Erasmus+ "We Run Vilnius" 2017

The Smile team

 

Anxiety survey analysis

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B_7JltVFwmSfbE5ubk03cVJwZUE
 

Day 6, 5^th May

Early in the morning we meet at school ready for the game “Scavenger Hunt” to explore modern Barcelona. This is the last but perhaps the most exciting and adventurous activity of the project. We are divided into mixed teams and given the maps with descriptions of the places we have to find our way to. We are not allowed to use any means of transport and as a proof have to take photos at the places. Every team desires to win! So the “hunt” starts. This wonderful activity gives us an opportunity to visit many places of Barcelona, dive into the atmosphere of the bustling flea market and enjoy the tranquility of the beautiful park, relax at the beach and have our tired feet cooled by the sea. We head back to La Llagosta to have our final discussion about the results of this part of the project and the ceremony of awarding the certificates. The day ends with the dinner together with the families which hosted the students of the project. We feel sad but we are full of hope that we will meet again!
Galina Kurchevskaja, teacher of English language in Vasily Kachialov gymnasium, Vilnius,30.04.2017

 

Day 5, 4^th May

In the morning we are at school again waiting impatiently for a workshop on Mindfulness with the teachers Marta and Mercedes from the Department on Educational Psychology. The students and teachers follow all the instructions of our tutors, trying to relax and get rid of anxiety. We think that techniques we have acquired will be useful for all of us. Then Natividad takes us to the town hall to meet the mayor of La Llagosta. We take photos in front of a huge grasshopper
(La Llagosta means a grasshopper in Catalan) and in front of the oldest building of the town feeling happy and relaxed after the workshop. Our next destination is the Museum of Catalan Art in Barcelona and in the evening we are going to enjoy the show of Magic Fountains in Placa d’Espanya. We also take the chance to visit a Museum of Joan Miro, a contemporary Catalan painter, graphic artist, sculptor and ceramicist.

 

Day 4, 3^rd May

We are at school all together, students and teachers, to take part in a workshop on reducing anxiety with a university teacher Mireia Cabero. At first each students and teacher has to say a word which associates with anxiety to them. Then the teachers and students are divided into mixed teams to work with plasticine and create various figures which represent their feeling of anxiety. We describe them to other members of the team, communicate a lot and try to be creative and original, share our ideas, thus practicing to speak English. We realize that it is very important to be able to describe our feelings and share them with others as well as listen to each other. After that we are asked to work out the ways to reduce anxiety applying our creativity and imagination as several teams work on making collages, while others work as sculptors or have to reach an agreement playing a special card game. All of us enjoy the workshop which is really useful experience. In our opinion, the idea of getting students and teachers together is very good because there is a chance for them to communicate as equal partners thus making equal contribution into the final result. This experience should definitely be disseminated among the students and teachers of our school. After the workshop we feel very enthusiastic to cope with all kinds of anxiety (at least today). Now it is time to travel to Barcelona to explore Gaudi’s route and the Old Quarter of the city and just to communicate with other teachers from the project and share our ideas.

Day 3, 2^nd May

It is our first day at school and it starts with a tour around the school building. The building of Institut Marina is completely different from our school. It consists of three round 3-storeyed towers united by a 1-storey round building so the shape of the classrooms is also different. They are like segments of a circle. In the central building there are teacher’s rooms, a canteen, a gym and a ground for students to meet at break-time. After the tour the participants of the project take part in an interesting ice-breaking activity, organized by our Spanish project coordinator Natividad Castillos Rios,and feel very enthusiastic to find out some interesting facts about each other. Then we proceed to the classroom to present the results of the surveys and interviews about anxiety in EFL classroom carried out in our schools. The presentations are really informative and all the participants listen attentively to compare the results of the teams. The Catalan team has a colourful presentation with a lot of pictures and diagrams, the Italian team feels very confident while showing their results, the Cyprus team illustrates their results with creative videos and make students laugh and the Finnish team has a lot of clever and precise comments about the level of anxiety at their school. The presentations are followed by an extremely loud performance of the drummers and all the participants are invited to join a Zumba dance with the young energetic dancers of the host-school.  The teachers have an opportunity to see the lessons of their Spanish colleagues and share the experience. In the afternoon we travel to Barcelona to admire the long-anticipated Sagrada Familia, the world-known landmark of Barcelona-City. This outstanding creation of Gaudi is utterly impressive! Instead of describing this unique cathedral, we think you should look at the photos we have taken.

 

Day 2, 1^st May

On our first day in Spain we have a wonderful opportunity to admire the architectural masterpieces of Great Barcelona. It is unforgettable experience for all the members of the group. Park Güell, designed by world-famous architect Antoni Gaudi, makes us hold our breath. We take the photos of magic mosaic lizard, Serpent bench, quirky buildings, the forest of stone columns and every part of the park reveals something unexpected, elaborately designed, never seen. You can spend a whole day in the park finding out its secrets and beauties, but we have a lot of places to see and activities to do. So our next destination is Bunkers, one of the highest points of the city, which enables us to enjoy the breathtaking panorama of the city. Although walking up the hill requires some effort, it is worth making it to see the boundless sea, huge city and Sagrada Familia which stands out in all its splendour among the other buildings. We descend from the hill and continue out tour to the centre of Barcelona to Palau De La Musica, a concert hall to see a performance of passionate Catalan guitarists and flamenco dancers. This chance to get an insight into the traditional Catalan dancing is unforgettable!  

Lithuanian team in La Llagosta

Day 1, 30^th April

After some hours of travelling by plane we find ourselves at the airport of Barcelona at last. Dominyka Lamauskaitė, Sabina Vincel, Dominyka Chackelevič and teachers Galina Kurčevskaja, Natalija Romanenkova and Danuta Jablonskaja look at each other anxiously but excited ready to meet our Catalan partners of the project “Stress-free and Inspirational learning”. We are greeted warmly by our hosts Carmen, Ingry, Laura and Paula, photographed and we start the journey to the final destination   La Llagosta, a small town near Barcelona to spend 5 enjoyable days there.