DISCOVERING EUROPE

The project Discovering Europe is a partnership between schools in Germany (the coordinator), Spain, Finland, Poland and the Netherlands. With this project all the partners promote intercultural dialogue within their own countries and between the partner countries. Similarly, we are fostering the European dimension in education and diversifying the learning environment through the use of Information and Communication Technologies. In that sense we use ICT to create, communicate and share.

http://discoveringeurope.blogspot.com/

Recycling project in Germany

Students from different classes created art objects which are shown in our school. They only used old materials, for example plastic cans, wood and aluminium.
A girl made a new skirt using old jeans. Here are some photos:

What is done with waste?

Students of all participating schools have done researches on waste, waste treatment and waste collection. They asked their classmates and teachers. Here is a summary of their answers.

What is done with the waste in your country?
Waste is separated, burnt, and recycled and deposited. The advantage od burning the waste is obtaining energy and reducing the mountain of rubbish, but on the other hand it pollutes the environment.

Do you separate your waste at home?
The most of the people separate their waste at home because waste is recycled. They have different containers for:
mixed waste, compost, paper, metal, glass, board, bottles, plastic, cans

How much a year does an average household (four people) has to pay for waste disposal in your town?
Helsinki/ Finland:
A family with four people has to pay about 400 Euros a year, if there is one waste can for mixed waste and it is collected once a week.
Vigo/Spain:
It costs 75 Euros.
Wernigerode/ Germany
The family with for people has to pay 190 Euros a year, if mixed waste is collected twice a month.

How often is the waste collected?
Helsinki/ Finland:
Mixed waste is collected about once a week, at least once in two weeks. Bio waste at least once a week.
Glass, hazardous waste, and everything else rarely.
Vigo/Spain:
In big towns like Vigo, every day. In small places, once a week or twice a month.
Wernigerode/ Germany
Paper is collected once a month. Glass has to be brought to public containers, they are emptied when they are full and mixed waste is collected fortnight.

What do they collect?
Helsinki/ Finland:
compost, paper, synthetic materials, glass, milk cans, old clothes and shoes, electrical gadgets, mixed waste, energy waste.
Vigo/Spain:
General household rubbish. (Organic material is not collected separately. It is not often transformed into compost).
Paper, Plastic, Glass, Batteries, Cartons of. milk, etc.
Wernigerode/ Germany
compost, paper, synthetic materials, glass, mixed waste, old clothes and shoes
electrical gadgets

What is done with old furniture, computers, radios and TVs and other household gadgets? Do you have to pay when you get rid of it?
Helsinki/ Finland:
Computers, furniture, radios and TVs, and other household gadgets are collected and unpacked. You have to pay for it.
Vigo/Spain:
Furniture and electrical appliances are collected together .You have to call the town hall and they collect them in the address you give. It´s a free service, it is done once a week.
Wernigerode/ Germany
Computers, furniture, radios and TVs, and other household gadgets are collected and unpacked.
You needn’t pay for it, if you bring these things to the collecting place, which can be found in almost every town.
You have to pay only for refrigerators and freezers.

Recycling project in Finland

At Jakomäki School it was the eight graders (pupils at the age of fourteen) that preoccupied themselves with the world of recycling. The first phase was getting information about what is done with waste in Finland and especially in the metropolitan area of Helsinki. The geography teacher, Julia Tapanainen, and the biology teacher, Suvi Niskanen, catered for all kinds of activities (games, quizzes, crossword puzzles) and sites for the search of information. Also, the three classes received informative lessons given by a consultant from the Metropolitan Area Recycling Centre.

Below, we have attached photos about our studies in recycling.





Secondly, the pupils remodelled clothes (t-shirts, jeans, cardigans, jackets) in the handicraft lessons.











The third phase will be carried out next autumn. First, our pupils will visit the local recycling centre and then, after receiving a more many-sided picture of recycling, they will organise a “swap day” in our school. The idea of the day is that each pupil brings a thing she/he has not got any use for any more, but somebody else might find the thing useful. So everybody brings something he or she wants to get rid of and at the same time, has a chance of finding something useful instead. Then, if there are things nobody finds useful, such things will be taken to the recycling centre and sold to customers there.

