SPAIN

ACTIVITIES IN CLASS: SCHOOL YEAR 2018/2019

After the first transnational meeting in Germany, we started our project in the four different educational centres. In Spain we decided to decorate our school with some representative images of the project.

These are some of the activities that the students started doing in Visual Arts:

First, the students draw a map with the four participating countries: Iceland, Germany, Portugal and Spain. They located the schools and did some research about Character Education:

-After a month working with some values and virtues, the students applied for taking part in our next mobility: Portugal. We collected all the application forms and drew five applications.

-These are the five students that won the draw:

Ximo Mallol, Héctor Martínez, Gabriel Montolio, Mar Miralles and Sandra Mira

After the draw, all the students continued working on the project and the five elected students went to all the classes in Secondary school and explained to their partners what the project is about and why it is so important to work and reflect on Values and Virtues.

The first activity that the teacher of Visual Arts designed for them was asking their partners to write short messages containing what they are grateful for, because they were asked to talk about GRATITUTE. These are some of the pictures of the posters they designed to hang on the walls of their classes.

Now every class in Secondary school has a poster with their own messages containing what they are grateful for.

After this activity they were asked to film a video at school related to the things they are grateful for and they did a really good job, they filmed some of the facilities at school, some of the staff and they had a lot of fun while doing the activity.

We had to cut it and upload a short version of the video because it was too heavy for the blog, so this is a short version of it:

       The second word we worked with was COMPASSION. 

       This time, the P.E. teacher organized some activities for the students. This is a summary of the activities designed by the P.E. teacher Alejandro Altava:

Today, in our society, and our way of life, it’s not easy to show appreciation for the things we have around us, occurring in day-to-day  and bring us happiness and well-being, since the brain tends to magnify those negative things that happen to us, and to pass those positive things that we have overlooked or unnoticed.

From the Physical Education Department , we wanted our students to do an exercise in self-reflection about COMPASSION, which was the main focus of the week and star of the sessions. We wanted to work on it from the "physical" point of view, and so had this direct link with the subject.

The proposed tasks for our 3^rd of ESO students were as follows:

-Firstly, they had to write down a number from 1 to 10, equivalent to their level of well-being/ happiness at that time (being 1-2 bad, 3-4 regular, normal 5-6, 7-8 fairly well, 9-10 great and eventful). Then the students wrote all the things they were or felt COMPASSION about (between 5 and 10 aprox.).

-Once this first part was done, the students watched a little video of Nick Vujicic, a person who was born with no arms and no legs, which shows an incredible story of personal overcoming and acceptance.

-Later, we went to the practical part, which consisted in that the students were experiencing different disabilities:

1. A group walking with a crutch simulating a person who is missing a leg.

2 . Another group put on a handkerchief  on his arm and shoulder to simulate non-       arm.

3 . Others were sitting in chairs, such as wheelchairs.

4 . And finally, other students had a scarf on his head to cover their eyes, and simulating blind people.

The students had to walk around the Sports Centre by themselves or with the help of their classmates. Then, they had to pass different balls, with different sizes. In this way, they were checking the difficulty that they had to move through space and how to pass the different balls among them. Every 3 minutes, they changed the role.

-Then, we prepared a series of activities by groups in which experienced various adapted sports:

1. Goalball: sport specifically created for blind people (there is a jingle bell inside the ball).

2 . Sitting volleyball:  adapted for people who can not move by themselves.

3. “Frontón”: hitting the ball with the no skilled hand.

4. Wheelchair Basketball.

-To conclude, the students had to rewrite on the paper, those things for which they felt COMPASSION, and the level of well-being/happiness at that time,  after  the end of the practice session.

The vast majority of students wrote new things that before, at the beginning of the session, did not take them into account or passed unnoticed, like being able to move, walk to school every day, to run, to jump, to see everything that sorrounds you, to catch a ball, to throw it, etc. In addition, in almost 90% of them, the level of well-being/happiness at that time, had gone up, relative to the start of the class.

-Once the feedback is done with the class-group, one of the conclusions reached by the students was the following:  COMPASSION GENERATES HAPPINESS.



In the meantime, the students worked in the English classes with the Twinspace of our eTwinning project: Character matters, values and virtues.

They did two character tests on the websites www.viacharacter.com & www.16personalities.com. where they could discover their weaknesses and strenghts, and after that,  they posted their results on a padlet in the eTwinning Twinspace.

The students were asked to keep a gratitude journal and summarize the content on a padlet. It was interesting to see that students from Iceland, Spain and Portugal are grateful for the same things. Some students also turned their gratitude journals into word art.

