ERASMUS+ KA2 Strategic Partnership​
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Hands in Hands
​Report on the 1st Short-term exchange with groups of pupils held at AES, Portugal
Monday 6th March 2017
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First day, Portuguese Erasmus+ team were all so excited and looking forward to welcoming students and teachers from Croatia, Germany, Poland, Romania and Turkey in the opening ceremony of the Hands in Hands Erasmus+ project short-term exchange of groups of pupils which was held from 6th to 10th March at Agrupamento de Escolas de Sátão. After the welcoming speech by director, Helena Castro, the guests were taken to the Town Hall where they were welcomed by the Mayor.
First lesson with a Portuguese class was a Science lesson prepared by teacher António Casal with the collaboration of the English teacher Maria Silva. Participants had the opportunity to meet Portuguese pupils from year 8th class E and learn about the importance of reducing, reusing and recycling while playing a Kahoot game “Give Earth a helping hand by recycling” together. This was a Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) lesson, where students were taught Sciences in English.
After lunch, all teams gathered to learn about each other’s cultures, towns and schools thanks to the presentations made by the pupils. As one of the aims of the project is to share teaching strategies based on games, some teams presented the videos they had made so we could learn from each other games meant to facilitate learning and communication.
After a short break, they met another Portuguese class for a workshop “Hands in Hands”. The IT- technician vocational course did the honors in terms of promoting ice-breaking and team-building activities inside the classroom. After some introductions, the Portuguese students taught some sign language and promoted interaction among their partners. They also presented their guests with gifts: self-carved cork headphone holders. After a short discussion on the traditional symbols of Portugal, students engaged in giving old technological material a new use: CDs were transformed into colourful glass/cups coasters and floppy disks became nice photo frames, which included photos taken in class. Every student had to communicate in English and give their best to collaborate with their partners. At this point, the aim of promoting inclusiveness was fully accomplished once students with special needs and others in risk of abandoning school engaged in having fun and learning at the same time.
First Day
Welcoming Erasmus+ partners
8:35 am
9:15 am
10:45 am
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Reception by school director & representative of local municipality
Attending a natural science class
Presentations: host school, town & country
Workshop “Hands in Hands”
14:35 pm
15:30 pm
Tuesday 7th March 2017
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The day was planned for a full day study visit to the city of Coimbra. They arrived and lucky they were: it was sunny and warm! They walked into the city centre and some free time for shopping. They bought some souvenirs for friends and family! Then they visited “Mosteiro de Santa Cruz” a medieval church founded in 1131 by the Order of Regular Canons of St. Augustine. After that they went up to the old university of Coimbra, the oldest Portuguese university in Portugal which UNESCO added the university to its World Heritage List, from where they had a breathtaking the view to the old town and river Mondego. They had lunch in the university canteen. After the lunch they headed to “Portugal dos Pequenitos”, a thematic park which exhibits miniature replicas that represent the monuments and other elements from the cultural heritage and patrimony in Portugal and the world, divided into three thematic areas: miniature regional houses and traditional villages from various parts of Portugal; some significant Portuguese monuments; and former Portuguese colonies (Portuguese Speaking Countries).. They went back to the city center because they had an appointment for a special event. After 5.00 p.m. they went to a special place…”Fado ao Centro”. There, they listened to Fado...Fado from Coimbra! It was a gorgeous moment... the atmosphere of the typical love moments between university students in Coimbra! Really amazing! So our Tuesday ended...full of Portuguese cultural moments!
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Second Day
8:15 am
Visiting Coimbra
See the sights:
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Walking in the Old Town
Convento de Santa Cruz
Portugal dos Pequenitos
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10:30 am
18:00 pm
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Returning to Sátão
Games with Hands
(videos)
Wednesday 8th March 2017
Portuguese Team wanted to make International Women’s Day a special day and raise pupils and partners’ awareness towards the imperative to stand for gender equality. Not only did they organise a study visit to Viseu to show their partners the beauty of the city but they were also prepared to surprise the people they would meet along the way! While strolling in the cobbled street of the old town, pupils offered a bouquet of mimosa to the ladies and a purple ribbon to men passing by. It was funny to see the reaction on people’s face and the pupils enjoyed it a lot. Hands in Hands, they were committed to take action and be active citizens.
Back to Sátão and after lunch, participants took a walk to our nearby primary school, where the guests had the privilege of meeting some of the host school most amazing students at the Multiple Disability Unit. Amazing kids come in all different shapes and sizes, with unique abilities, strengths, and challenges. The Multiple Disability Unit tries to provide each and every one with an incredible learning experience, thanks to its special needs teachers. The students in the multiple disabilities education programme possess severe cognitive disabilities. The children's diagnoses include, but are not limited to, severe developmental delay; autism; visual impairment; orthopedic disabilities; hearing disabilities; severe speech and language impairment; and health handicaps such as seizure disorders. Our partners had the opportunity of creating some of the materials the students and teachers use to interact with each other.
