In the following PPT we can see a summary of the activities.

Trilateral Meeting: March 27th, Thursday from J. Carlos Martínez

Bye-bye, our dearest Polish and Hungarian friends

Though you may expect a new post for Thursday, let's change the menu for today, Saturday 29th March.

Today it's been a day full of memories and affection:

Basque, Polish and Hungarian students have said bye-bye at La Paloma Airport, Bilbao.

All of them got there to check in on time, completely satisfied with the Comenius experience and, therefore, a bit sad for the friends' departure.

We could write pages and pages about the value of Comenius Experience, about the friendship of the peoples when they have a chance to live together, about the activities carried out during the workshops and the free activities in the evenings. However, we'll summarise all these things in a sentence:

Warm-hearted people always make earth and  life a wonderful place to live together.

Saturday, 29th March: Farewell at La Paloma, Bilbao

Good Luck, dear friends from Hungary and Poland.

Trilateral Meeting: March 26th, Wednesday

After finishing the calendar, the Polish, Hungarian and Basque students have taken the coach to visit Gernika...  on a rainy day.

But before, our English teacher, María Jesús Domínguez , gave them a small lecture about the Basque Country and the Basque Culture with the PPT that the Basque teacher Begoña Ibarra had previously prepared.

Wednesday, 26th March

Once in Gernika they visited the Assembly House from the outside, as there was a Plenary Session, and our former English teacher, Begoña Alcalá-Galiano, made an introduction to the history of Gernika, the "Fueros", and the bombarding of the city during the civil war and its consequences. Finally, she explained the importance of Gernika in the Basque modern society.

Then, they visited the Peace Museum, another important historial lesson for our students.

Mundaka, a natural paradyse in Bizkaia, surprised them for its beauty and the strength of nature. Bermeo is always a good end to this trip.

Trilateral Meeting in Getxo: March 25th, Tuesday

Hungarian, Polish and Basque students have been designing the national/European festivals by the month. They have shared pictures and information, made a collage and finished this first part of the project.

Trilateral Meeting: Tuesday, March 25th

On the other hand, the interview that  Ane Ontoso from El Correo made them has been published:

In the afternoon, they visited the Diputación and the Guggenheim Museum.

IES Julio Caro Baroja BHI, Comenius and El Correo

These days, news about the Comenius Project and our High School can be seen in our local newspapers, on this ocassion in EL CORREO.

And that's good, because the trinational student teams are working hard to deserve such mention and recognition.
Don't forget to watch the blog daily. You'll get wonderful surprises!

Comenius Projects: March 24th

Trilateral COMENIUS Friends and Experiences

After a family weekend, time has come to start work.
Today Hungarian, Polish and Basque students have lived their first Trilateral Meeting experience. After playing some games to introduce one another, our official photographers took a picture of them, dressed in the T-shirt with the logo of IES Julio Caro Baroja BHI.

They visited our local Town Hall, where they were received by the town hall representative, and exchanged presents.

 And they even had enough time to walk the coast and beaches of Algorta

before getting to work in their first workshop, or before being interviewed by a reporter from El Correo

Life is really exciting when there is something special to do and discover

European Comenius Trilateral Meeting, March 2014

Next week, students and teachers from POLAND and Hungary are visiting us. We are holding the 

Trilateral Meeting of the European Project "Comenius" (24th -28th March). 

Our guests will have the chance to visit the most emblematic places in Getxo, Bilbao and Bizkaia. 
At the same time, we'll be working in the project at the school in trinational teams and they will also have the opportunity to know our school, our way of teaching and our style of  life, as they will be living with our families.
In the following video we can see our students presenting the last version of their Comenius song  -Welcome home, to Europe- especially composed for the ocassion.

For further infomation you can visit the Labels European Projects or Comenius in this blog.
You can also visit http://www.eurolandmarks13.blogspot.com.es/ , a blog especially published for this project.

