FIRST LTTA ACTIVITY: TEACHERS MEETING IN SPAIN

Dates: 2nd to 4th December

Place: CEIP La Biesca (Canales- La Magdalena, León, Spain)

Summary:

This activity intends to be a first approach for the whole project. Its content consists in numerous types of activities (ice- breaking activities, cultural ocassions, management information, staff meetings)... It is important to highlight the staff meetings, as they represent the starting point to decide concrete aspects related with the project (activities calendar, responsibilities sharing, dissemination, use of the eTwinning...)

Local participants have also represented an important value for this first step of the project:
- Environmental organizations, like Cuatro Valles or Reserva de la Biosfera, which gave teachers information about our surroundings.
- Local artists as Amancio González (international recognised sculptor) and Cecina de León Folk (traditional music group).
- Town council (which payed for two lunchs in a local restaurant)
- Teachers and students from CRA Riello, which shares some teachers with CEIP La Biesca, and represents a perfect example of rural school, with only 9 students.
- Parents of our students (preparing lunchs, as they are owners of two restaurants)
- Cultural guide of La Casona in Murias de Paredes (example of nature and traditions of our environment)
- Students, which participated showing their classrooms and work to our guests, and dancing traditional dances from the guests' countries.
- Teachers from CEIP La Biesca, both the ones involved in the Erasmus+ Group and the rest, since they cooperated actively to carry out all the activities of the centre in a satisfactory way.

The impact of this first activity has been unbeatable, and it has deeply benefited all the participants involved:
- Children have been fascinated by the opportunity of meeting teachers from abroad. Most of our pupils suffer from economic problems, so they don't have the chance to visit foreign countries. In this sense, their curiosity for the teachers has been énormous. This feeling was reciprocal, as teachers have shown a deep interest in them, contacting with their pupils with videocalls to show them the school, interacting with the pupils, and even dancing with them when pupils from La Biesca made an exhibition of traditional dances from Italy, Bulgaria and Greece.
- Families have also been beneficiaries of this situation, since they had the chance of meeting the teachers from the countries their children are going to travel to, and now they feel more secure about it.
- Local organizations and individuals have also been involved in the project (environmental associations, traditional museums, town council, teachers and pupils from a near school, and local artists as Amancio González), and their participation has been decisive to carry out this first activity in a satisfactory way.
- Benefits for the teachers have also been countless. We have created affective bonds, shared experiences, learned about environment in La Magdalena and all the countries involved,  compared our education sytems, and worked a lot on the project: a review of the whole project, responsibilities of each partner, list of activities to carry out between the mobilities, accommodation details, the use of eTwinning as an effective tool to work together...

To sum up, these days have represented the best first step for our project!!!