Recyclers in Helsinki

SPANISH STUDENTS VISIT FINLAND

SPANISH STUDENTS WRITE ABOUT THEIR TRIP TO FINLAND
Hello! I’m Natalia from ‘Santo Tome do Freixeiro’ high school in Vigo (Spain). From 21st to 25th two Spanish pupils and me went to Finland for a school trip.
The 21st we had to take a plane to Paris very early in the morning. There we waited for a long time and then changed our plane. At 17:00 we finally arrived in Helsinki!!
A Finnish teacher took us to Jakomäki high school where our Finnish host, four German pupils and some teachers were waiting for us. There I met my host, a girl called Laura that came to my house last year. Together, with the others, we went to Helsinki centre to see the white church (Cathedral) and the port but it was at night and the photos we made were dark.
On Tuesday we had some English lessons and then we went again to the centre with more light than the last night. A historian teacher told us some interesting things about Finland.
Later we went to a museum with a ‘Pixar’ exposition. Where we watched a little film and learned things about movies like ‘The Incredibles’ or ‘Finding Nemo’.
In the free afternoon all of us went shopping to the city centre.
The 23rd we had a visit to the Vantaa Science Museum called ‘Heureka’ with a lot of funny and interesting things about science like a planetarium.
The next day we did some sport at ‘Tapanila sport centre’ like wall-climbing, boxing and badminton.
Later we went to the school to have home economics lessons. We did Finnish typical pastries with rice or strawberry.
It was the last afternoon so the Finnish pupils made something special: a funny party with lots of people, snacks and Singstar!
On Friday, the last day, we had to be at school very early to say goodbye to our host students and the others. We took a bus to the airport and we watched Finland for the last time from the plane.
We arrived in Vigo, our city, at night. It was a strange feeling: sad because it was the end of the trip but happy to be in our city again.
It has been a great experience where I have learned interesting things about another country with a culture very different from Spain and I have met wonderful people.
By Natalia Espadas


We went to Helsinki on Monday the 21st of April, and the temperature was not so cold as I was expecting. We met in the school with the pupils and went away to their house. Finnish people are more independent; it is another way of life.
On Tuesday we met in the school and went to a class. The school was very modern, much better than ours. I was surprised that they have a high level. Later we went to Pixar Animation museum and visited a bit the city. It has very good means of transport, and I think that this is very good.
On Wednesday we went to the museum of science, I think that it was very interesting, I had a very good time. Later we went to a shopping mall On Thursday we went to do sport (climbing, boxing and bádminton), the class of boxing seemed to me the most interesting. Later we return to the school and we had a cooking lesson , it was very entertaining and interesting to cook.
Later we went to buy some things for the party of Catarina´s host, who had a party in his house where we had a very good time. We sang in the Sing Star and we ate, we really had a good time .
Finally, on Friday we said goodbye in the school and returned to Vigo. Of this trip I have learned to look beyond our culture, and I was surprised by the silence of a city as big as Helsinki and also the independence of the people.
I like to do exchanges because this way I know the city and the way of life, but if I go with my parents I only know the city; and the first thing is more interesting. It has been a very good trip. Thank you!!
By Raquel Crespo

Recycling art project-Spain

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Recycling project - Vigo

German students in Vigo

From 14th April to 18th April 2008 we (Marcel, Melanie, Lars and Karo, class 9) travelled with our Spanish teacher (Mrs Delgado) to Vigo (Spain). We went there by plane, for one of us it was the first flight.
We did many interesting activities.
We visited our Spanish partner school and we went to a music lesson in the school. There we played different instruments
On Tuesday we did a tour around Vigo with students and we went to the beach. There we played football, later we went home for lunch .
We made a trip to Portugal on Wednesday, there we had a lot of fun on a typical market. After the trip we went shopping in Vigo’s city centre.It was great.
On the last day we visited Bayona, which is a small seaside village, it lies on a beach. In the afternoon we visited the girls from the school. :-)) Then we went together to a bowling centre, there we had a lot of fun, too. Later we celebrated a little farewell-party. It was very nice.