Trilateral Meeting in Getxo

Comenius Trilateral Meeting in Getxo

Poland Thoughts

Poland Thoughts, by Sherry Wilson

Traveling from Spain to Poland was a journey, and I could sense the students’ excitement growing as we switched from bus, plane, plane, and then finally our last bus. We were almost in Poland, on the verge of crossing the German border, and then I began to hear whispers from the students. Their excitement was turning intonervousness, and they began to worry about the details of their week in Poland. Earlier they were clapping every thirty minutes to celebrate their traveling, but now they whispered questions to each other, ”How should I greet them? A hug? Two kisses?” I told the students not to be nervous, but deep down I was nervous for them. While the students may only see me as their teacher, I am not too far removed from their roles. I’m a native New Yorker, and I’ve been living in Spain for the last two months. Six months ago I was a student just like them, and two months ago I made the dramatic change of moving to Spain. While the students worried about speaking English in Poland with their Polish families and partners, I was also worried for them. This was a complete immersion in the English language for a full week, and communicating in a foreign language is HARD. I am only a few years older than my students and I struggle with the language barrier in Spain. I had never been to Poland, I don’t know anybody who had ever been to Poland, nor did I know any words in Polish, but I was excited for a new adventure courtesy of my time in Spain.

While I was excited to spend a week in Poland, I was more interested in seeing my students utilize their English skills. As I listened to my students voice their worries out loud, I thought about how proud of them I was. The students worried about their English skills, but I was merely happy that they were so willing to step outside of their comfort zones. To be honest, I was almost in awe of these young teenagers so willing to adapt to new changes. I wish I had taken an opportunity like this when I was their age. Americans like me aren't often given opportunities to travel to other countries in order to learn about different cultures and their traditions. As a teacher, it made me quite proud to see my students adapting to Polish culture, but also making the effort to work with other students in English. While there are many differences between Basque and Polish culture, the Comenius project is an great method of bringing cultures and countries closer, especially for young students.

Views and Experiences in Września (Poland) with Comenius 

My favorite part of my trip to Poland were the people I met. I was able to work closely with all of the students -Polish and Basque- and I was proud to see them adjusting so well to new changes and a new environment. Spending a week in Poland showed me how much we can learn from each other´s cultures, but also what we can learn from our students and their open mindedness to change and new cultures.

Best of Hungary

Trip to Budapest:

The student exchange to Budapest was really exciting, surprising and educational. We learnt a lot about Hungarian culture and about the city of Budapest.

We first saw our partners in the airport, where they were waiting for us with their families. They took us home, and after dinner we went sightseeing.

On Sunday morning we went bowling together. Afterwards we went into the city centre to discover the most important landmarks in Budapest. The Hungarian students had prepared information for us about each landmark. We walked across the Széchenyi Chain Bridge, and then visited the Castle District, in Buda. The view was amazing because we could see the other half of the city (Pest). Whilst we were in the Castle District we had a treasure hunt. We also had the opportunity to see the Danube by night.

Monday was our first day at the school. The Hungarian students showed us a video they had prepared about the city, and afterwards we went to a few lessons (Spanish, English and Chemistry). These lessons were really interesting because we were able to take part in some Chemistry experiments, as well as exchange information about our country (Basque Country). In the evening we had a concert with a Hungarian folk band. They played some traditional Hungarian music and taught us how to dance. We had dinner at the school. Each family had prepared some traditional Hungarian food, which was very delicious and also very different from the cuisine in Spain.

On Tuesday we visited Eger, a town over two hours away from Budapest. It is an old town that has a lot of history. We visited the castle and learnt about the invasion of the Turks. We also visited a college to take part in some Physics experiments and to use the camera obscura.

Best of Hungary 

On Wednesday morning we met outside the Opera House and then went to Heroes’ Square. In addition, we saw the Turkish baths and visited the Millennium Castle. We had the opportunity to try some typical Hungarian food such as Langos and Salted Pretzels. In the afternoon we returned to school to work on our projects.

On Thursday morning we visited the House of Terror Museum. It turned out to be a very educational and shocking experience. It was hard for us to learn about how Hungary has suffered in recent times (Nazi occupation and Communist dictatorship). Thursday was also presentation day. We invited students from English classes in the school to see our presentations. They were very interested in learning about our culture. In the evening we went toAquaworld, a water park on the outskirts of Budapest. We all had a really good time together.

