“Solidarity” in Porto (March, 2022)

“Solidarity” in Porto (March, 2022)

In this activity, special education needs students from hostinhg school participated in 5 different activities including art, dance, forum theater and creative drama. After a brief reflection about education system in Portugal, participants were guided on a visit school building by students. Afterwards, work began with a Creative Drama workshop promoted by Sezi YILDIRIM and Kadriye ŞİMŞEK. After interactive warm-up exercises, students involved in this activity had the opportunity to experience interaction with their peers, recreating a real life situation on a bus. The workshop that followed was held by Olga ZUKOVA and Igor RASSTROGIN from NPG, Estonia. They promoted an artistic activity, Sandtherapy, where students had to color a given drawing using colored sand. On the other day, participant teachers were welcomed by arts teacher, Luisa Amorim, who was responsble for the ceramic workshop. She explained the entire process involved in painting and firing tiles. Participant teachers had the opportunity to paint a tile with the design of one of the most emblematic places in the city, the Ribeira area. Turkish team from Halit Narin Mükerrem ORTAAKARU and Elçin KAYA held an Art Therapy workshop, where students printed a drawing using socks and paints to the sound of fun Turkish music. Screen prints were made on a canvas to the beat of the music, they let their movements flow and the final result culminated in a very beautiful and colorful canvas. Then Rasa Kupryte and inga Navickiene from Panevezio „Vyturion Progimnazija, Lithuania, held a Forum Theatre Activity were the principles of Baltic solidarity were brought to the Cerco do Porto school. Chrysoula Fantzikou, Dimitra Tsiaousi and Vasileios Asimakis from School of Art of Peristeri, Greece held a Creative Drama workshop. The starting point was the exploration of detailed Images of Picasso's Guernica painting. The students identified them, described them and expressed themselves about the feelings that these figures pass on. Then, pictures with photo montage with the binomial peace- war and poverty- wealth scenes were shown. The Erasmus+ team members were received at city hall by representatives of the crty councilof Porto. They had the opportunity to visit and appreciate this emblematic building. The afternoon was dedicated to cultural exploration of the city with teachers from hosting school. Participants were welcomed at school by the Orff Orchestra of the Agrupamento de Escolas do Porto. Then, the team gathered and discussed the relevance and success of the activities presented in the workshops and concluded that they reached the intended objectives and it can be asserted that the mobility was a success. Details about the next and last mobility to Greece were discussed. Ultimately, the headmaster of Agrupamento de Escolas do Cerco do Porto school delivered the certificates of attendance to all team members of this successful mobility.

The teachers who participated in this activity had the opportunity to see the education system of the host school and the activities with special education students on site. The ceramic work carried out with special education students was this time with participating teachers. The teachers learned by experiencing the technique used by the host school with the students. In addition, they held workshops with the special education students of the host institution in turn and observed the workshops. Participating students, on the other hand, tried new methods to express themselves by participating in different activities. They were able to recreate very concrete situations and were enthusiastically involved in the creative drama workshop. They showed enthusiasm when discovering the final product of their creation in the sand therapy activity. Involved students transposed them to the times we live in today and proposed slogans for peace and against war by forum theater. They danced together using common products, painted a common picture and learned solidarity. In the activity pictures with photo montage with the binomial peace- war and poverty- wealth scenes were shown, the students were able to recognize the duality of the two contexts and expressed themselves about them. Self-esteem and social recognition are strengthened by encouraging students to express themselves. Teachers learned new techniques by experiencing and observing them. Each participant kept reports to ensure integration into the normal activities of the involved schools. evaluation videos of special education students were taken and shared on the eTwinning portal by considering e-security.

“Solidarity” in Porto  (March, 2022)