It was surprising for us that they have dinner very late in the evening. The people there are very friendly and open.

Finally the last day came much too quickly and we had to say good bye. We were really sad and some of us even cried. We hope to meet again in holidays or here in Wernigerode.

Melanie Barth and Marcel Bertram, 9a

German students in Helsinki

During the time from 21st April to 25th April we visited together with two other students of our school our partner school in Helsinki, Finland. While our stay there we did a program which the Finnish teachers created for us.
On Monday we arrived at 4 o’clock pm Finnish time in Helsinki, after we travelled about 1500 kilometres by train, bus and airplane. In the evening of our arrival day we went on a little sightseeing tour though the city centre.
On Thursday we visited the school for 2 lessons of English. After that we visited an exhibition about movie animations where we got a view behind the scenes of movies like “Ratatouille” or “Finding Nemo”. For the rest of the day we had free time which we used for writing postcards, more sightseeing or chilling at the stairs in front of the White Cathedral.
The next day also started at school, with 2 lessons of music. After that we visited the “Heureka”-science centre in Vantaa where we’ve seen a movie about the development of our solar system. During our following free time we’ve been at the city centre again and we also visited the tower of the Olympic Stadium. Up there we had a nice view over Helsinki and some of the small islands. In the evening we went on bowling and the victory was with the German team.
Thursday was a pretty hard day for all of us. At first we visited the “Tapanila”-sport centre in Vantaa, where we tried ourselves in different kinds of sport, for example wall climbing or boxing. After these hard hours we needed something to eat. So we went to 2 home economy lessons at school. We baked some Korelian rice pasties with egg butter (sounds better than it tastes) and some sour cream pies with blueberries. The evening of that day was our last one at “the country of the 1000 lakes”, so he needed to be something really special. And he really was. We celebrated a SingStar-Party at the Pönni-family’s house and of us had lots of fun.
On Friday we went back home to “Saksa” and somehow it was a strange feeling to be at home and to speak the own language again, but also a nice feeling. We’ve been really happy to be back in Wernigerode, but we were also a little sad that it’s all over now…


Tim Kolditz, Marie Manger

Wernigerode: Visitors from Finland and the Netherlands

From 31st March to 4th April 2008 seven students from Helsinki and Vlaardingen and three teachers visited our school. During the week they enjoyed different activities like a welcome-breakfast at school, a town-rallye or a visit of the castle.
For all students it was a big challenge to communicate in English for the whole days, sometimes also by using hands and feet. But the "highest" experience was the trip to the summit of the Brocken, the highest mountain of the Harz. We went there by steam railway because the weather was right as we expected - bad. Snow, storms, hail, fog and even a blizzard ;-). But being on the Brocken at nice weather with sunshine and a view about 200 kilometres would be boring, wouldn't it? At the summit we visited the "Brockenhaus", a museum about the nature of the Harz and about the Brocken and its meaning as a border between east and west during the Cold War. We also went back by train to Wernigerode. We spent our evenings together, for example at the bowling centre. On Friday we unfortunately had to say "good bye" but on 21st April we'll meet again in Helsinki!

Easter Greetings

Our School, Our Future - Building Schools of the Future

A Vision of Students Today





For teachers

3 Steps for 21st Century Learning

Videoclip

Dear friends,

I have just came back from Prague where I met many international teachers.
Our school starts a new project "Challenges in Schools" led by British Council.

In Challenges for Schools (CiS) project students and teachers from Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Ukraine and UK are working together to develop a vision for the school of the future.

I have seen a nice videoclip which I want to show you here.
Enjoy :-) Anna




Different version of the same video (I think easier for the pupils)

CELEBRATIONS IN SPAIN

CARNIVAL


When is carnival, how long does it last?

It last five days in February ,we have got holidays on Monday and Tuesday.

What do people do?

They wear fancy dresses in the street ,go to parties ...

What do people wear?

The people wear some funny costumes ,fancy dresses as frefighters,bunny girl ,...

Are there any special customs?
Food:
The people eat "ears".They are made with flour.
They look like pigs ears.
They eat filloas they are crepes.
They eat "lacon con grelos" they are salted
pork with vegetables.