ACTIVITIES IN CLASS: SCHOOL YEAR 2019/2020


During this school year we decided to work with the words PERSEVERANCE AND JOY and we started preparing the next mobility at our school related to SPORTS.

Date: November 2019

Country: Spain

Content: How can sports strengthen the student’s character various challenges/ self-evaluation beach sports, water sports, team-building tasks, team sports, etc. Finding examples in class/ implementation in school’s curriculum

Justification: Youth sports can and should be a powerful, positive, character building activity. Unfortunately, far too much pressure today is being placed on coaches to win at all costs, and far too many athletes are literally “dropping the ball” when it comes to character. A focus on character can turn sports and physical education programs into the powerful, positive forces they should be.  Sports programs can teach students to show good character through sportsmanship, to face challenges, to accept winning and defeat with grace and dignity, and gives opportunities for leadership.

 3rd MOBILITY, SPAIN

3RD-9TH NOVEMBER 2019

 

DATE	TIME	ACTIVITIES
SUNDAY 03-11	20:30	Arrival of all delegations to Castellon
	21:00	Teachers: Dinner at La Marimorena, Castellón
Monday 04-11	08:45	Meeting point at school: welcome by the head director and presentation of all the partner institutions
	09:30	Guided tour visiting all the school facilities
	10:30	Music auditions by Spanish students from Primary School and Mindfulness session by Lidón Blanch.
	11:30	Coffee break
	12:00	Workshop 1: City rally “Discovering Castellon with joy”, by Bettina Marín
	14:00	Meeting point at the town hall: awards delivery
	14:45	Arrival to school. The students will go with their host families
	14:45	Teachers: Lunch at Restaurante Voramar, Benicassim
	17:00	Coordinators meeting
	21:00	Teachers: Dinner at El Mirador del Port, Grao de Castellón
Tuesday 05-11	8:45	Meeting point at school
	9:00	Workshop 2: “Learning new sports with perseverance”, by Alejandro Altava.
	10:00	Water sports: Canoeing and sailing at Puerto de Castellón
	12:30	Beach sports: Volleyball at Grao de Castellón beach.
	15:00	Picnic lunch at the resting area of the beach/ Teachers: Puerto Playa, Grao
	17:00	The students will go with their host families
	17:00	Teachers meeting
	21:00	Teachers: Dinner at Doma, Benicassim
Wednesday06-11	8:45	Meeting point at school
	9:15	Trip to Peñíscola
	10:30	Sightseeing around the old town of Peñíscola.
	11:30	Guided visit to the castle of Peñíscola
	13:30	Picnic lunch/ Teachers: El Peñón
	15:30	Departure to Castellón
	16:30	Arrival to Castellón.
	17:00	The students will go to the host families.
	21:00	Teachers lunch at Malabar, Castellón
Thursday 07-11	8:45	Meeting point at school
	9:15	Trip to Valencia
	10:30	Visit to L´Oceanogràfic
	13:30	Picnic lunch at Gulliver/ Teachers: Raffaello
	15:30	Departure to Castellón
	16:30	Arrival to Castellón
	17:00	The students will go with their host families.
	21:00	Teachers: dinner at Las Tascas, Castellón
Friday 08-11	8:45	Meeting point at school
	9:00	Departure to “El trinquet”. Workshop 3: “Learning Valencian traditional sports with joy”. Traditional Sporst by Alejandro Altava: pilota valenciana.
	12:00	Departure to “El Pinar” del Grao. Workshop 4: “Learning how to cook Traditional Valencian meals” by Vicente Tirado: how to cook a paella.
	12:30	The students will cook a paella in international groups.
	14:00	Awards delivery for the best paellas.
	16:30	Arrival to school.
	17:00	The students will go to the host families/ Coordinators meeting.
	20:30	Farewell Party at school and delivering of the certificates of attendance, with the headmaster, host families, students and teachers.
Saturday 09-11		Departures

PICTURE GALLERY OF THE ACTIVITIES: 

MONDAY, 4TH OF NOVEMBER

OPENING CEREMONY AT SCHOOL Ramiro Izquierdo:

On the first day, the guest students and teachers gathered at our school and the Spanish teachers presented the program of the week. We exchanged some presents, had a snack consisting of local products and went to the town center to meet the mayor.

VISIT TO THE TOWN HALL

The mayor of Castellón made a speech in front of the students and teachers and pointed out the importance of these events, which enrich our culture and promote the understanding among European countries.

A photographer of a local newspaper came to the event and captured the moment. 

