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
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
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