Celebrations:
"Entierro del meco":
They burn things
"Entierro de la sardina"
the people wear black clothes.They cry because
carnival has finished.
There are parades in the streets.
People go with funcy dresses.
They throw sweets.


VALENTINE`S DAY


What do people do on Valentine`s day in Spain?
We send a card and flowers to someone we love. We write something romantic and you can sign the card. Friends can give to other friends teddy bears and sweets.
This year in the school , we had a competition of love letters:
--we gave a diploma and sweets for everybody.
--for the winners we gave a rose , a diploma and a book.

IT WAS FANTASTIC!

By Camila, Diana, Raquel, Ada, Damaris, Enrique, Andres, Nerea, Julián and Alejandro. (2º D)

Videos promoting healthy behaviour - Spain

CHRISTMAS IN SPAIN

CHRISTMAS IN SPAIN -3ºB

On 24th December, it’s Christmas Eve, the families have a big dinner. This night we put under the Christmas tree the presents.

Mariamo Mussa

In Spain, traditional food is shellfish, meat and “turrón” (kind of nougat traditionally eaten at Christmas). The families have dinner together. On Christmas day, the families are together; they stay at home singing Christmas songs, dancing and laughing. I think everybody is happy this day.

Beatriz Padrón


NOUGAT

We, on Christmas Eve, eat a lot at around ten o’clock. It’s a big dinner! Shellfish, like lobster ( not many people),crabs, king prawns, oyster and for the main course, roast lamb, beef or pork.
Then, we all drink a toast with champagne and we open the presents, which are under the Christmas tree, at twelve o’clock.

Carolina Patiño

In Spain, we have got traditions like eating twelve grapes at twelve o’clock on the last night of the year. We also sing Christmas song. All the family gets together. We have a merry Christmas!!

Marina Aguirre

We have the Three Wise King’s day too on the 6th of January. They leave presents for good kids and coal for “bad” kids.

Sara Costas



The representations of the birth of Jesus can be seen in the squares of cities and small towns and also at the entrance of the houses and in the windows of shops. Spanish cribs are very well decorated to appear as real as possible. In many cities, there are even contests for the best cribs. In many small towns, the night of Christmas Eve, December 24, there is a “live” crib with actors, actresses, and animals associated with the birth of Jesus Christ, a cow, a donkey and some sheep.

Paula Barreiro

Here, in Spain we have the 3 Wise Kings. They're 3 kings who follow the Pole Star to give their presents to the child Jesus in Bethlehem, they're called Melchor, Gaspar and Baltasar. We also have Santa Claus like you, but we call him 'Papa Noel'. We usually get clothes and money for presents. We also eat a cake called 'roscon', which has a round shape with a hole in the middle and we put little figures in it. In the special dinners we usually eat shellfish .

Rodrigo Alvarez

Our town: Old and new

Two pupils visited the old Inner-german bordehttp://www.sks-burgbreite.bildung-lsa.de/seiten/comenius.htm

Christmas Greetings from Germany

Christmas Greetings

Christmas in Finland

Christmas preparations start early in Finland with ‘Little Christmas'. Little Christmas or "pikkujoulu" means a certain kind of pre-Christmas celebration, for example many companies offer their staff a restaurant outing (often with alcoholic beverages) before Christmas. It can also be thought of as a period of time in late November through early December when such feasts most often occur.

There are three other Advent Sundays before Christmas. One candle is lit and put either in a special candlestick that holds four, or as the first of the four candles on the Christmas tree. Other times, the four candles of Advent are placed in the home often near a window where they can be plainly seen.

Children get their first Christmas present then. Small children get an Advent Calendar with a window to open each day before Christmas.

Everyone helps to make "piparkakkuja" or gingerbread, shaping it into stars, hearts, moons, pigs and other figures. Cold ham, salted meat and pickled herrings are also eaten, as is herring salad with chopped carrots, turnips or salted cucumber. (The ham is usually 5-10 kg in weight, is coated with mustard and equals to a Christmas turkey as known to the Americans; very few Finns eat Christmas turkey.)