After the meeting, the students began the activities designed specifically for them, in this case the first workshop called City Ralley: Discovering Castellón with joy, by Bettina Marín.

The students were organized in mixed-nationality groups and had to solve some riddles about the city, bringing evidence of the accomplishment of the challenges. The two first teams arriving to the meeting point were awarded with some prizes.

AWARDS DELIVERY OF THE CITY RALLEY

TUESDAY, 5TH OF NOVEMBER

WATER SPORTS

On the second day, our students had the chance of learning new sports in order to strengthen their character and to foster some values as perseverance, joy, leadership, overcome…

All together went to the Real Yacht Club of Castellon where they were going to know and get familiar with the basics of Canoeing and Sailing. 

After the theoretical part of these sports from the club trainers, the students were distributed en some groups and could sail in different boats by themselves dealing with the wind and small waves (with the help of the coach).

At the same time, another group of students were canoeing around the harbour enjoying the activity and making some games like chasing each other, races, or canoeing ball.  

Later, they changed the role activity with the other group. 

BEACH SPORTS

After eating something and recharging batteries, we went to the beach to play Beach Volley making four teams; in this case, each team represented their country. The atmosphere was really nice and all the students showed sportsmanship, companionship, respect and tolerance. 

The weather was perfect during the entire workshop. 

WEDNESDAY, 6TH OF NOVEMBER

Trip to Peñíscola

On Wednesday, all the group had the chance to travel to Peñíscola, a town which is located 72 km north from Castellón.

Peñíscola is a seaside town on Costa de Azahar, which has been included in the list of the most beautiful towns in Spain. In fact, historians consider it as a great historic place in Europe and due to its beautiful location on the Mediterranean coast, it is visited by thousands of tourists every year.

No wonder it has been the filming location for a number of movies and series, because it is such a picturesque town that while you are walking around the fortified part of it, you can feel you are travelling back in time. It’s also a very well-known place for summer holidays because of its long beaches which offer exceptional natural beauty and nearby tourist infrastructure.

Our guided visit started at the entrance of the fortress which lets you in the old part of the town. It was then when we started to climb up the steep narrow streets plenty of typical Mediterranean white houses with beautiful views down the  blue sea. The guided tour led us to beautiful locations and  viewpoints, and it ended in the great Templar castle with the most breathtaking views of all. Having stood as a fortress, a monastery, or even the chosen home by a Pope, Papa Luna’s castle is one the main attractions in Peñíscola.

The students enjoyed taking pictures of some of the beautiful filming spots of the worldwide famous series Games of Thrones.

After the guided tour, the students and teachers had some free time to wander around the town to discover other hidden corners at the site. 

We all could enjoy a beautiful sunny day learning about history and visiting a beautiful Spanish seaside town in the company of very special European friends.

THURSDAY, 7TH OF NOVEMBER

Visit to Oceanográfic, Valencia

On Thursday, the guest students and teachers went on a trip to Valencia to spend the day visiting the City of Arts and Sciences in València, the aquarium is a tribute to the seas and oceans of the planet and contains large aquariums reproducing the most important marine ecosystems.

Our students felt like visiting the Arctic or to travel from Bermuda to the Canary Islands through the longest underwater tunnel in Europe, below the sharks and also enjoying the show at the dolphinarium.

Later we went to have lunch at Gulliver Park, a playpark with multiple gigantic slides and climbing nets, where the students had another opportunity to hang out, to share a picnic with their friends and to take funny photographs.

FRIDAY, 8TH OF NOVEMBER

Traditional sports: Pilota valenciana

We reached the last day of the mobility and our students could know and practice the most popular and traditional sport in the Community of Valencia. Pilota valenciana consists of hitting a ball with your hand basically. It is a sport played for many years, from the Ancient Greece but it has lasted until now, becoming a mark of identity for valencian people. 

After arriving the Trinquet of Castellón, place where pilota valenciana is played as well as in the streets, the Physical Eduaction teacher explained the students the history of the sport, rules, values, and the process of how to get their hands ready in order to play pilota valenciana and not to hurt themselves. Our guest students made a glove to protect their hands with the help of the Spanish students.  

They were divided in several mixed nationality groups and played five different modalities of pilota: raspall, escala i corda, frontó, frare and màdel. They faced new challenges of a new sport never seen before. As all the week, the students showed good character, accepting winning and defeat with grace and dignity as well as joy, perseverance, overcome and partnership.

Paellas contest in Pinar del Grao

Closing ceremony: delivery of certificates 

Farewell party