On Friday we were taken to the Parliament building. We were given a guided tour and learnt lots about the history of Hungary (monarchy and transition to a republic). The interior was incredible because of its Neo-Gothic style. In the evening we had a farewell party, where we played games and danced together. Our host families prepared some more food for us to try – especially traditional Hungarian desserts! After the party we spent some time together (without teachers!) before we had to leave on the Saturday.

Saying goodbye to our host families was very difficult. We were very emotional when we parted ways at the airport. However, we are really looking forward to seeing our partners again in March!

Comenius Exchange: Final Thoughts

By Hannah Roscoe, 

IES Julio Caro Baroja BHI Comenius Language Assistant.

When I first sat down to write this ‘final thoughts’ article I had no idea how to describe my experience. I’m extremely lucky because I was able to see the exchange from several different viewpoints, each one having had its own impact on my final thoughts. There is, however, one viewpoint that stands out more than any other. For those of you who don’t know, I study languages at university in the UK. I’m currently in my third year, which I have to spend abroad in the countries where my languages are spoken. The exchange with Hungary and Poland allowed our students to travel to a foreign country, live with a foreign family, and practice a foreign language. I was so happy to be there whilst they experienced that, because it’s exactly what I am experiencing right now in Spain. For them to have an opportunity like this is incredible. I had to wait until I was 21!

To be completely honest, when I first heard about the trip to Hungary and Poland I had no idea what to expect. It was the first time that I had the chance to take part in an exchange programme, so I had no previous experience to relate to. But it certainly wasn’t something I was going to turn down. When you are presented with an opportunity to travel to new and exciting places you’d have to be crazy to say no! It didn’t take long for me to decide that Hungary was the place for me, and I can’t find the words to describe how right I was.

I had the most amazing company in Carlos and the students (most of whom I teach at the school). We spent an unforgettable week in Budapest and it will always have a special place in my memory. Summing up how incredible the trip was is going to be difficult, but here goes…

As you can expect, we did a lot of sightseeing whilst we were there. Some of the most important sites we visited included the Houses of Parliament, the Castle District as well as Heroes’ Square. There were also opportunities for us to learn a little bit about Hungarian history; especially in the House of Terror Museum. This visit proved to be both an eye opening and shocking experience for everybody. As a teacher I was able to do even more things when the students were with their Hungarian partners. Carlos and I were treated to dinner almost every night, meeting people who will remain firm friends. We also visited the National Gallery for an exhibition on Impressionism and were spoilt with a trip to the theatre. Time well spent!

But it wasn’t just fun and games – the students were there for a more important reason. The objective of this exchange was to share information; more specifically, information about how festivals are celebrated in different countries in the European Union. The students had several workshops during the week where they had to compile information about festivals in both countries. They then worked in groups to prepare PowerPoint presentations explaining what similarities and differences they had found between Spain and Hungary. This activity proved to be extremely useful for me as well as for the students. I had no idea what Aste Nagusia was when I arrived in Spain, but I can now say with confidence that I know absolutely everything about it.

Hannah Roscoe's Final Thoughts

Obviously the common language of the exchange was English. For me it wasn’t a challenge as I am a native speaker. I am very proud of our students for practicing their English as much as they did, and for trying their best to improve their skills. I know how difficult it is to be thrown in at the deep end and I am very happy that they enjoyed their time in Hungary as much as I did, and as much as I am enjoying my time in Spain.

Bilateral Meeting Diary (5): Friday 22nd

                              Silvi        Pablo      and         Itsaso

Today is our Comenius  last day, Friday 22nd. We have been working hard during the week. Visiting places such as the Hungarian Parliament, the House of Terror (...) we have learnt a lot about the Hungarian and European History in the last century.
But now it is the time to evaluate the Bilateral Meeting Week. To do so, teachers have told us to make groups of six (three Hungarian and three Spanish students together) and think of ideas and activities to be evaluated. Once we have done this, we have exchanged groups to come to agreements with the questions. After that, we have evaluated the projects, our way of working together, the presentations, our life with Hungarian families, how important Comenius Project is becoming in our lives...

