Meeting in Oviedo

While we had a typical harsh winter, something unusual happened. Three students and two teachers from a small town in Estonia set out for the meeting in Spain.

The destination was a Spanish province – Asturias (officially the Principality of Asturias) and its centre – Oviedo. Asturias is located in the Northern part of Spain along the bay of Biscay. We were hosted by the IES Llanera school’s students.

The travellers used several means of transport. At first we went to Stocholm by boat then they used a metro (Arlanda express) to get to the Arlanda airport. There was no direct flight to the destination, so we had to make a stopover in Madrid.

The first day in Spain started with  lessons at a small school.The corridors were narrow and walls made of red brick. There was a tiny cafe instead of a canteen. Students didn’t have to change clothes or footwear to enter the school. The breaks were bustling, but the pupils calmed down for their class.
After school we had a lovely walk in Oviedo. It  is an old and historical town. The most glorious cathedral – St Iglesia Cathedral is also a museum, where we were shown ’’The Victory Cross’’ (Cruz de la Victoria). Oviedo seemed to be very clean, colourful and groomed. At the end of the day students went shopping with their new mates.
On Tuesday everyone met in the school hall. Students from different countries had to make a presentation about recycling in their school and activities done after the last meeting in Turkey.

Our students told about their photo competition ’’Notice rubbish’’ and ’’Let’s do it’’ project in Estonia (2008). After the presentations we drove to Gijón and had an outing.

On Wednesday the students visited a local youth center and music school, which was a huge and beautiful house, equipped with the latest technology. Teachers held a meeting and had an excursion to a local social hall.

On Thursday morning we went on a hiking tour. Everyone, even the locals, had a wonderful time and were drawn to rivers and mountains. In the afternoon we visited the Parque de la cave Prehistoria (learning center) where we saw cave art from different places of Europe. Unfortunately, those were copies of the real ones. The guide spoke English, but generally there weren’t much people, who could speak in English.

Friday was a normal schoolday for students, but after that they went to a park and played basketball. The weather was sunny and it was almost 20o C outside. The students enjoyed spending time together: they sang some well-known English songs, swung and laughed until late night.

Many thanks to the families who hosted us!

Luise Risthein

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A little photogallery about wonderful week in Spain.

Gallery

Do You remember?

With Best Regards!

Estonian Team

Winter in Tapa

15.02.2011 morning - minus 29 degrees Celsius, sunshine!
10.12.2010 morning - storm Monica, 40 cm snow by one night.

A little picture gallery about our winter time.

Estonian team

Comenius group is smarter now!

Last week the environment specialist of Tapa Parish, Krista Pukk, visited us at school. It was necessary to find out more about current environmental problems in our town and also about the tasks/daily job of the environment specialists and how they tackle the problems.

So, the issue we discussed in more detail was. She asked us about the variety of dustbins around our houses/homes and told us about the redemption centers in our town. We talked about waste management firms and the nearest landfills, also about the waste scheme that is drawn up for Tapa parish.

Then we went on talking discussing burning trash on our own and we realized that it is quite dangerous even if you do it in a fireplace or furnace because it may cause poisonous gases to.

In addition, she told us about wells and how often affect the quality of groundwater or cause it to disappear form. Fortunately, we don’t have these kinds of problems in our parish yet.

Pukk then told us about regular monitoring that is conducted  in the factories and companies that produce a lot of industrial waste. Surveillance is also conducted on the river Valgejõgi and many other natural objects.

During Pukk’s visit we got a lot of information about the circumstances of our surroundings. We hope that we can do something ourselves to help solve some of the problems or at least take notice of them. Special thanks to Krista Pukk.

Eco-Experiments Romania

Our children tried to combine ecology with other subjects taught in school, so they managed to do some physics experiments using recycling materials. They demonstrated some physics laws (Archimede's law, Paschal's law, light reflection, driving force) using plastic bottles, cans, disposable cups, cardboards and other materials. Watch then!

Christmas Workshops Romania

1. Christmas Cards
Our students started their work with some Christmas Cards: they used a few recycling coloured paper and a lot of creative imagination. Just watch!

2. Christmas Decorations

They followed "the Christmas Spirit" and they made lots of eco-decorations: snowmen from paper and polystyrene, Christmas balls from newspapers, many types of stars and other tiny toys, Christmas trees and garlands, all of then made of ecological materials. Click here!

3. Contest: The most beautiful classroom!

In the end, the students participated in a contest where the most beautiful decorated classrooms in school received prizes. They did their best to win. Look!