The trip to Normandy

The trip to Normandy was fantastic. We all had a great time. We met partners of the Comenius Project from 4 countries: France, Turkey, Estonia, Italy. We learnt many things about water, which is the subject of the project, and we visited beautiful places.

The first day, Wednesday, 6th of March, we left High School at 5:00 am, because our flight from Porto (Portugal ) was at 11:00 am, with a destination to Paris (France).

At the airport in Porto…waiting for our flight to Paris!

At last in Paris!!!...waiting for the bus to Grand Quevilly

There we waited for the bus which took us to a very beautiful little village - Grand Quevilly. It is situated near Rouen. We arrived to the village at 19:00.

The following day, on the 7th of March (Thursday), we visited the college. There we made a lot of activities with our partners from Estonia, Turkey, Italy and France: music workshops, films …. Even circus!!

                                         At the High School entrance, with our Italian partners

Practicing circus activities…with our French partners

The third day, we presented our works about water: table games (Pingüin 007, the Game of the Water…) and all our works made during this course. This day we had lunch in a professional school for future “chefs”, typical French food…which was delicious.

That afternoon, we visited the nearest city, Rouen. It is a typical Normandy city, with beautiful buildings.

The same evening, they organized a party, where we spent a good time, dancing to music from Turkey, Estonia, Italy, France and Spain.

On Saturday, we visited beautiful villages on the way to the Normandy coast. I loved their beaches, but…they have only stones, no sand!!!

That evening…which was last in France, the families of our French partners invited us to have dinner at their homes.  They all were very kind.

On Sunday we came back home. Our flight was via Barcelona. We spent 5 unforgettable days in France.

An experience to recommend!!

Normandy coast

Inés Bouza Morgade. 1º A ESO – Instituto Concepción Arenal – Ferrol – Marzo 2013

Comenius meeting in France

On the 6th of March our Comenius team went to France for Comenius meeting. We spent 5 interesting and unforgettable days together with other Comenius partners. The meeting took place in Grand Quevilly. The days were very intense. The students as well as teachers were participating in various workshops, made presentations about "water awareness week", visited some marvellous places in Normandy, such as Le Havre, Rouen, Honfleur and ,of course, magical cliffs in Etretat.

Comenius partners ( Italy, France, Estonia, Turkey, Spain) in Honfleur.

Trying to discover the secrets of making French crepes.

 

Percussion beats played by students.

Spanish team says a big thanks to all partners for a great time spent together and especially for French team for a warm welcome and nicely organised meeting!!!

Lunch in other school

Today we had lunch in other school. It was in a Lyceé. The lunch was prepared by students of this school who are studing vocacional training in cooking.
We had tasted starters, roasted chicken and an apple pie as a dessert. In the afternoon we visited Rouen.

Le college Claude Bernard

In this picture you can see the main entrance of the French school where we are in Le Grand Quevilly

At last in Paris

Waiting for our shuttle in Charles de Gaulle airport

Water and health

Some students make posters about drink water instead sparkling drinks.

Schedule of the meeting in France

Wednesday March the 6^th

Arriving of flights in Paris :

-spanish team (8) et 13h50 in Roissy airport

-estonian team(7) at 16h35 in Roissy airport

-italian team (11) at 15h10 in Roissy airport

-turkish team(7) et 17h20 in Orly airport

All the partners have a shuttle (minibus) to bring them to the hotel near our school.

All the partners arrive at their hotel, waited by a french teacher there ; free dinner near the hotel (many restaurants around)

Thursday March the 7^th

• 8h30 : partners leave the hotel by foot with one or two french teachers showing the way

• 9h00 Welcome in our school, schedule presentation

• 9h/10h15 the partners visit our school with french students involved in the project

• 10h15/10h45 coffee break

• 10h45/12h45 Work meeting, presentations, next meeting.... ; at the same time, beginning of the cartoon working group (6 students + 1 teacher, french and other countries mixed together)

• 12h45/13h30 Lunch at school

• 13h45/16h30 10 working groups : students change every 30 min or hour

• 16h45 The partners go back to their hotel by foot (20 min)

• 19h30 The partners come back to school : dinner and cartoon presentation

• 22h30 back to the hotel by car with our students's parents

Friday March the 8^th

• 8h30 partners arrive alone at school

• 9h/10h30 next meeting's preparation, "sound" working group for the cartoon if needed.

• 10h45 visit of Grand-Quevilly by foot

• 12h lunch at Grand-Quevilly high school ; lunch prepared by older students

• 13h/17h30 visiting Rouen, departure by metro, back to the hotel by bus.

• 19h10 partners leaves their hotel and come back to school

• 19h30 beginning of the party evening, with dinner and show prepared by students.

• 22h30/23h30 party animated by students : please bring some music from all the countries !