In the afternoon, Ferreira de Aves’s school welcomed our guests and presented an exhibition of boccia, a sport that needs skills like patience, tactical techniques and precision. They had the honor of meeting a national Paralympic champion, Fernando Ferreira, who won 9 medals and the Merit Award of the President of the Republic of Portugal. He kindly played with students and teachers to show the rules of the game. It was a sharing moment of fun and empathy.
Third Day
Visiting Viseu
9:00 am
Tour the Old Town with "Small Acts of Kindness"
Visit Grão Vasco National Museum
13:50 pm
Goings-on at the Centre for Multi-disabled children
15:30 pm
Thursday 9th March 2017
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In the morning, Portuguese students and guests were invited to join the Art teacher for a morning of Paint Party fun! Our intention: to paint a mural of a Solidarity Tree, in our school. With laid out paints, students set about using their hands as stencils for the foliage of HIH solidarity tree, while having heaps of fun, all the while. This mural is a depiction of the many different ways to reach success through education, and if you take the time to look closely, you will see words synonymous to the word “solidarity” in English and in the guests’ native tongue, all over the tree. The goal was to paint a beautiful solidarity tree but also to create more social links through aesthetic tools.
After the morning break, our partners met another class 8th grade class B. This is Francisco, Catarina and José Miguel’s class. It was an English lesson in which the objective was to learn a bit of Portuguese Language through gestures/ body Language. After having played the game “Taking Hands”, it was time to put what they have learned from the games presented on Monday into practice. So, Portuguese students taught small introduction phrases using the game presented by Turkish Team. It was quite fun. And to enrich this learning experience, all partners presented and taught other funny games that all students from class 8thB were eager to try.
In the afternoon, the students were invited to participate in a cuisine workshop “Mãos na massa” (hands in the dough), where they prepared pizzas, cookies and “brigadeiros” (chocolate dessert). It was a time for learning some basics of cooking with their colleagues from professional cookery course. At the end, it was time for sharing and tasting the results of their collaborative work. The results were very tasty!
Fourth Day
8:30 am
Painting the Solidarity tree
10:20 am
English class:
Let’s learn Portuguese Language with Hands
11:05 am
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Solidarity tree: HIH Small Acts of Kindness
(Photo exhibition)
14:00 pm
Workshop:
“Mãos na massa” (hands in the dough)
Fifth Day
Friday 10th March 2017
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The morning started with a sport lesson with class 12th graders. Pupils looked a bit demotivated in the beginning because they didn’t expect they would have to dance. They all thought they would have to really do sports. But it was a lot of fun. After a few minutes that dullness past away; they had to move and learn the dance called “Regadinho”. About 20-30 minutes later they all knew the moves and danced like professional Portuguese dancers. They were all very happy and a bit proud of themselves.
After a break to regain their breath, students and teachers met with their youngest Portuguese partners yet, class 5D, for a “Learning through Games” English class. First, everybody had the opportunity to share personal information with a “How many from 1 to 10?” game, using an easy origami as a tool. Students were very excited to interact in English showing their skills and learning a bit about each other. The song “We’ve got the whole world in our hands”, first used to exercise a verb, was now reinvented to make students realise the importance of things/people they “have in their hands”. Students sang together and this set the mood for everybody to share traditional “Hands in Hands” games. The class was really fun!
The afternoon began with a tour around the municipality of Sátão. It was hot, yes, like Summer, but it was worth it! We saw some of the jewels of the municipality: the church of Our Lady of Hope in Abrunhosa, The Convent of Our Christ of the Stone, in Fraga, and the Pillory in Castelo...the symbol of the ancient local authority. Back to Sátão, we had some free time to rest and to prepare for the farewell party!!! The Portuguese Erasmus+ Team prepared an intercultural evening with tastes and music from the different partners’ countries.
The evening farewell with the traditional dances was very emotional but also magical. We all had such a great time together. The international buffet was huge and so diverse… many different dishes to eat. You didn't even know where to start and what you should try. You wish you could try everything, but after one plate there would be no more space in your stomach. At the end of the meal, there was the moment awaited by all ... Time to cut the cake, with the big HIH logo and it was delicious. All participants were given a certificate for attending this exchange. To cheer up a little bit, the Erasmus+ team organised a Karaoke and after a few songs everyone started to sing and to dance and everybody was very happy. It was an unforgettable evening, with joy and love and lots of fun! After all the singing and dancing. Everybody had to say goodbye to all the friends they made in this short time in Sátão. It was very hard, because in that short time they got so close and suddenly they had to say goodbye. Everybody was crying and sad. It was unforgettable!
Physical Education:
Playing games with hands
9:00 am
10:30 am
English Lesson:
​“Hands in Hands” games
Tour around Sátão municipality
14:00 pm
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17:00 pm
Intercultural evening with tastes and music f
18:00 pm
Farewell dinner
