A FAREWELL TO VILMA

This academic year we have had the privilege of having an English-speaking assistant for The Comenius Project.

As everybody knows, the person assigned for our school is Vilma Berontaite, from Lithuania.

Now, when it is about to finish her stay with us, I would like to sum up the tasks she has made for the Comenius Project and her help not only for pupils but also for teachers, in addition to her work in different groups and levels.

Regarding her work with pupils taking part in the Comenius Project, Vilma helped them prepare presentations in Power Point, comics, board games, legends about water, posters related to water, … And she was also a support for the teachers Meli Peralta and María José Campello, who began this project two years ago and worked hard for it.

Besides, she worked with pupils needing special support; simply having contact with a foreigner who does not speak the pupils´ mother tongue has been an excellent stimulus for them.

On the other hand, she made presentations of her country, Lithuania, in nearly all the levels of ESO. As an example, in 3ºESO with the English teacher Juan José Seijas and 3ºPDC with the English teacher María José Fernández.

She attended and took part in different music lessons in 4ºESO and 1º BAC with the music teacher, Teo Ramirez. In these lessons she listened to songs in English with the pupils, helping them to understand the lyrics, being a good way to get in touch with the pupils in the classroom.

She also attended Art lessons in 1º ESO, whose teacher is Maria Armada. Some of the pupils made a comic for the Comenius Project; María helped pupils with the drawings whereas Vilma helped them with the texts in English.

Finally, she had no objection to teaching “the cell” in English in a Science lesson together with Dolores Vizoso or explaining a brief history of Lithuania with Divina Arnoso, both in 2ºESO.

And we cannot forget that she taught English to some members of the staff all year long.

Personally, it has been an unforgettable experience, not only in the professional field but in the personal one as well.

I must say I had the honour of getting to know a wonderful person; intelligent, hardworking, nice person with a great ability to get used to living in a country with such a different culture from her own.

So, thank you very much Vilma. I think you will be in our hearts forever. 

I would like to finish with a quotation:

“Why should we look down on other races?

We are all human beings, of one world and of one blood.

To hate a person just because he was born somewhere else,

just because he speaks a different language,

just because he thinks about things in a different way,

does not make sense.

We should get away from that.

We are all people,

Nobody is perfect,

And we all need help”

                                                             John Amos Comenius.

                                                       (seventeenth-century writer)

Elena Yáñez

The resume of the project "Water, the spring of life"

It is said that all good things come to the end. Unfortunatelly, the project "Water, the spring of life" also has finished. Therefore, the event, resuming all the activities and assignements, was held in the school's library. Pupils made presentations about the countries they visited, and the teachers explained what has been accomplished along two years.

Flashcards: Water dictionary

Here are the flashcards prepared by the italian school (Sara Brunno).

Spanish words

Italian words

Turkish words

French words

Estonian words

The last activity of our Comenius project

On Tuesday afternoon from 16.00 to 18.30, approximately, we are going to hold a meeting in the school library with the teachers, students and parents involved in the Comenius project. The aim of this meeting is to put a perfect end to these unforgettable years we spent working with students and teachers of Turkey, Italy, Estonia and France.
We will show a summary of the work we carried out along these two years and the students will share with their parents and us the best moments of the four meetings we held.

At the end we will enjoy some snacks prepared by teachers and parents.

In the school of Kehtna, showing the summary of the project in our school

Tallin.

In the morning we visited Tallinn Vesi, a water company that provides drinking water to the city of Tallinn

After that we visited the city of Tallinn

Teacher Meli organized a photo hunt. Students were divided in groups. Every group had 2 estonians students and a map. They had to find some sights and take photos representing water symbols

Organizing the groups.

In the afternoon we visited the Seaplane Harbour (Maritime) Museum

Last day in estonia

Today we have been visiting Tallin. It's our last day here. Just a few hours left but we start to miss our Comenius friends!

In the Lennusadam museum

Third day

A day working at school

Second day

Canoing, rafting and science but I haven't photos of the morning.
In the evening, Tartu, the second city in Estonia.

Ready to do cannoeing/rafting

Wearing lifevest and waiting for our turn  with our French friends

In our hostel in Taevaskoja

Today after having breakfast

In the Estonian forest

Today we were visiting the estonian countryside. We are in Southeastern part of the country. We stayed in the highest cliff in Estonia

First day in Estonia