• 23h30 back to the hotel by car

Saturday March the 9^th

• 9h/17h30 All the people involved in the project leave the hotel by bus to visit some places in

Normandy linked with our theme (Honfleur, Le Havre, Etretat). Free lunch in Le Havre city (13h)

• 20h teachers dinner in Rouen ; students eat in families with french students

• 23h15 students and teachers back to the hotel

Sunday March the 10^th

• 8h turkish and estonian teams leave the hotel to go to Paris

• 10h (or sooner if thy want) spanish team leaves their hotel

• 9h (about) Italian team leaves the hotel and visit Mont-Saint Michel ; back at the hotel in the afternoon ; free dinner and one more night in the hotel and then going to Paris on monday (what time?)

The questions for the table games related to water

One of our work in the second year of our Comenius Project was to prepare at least one table game related to water. They can be online games or table games. We chose table game. We have been working in it since the beginning of this school year. The students who were involved in this work were students of 12, 13 and 14 years old. It was a hard work but at last we have three table games (The penguin 007, The sunken ship and The water game), as you can see in others post.

We have questions and test which are necessary to past to win the game.

If you want to test your knowledge about water you can try to answer our questions.

Here they are:

1.      What percentage of water on earth is fresh?

2.      What percentage of water on earth is salty?

3.       What is the chemical structure of the molecule of water?

4.      What percentage of people in the world lack access to drinking water?

5.       What percentage of our body contains water?

6.       Name two water purification systems.

7.       What warm stream affects the Atlantic coasts of Europe? 

8.       Why are the tides produced?

9.       How often are the tides produced?

10.   How many tides are there in a day?

11.  What are the names of the tides that occur during the day?

12.   What percentage of water is used in the agriculture approximately?

13.  What is the percentage of water used for domestic purposes approximately?

14.   How many litters of water does a person use a day in Europe?

15.  Name two abiotic factors of water.

16.   Name at least three organisms which can live in the water.

17.  Why some of the organisms on the abyssal zone have a luminous part on their body?

18.  What is the biggest marine animal?

19.  Name 3 the most common species of seaweed.

20.  What are the agents that produce eutrophication?

21.  What is the main pollutant of the water produced by agriculture?

22.  What is the main pollutant produced by the domestic activities?

23.  What is the main source of nitrogen that pollutes the rivers?

24.   What is the reason that in some waters there is green colour?

25.   What are the main biological pollutants?

26.   Where is the biggest rate of deaths because of the polluted water?

27.   Is it correct to say that if the temperature of water is high, the amount of dissolved oxygen is high too?

28.  What is the oldest lake in the world?

29.  What is the longest river in the world?

30.  What is the depth of the Dead Sea?

31.  Where is the Baikal Lake situated?

32.  What is the widest river in the world?

33.  What Spanish explorer discovered the Amazon River?

34.  In what country does the river Yangtze flow?

35.  What is the largest source of fresh water?

36.  Which is the sea saltiest: North Sea, Dead Sea or Baltic Sea?

37.  How many litters of water are used to produce 1 kg of paper?

38.  Who is called the God of Seas in Greek mythology?

39.  Name three rivers that belong to top 5 of the longest rivers.

40.   Name the strait that separate Europe from Asia in Istambul.

41.  Where is The Great Barrier Reef located?

Good luck! 

Our third table game ready: Mr. Penguin 007

It was made by Cristovo Castro (13 years old)

The rules to play are:

1. Chips are drops of water and to start the game they have to be placed on the square nº 1. The same number as players. Each player shakes the dice. The player who has the biggest number on dice starts the game.

2. Every player shakes the dice and answers the question. If the player answers correctly, he moves forward, if not-waits for the next turn.

3.  When the player lands on the blue square, he has to pass the test related to water (cards marked with a T on the back)

4. The player wins the game if he lands to the centre directly.

5. If the player doesn’t land directly to the centre, he has to move forward and return back the exact number which is on the dice.

6. When the question is a picture, you have to ask the name of the picture in English.

Another table game ready: The sunken ship

It was made by Noa and Lara Castro Lema

A ship has sunk, so the game consists of getting to a deserted island. To do this, the players must answer some questions and participate in some tests. 

The chips are small boats, the same number as players. Each player shakes the dice. The player who has the biggest number on dice starts the game.

The rules to play are:

1. If you fall on a square with a question mark, you must answer a question.

2. If you land on a square with a drawing, you must do a test related to water (cards marked with a T on the back) .

3. If you fall into the box that represents a storm, your boat turns over and you must move back five squares.

4.   If you fall into the swirl box, your boat is trapped, so you lose two turns.

5. If you fail an answer, you cannot go on.

6. When the question is a picture, you must answer the name of the picture in English.

Alberto's opinion about his trip to France

I am very glad that I will go to France. I hope to have great time there and to get acquainted with people from different countries.

During my stay I will try to improve my English and to learn the basics of French.

It will be my fist time to fly with a plane.

It always has been my dream to fly and now my dream came true.

Andrea's opinion about her trip to France

I am very happy because I did not expect to go to France. But now, I am counting the days and waiting for the 6 of March. 

I want to have good time in France, meet new friends of the different countries and practise  English and French. I want to see Grand- Quevilly and its places of interest. 

I want to thank the Comenius proyect for giving me the opportunity to travel to France. I am sure that this travel will be an unforgettable experience in my life.