In the evening we have celebrated the Farewell Party. Pete and two girls played the piano and sang for us. Then, we danced a lot, played very amusing games and  had wonderful Hungarian food cooked by parents.
In short,  we celebrated the end of sharing life together for a week. It has been a great time to remember. But this is not the end:
We'll see one another again in Bilbao in March.
Bye for now, friends.

Comenius Diary - 5

Bilateral Meeting Diary (4), Thursday 21st

Visit to the Parliament and Presentation of the project

               Ignacio, Mark                          and Timi

We got up at 8 o’clock, then we got dressed and had breakfast. After that we packed in our swimming suits, slippers and towels, because we didn´t go back home before going to Aqua World. The meeting point was at Kossuth Square because we were going to visit the Hungarian Parliament. The visit was very interesting. Inside the building we got completely surprised by all the rooms: Entrance hall, corridors, reception rooms… beautifully painted sculptures, colourful stained–glass window, luxurious recession room.

After that we went back to Ors Vezer square and had lunch. After lunch in Árkád we went back to school to perform the presentations. They were really good and entertaining and we learnt about Hungarian traditions and festivities. Some classes attended to our presentations. They liked them a lot.

Comenius Diary (4): Project Presentations

After the presentations we went to the Aquaworld the famous aquapark in Budapest. In order to get Theere we had to take 50 minutes. It was very good 'cause it had a lot of slides and funny things. We had a lot of fun and a very enjoyable experience.

Bilateral Meeting Diary (3): Wednesday, 20th

                                         Alba      Aitziber    and     Lili
                                                           
                                        The House of Terror Museum

Everybody  met outside the Opera House. Here we took the metro to go to the Heroes’ Square and the city park. After seeing these two beautiful places we took another metro to go to The House of Terror Museum. Inside the museum we learnt about  recent Hungarian history, in particular how the Nazis and the Comunists tortured people from their own country during and after World War II.

What impressed us most was the different psychological techniques and the instruments they used to torture people: pliers to cut fingers and nails, water cells, cells in horrible conditions, electricity… We felt really depressed  because it was an awful event in our history. It was very powerful because it’s very recent history and the victims could have been your grandparents or relatives. We can’t image how people could do these things to other human beings.

Afterwards we took a bus to go to school to continue our projects about festivities. We had to learn our presentations so that we can present them to other students of the High School.

We finished at four o’clock and went to walk around the city because we had some free time.

Comenius Diary 3: From Opera House to The House of Terror Museum from J. Carlos Martínez

Bilateral Meeting Diary (2): Tuesday, 19th

                           Péter Király,  Aitor Juarros  and Xabier de Velasco

We arrived at school at 7:30 a.m. and ten minutes later we set off by bus. It took us two hours to get to Eger. We started walking and a few  minutes later we saw the first monument: the Bazilika. This church was constructed in the eighteen century and was very beautiful.

After that, we had an hour free time during which we visited the local McDonald’s and Istrán Dobó Square. Then, all of us went to see Károly Eszterházy’s College. On top of the building we used the “cámara oscura”. With that machine we could see an aerial view of the city. Afterwards, they showed us some physical experiments, which were quite interesting. Then we visited the famous castle of Eger and the tunnels beneath it.

We had fun at a nearby playground whilst waiting for the coach.

We got back to the school at 6:30 p.m. In the evening some of us went downtown to see the city lit in the night and also tried a Hungarian speciality called Kürtòskalács.

Binational Meeting Diary (2) , 19th November Tuesday from J. Carlos Martínez

Our first day at Szent Lásló Gimnázium in Hungary.

Bilateral Meeting Diary 2

Monday, November 18^th, by Iñigo and Miryam

We arrived at Szent Lásló Gimnázium to meet up with everybody in the main hall. Then, our Hungarian partners handed  us out a school quiz and we had to go around the school to find the answers, It was very funny. 

Afterwards we watched a video about Budapest recorded by previous Comenius students. Then, 

we went to the Chemistry Laboratory to see some experiments. They were fantastic! 