Tulips, hyacinths or poinsettias or gifts are given to friends. Families gather at home around the tree and drink a cup of glögi, made of red wine, spices and raisins.

The main Christmas celebration starts at twelve o'clock on December 24th by the Mayor of Helsinki, who says everyone should pay their respects to the Christ Child's birth. So early on Christmas morning, around six o'clock, every body gets up and goes to church. The churches are lit with candles at all the pews. When the snow is extremely deep, the service is watched on television.

We will tell you about Christmas in Finland. We have a Christmas
tree in the house. We eat very much ham, salad, potatoes and
everything tasty, chocolate, of course, and sweets. Santa Claus
usually comes with his presents on Christmas Eve. Santa Claus
has a long beard, red clothes and a silly hat. Santa Claus lives in
Korvatunturi, Finland. There are a lot of brownies helping him.

Christmas is very traditional celebrations in Finland. People spend Christmas in 24.12. At that time is usually snow and frost in Finland.

At Christmas people buy a Christmas tree and then they decorate it. People buy presents to each other, pack them and then put them under the Christmas tree.

Traditional Christmas dishes are ham, Swede casserole, escalloped potatoes, carrot casserole and rice porridge.

At Christmas people bake ginger biscuits and Christmas cakes. There is plum jelly in the Christmas cakes. On Christmas Eve evening Father Christmas comes to give presents for everyone. Then everybody sing Christmas songs and they open the presents. Everybody is happy at Christmas.

Christmas in Finland. One day before Christmas we
usually go into the forest and cut down a good Christmas tree.
We put that tree inside our home. Then on Christmas Eve
we put a golden star on the top of that Christmas tree
and other beautiful things on it. We decorate our homes beautifully. On Christmas Eve we go to the Finnish sauna.
Father Christmas visits every family and gives presents.
He is an old, friendly man who wears red clothes.
And we have a Christmas meal, too. It is ham, rosolli salad,
carrot cassarole, rice porridge, plum pudding and ginger
bread and tarts. Early in the morning on Christmas Day we go to Christmas church where we listen to Christmas songs.

Greetings from Wernigerode

Hello, we are Ramazan and Mahmoud. The idea blokspot of you is very good. We have seen the images and read the comments. We liked to read. We are going in the 10th class. The 10th class is running well for us. Now we hope that we find a good work because it is our last year at school. We look forward to meet the Turkish pupils here. We want to see them and get to know them.
Greetings from Germany

Student’s walkout.

Last Thursday 22nd, in Vigo, young students from different high schools went on a strike against fascism. The Syndicate of Students of Vigo was the organizer of this walkout and the group that had a speech about this problem, a problem that (they said) must be eradicated because it is inhuman and unmoral.
But the strikes started even before of this one. It all started when a pair of neo-Nazi people murdered a young anti- fascist boy that was walking to a demonstration in Madrid. Since then the TV has been trying to hide it but the problem’s been getting bigger and bigger. The demonstrations against any kind of racist ideologies or doctrines have gathered a huge number of people in all Spain, something that shows that tolerance, equality, multiculturalism, and peace aren’t values for a small bunch of people but values of all the society.
In the pictures you can see the students concentrating in America Square and walking along Gran Vía Avenue.
By Javier Irazábal

Meeting with our Dutch friends - SPAIN

MEETING WITH THE DUTCH PEOPLE

This summer, the days 6 – 20 August, some boys of the exchange with the Netherlands came again to Vigo. Then, we saw again Selwyn, Maikel, Ricardo and Sjoerd.

The weather was really good, so we were most of the days on the beach. One of these days we visited Cies.Another day, we went shopping and we had a party to welcome them. In the party, we had a lot of fun chatting, eating and dancing.

They went to San Roque’s Festival too, because it’s a famous festival in Vigo, and they went to Arenal’s discos.

It was really nice to share again some days with them, although we miss a lot of dutch people that didn’t come. We love them so much and we’re happy because we keep in touch with them all.

We hope we can share again good moments together next summer.

By Carmen Rodriguez and Beatriz Gómez