After that, some people were to an English class and the other group to the Spanish class, where they talked about how we celebrate Christmas in both countries and about Bilbao, Algorta and the Basque Country.

Finally we went to the canteen and tasted goulash for the first time.

Monday Afternoon, by Bianca and Dóra.

On the second day of our students exchange program we headed to our school to show our guests what our school is like. We had all sorts of activities in the morning but in the afternoon we had to get some work done:  At 12:30 everyone went to the school cafeteria and had lunch together. We ate goulash, which is Hungary’s most well-known dish all over the world.

When we finished our meal at about 13:00 we headed back to the main hall, where we started working on our projects. Our goal was studying both countries’ National Landmarks together finding differences and similarities.

Even though we had some difficulties during the workshop we successfully managed to overcome them and reach our aim. The group work wasn’t only sharing all the information but also about team work. I mean, it was a great opportunity for people to know each other.

After two and a half hours of hard work we finally had our National Evening. We introduced our folk dance, which was a great experience for everyone. After the show we had dinner in the main hall prepared by parents.

Activities followed our dinner such as card games and dancing games and songs. Our program ended at around eight o’clock and we went home with memories we won’t forget.

Bilateral Meeting Diary (1)

The Arrival, by Natalia and Réka

Saturday, 16^th

We took the coach from our High School to Madrid. During the trip, we screamed every half an hour to wake up the people who were sleeping. Also, we played music, as we were so happy and excited. When we arrived in Madrid, we all went to the toilettes.

After checking, we made our way to the gate. We had a big problem! Ignacio had left his passport at home. Fortunately, the stewardesses let him pass because he had his identification card with him. Finally, we go onto the airplane and we had a pleasant trip.

Three hours later we arrived in Amsterdam, where we took another plane to Budapest (another two hours). Once there, we met our Hungarian partners and went with their families. All the families were so great and friendly that we felt very happy. We had dinner with them and went to the city center, where we saw some sights and returned home to sleep.

It was a great but tiring day.

Sunday, 17^th

Early in the morning we woke up, had breakfast and went bowling. We spent one hour there. We enjoyed it very much. After that, we went sightseeing. We saw the most important buildings in Budapest: Buda Castle, Chain Bridge, Deak Square… We did a quiz and it was great because we met some Spanish and Italian people. After the cultural programme we had lunch. Some of us went home, others went walking downtown…

In the afternoon some of us went out together (Basque and Hungarians) and had a great time.

After such an exciting day, we returned home and had a good night sleep.

It had been another fantastic day!

Comenius Diary 1: Bilateral Meeting in Hungary

Bilateral Meetings in Poland and Hungary

Our students of 4º ESO and 1º Bach. are having bilateral meetings in Poland and Hungary. Tomorrow, Saturday, they are flying from Madrid to these countries. They will spend the weekend with Polish and Hungarian families and next Monday they are starting the meetings.
As everybody knows, they are working on European and National Landmarks. They have been working after class every Wednesday afternoon. They have searched the web, recorded interviews (audio and video), studied some of our landmarks (both Basque and Spanish)and  shared them with their European partners.  They have also opened the so-called Comenius Corner, where they show tasks, news, pictures about their project and prepared a very creative and technical video to present Julio Baroja High School in Poland and Hungary.
They feel very excited to meet their hosts. They can't believe that time is over and tomorrow they will be meeting their new friends with whom they will share work and experiences.

As a summary of the time shared together as part of the Pre-Bilateral Meeting work on Wednesday, here are some pictures:

Comenius Corner at the School Hall

Our Comenius students at school have been working hard for the last five weeks. After a very short lunch time, every Wednesday they have been :
         - Discussing about the National Festivals and Celebrations
         - Thinking about the questions to work on those festivals
         - Sharing information and making teams
         - Updating documents before their next trip to Poland and Hungary.
         - Doing the previous work to bilateral sharing communication via the internet
A hard task, especially these days, when exams are calling on their doors.

Comenius Corner at Julio Caro Baroja High School (Getxo) from J. Carlos Martínez