LTTA IN THE NETHERLANDS
5th-11th March 2018
This short term exchange of students focused on Non Formal Learning activities.
The participants were 5 students for each country democratically chosen in each school among the students participating in the project, according inclusive criteria and also on a voluntary basis.
The Dutch school created more situations where participating students carried out activities where they learnt in a non formal way:
-teambuilding activities to stimulate the participation between students, presentations were carried out through several getting-to-know-you icebreaker games for large groups;
- selection of the best logo and poster among the six countries for this Erasmus project (the Portuguese logo was chosen to represent it and the poster selected was the Greek one);
- Workshops about the Theme Non Formal learning at the University of Enschede, where an art activity “Creative Thinking” was held by students and teachers, working in groups of students of different countries dealing with different subjects (eg: Using modern media in sport- Arts, and other subjects) but central were Presentation, Solving problems together, Aspects of Drama and learning in a different way.
- a Cooperative Artwork. Students were supposed to paint their own portraits recreating a “piece of art”.
-making a real 3D Painting de Nachtwacht (painted by Rembrandt);
-creating a Tableau Vivant to learn about art. Students were shown a picture of Rembrandt to analyze and decide which character they wanted to perform. Once they had made up their minds and divided themselves in two groups, they were asked to get properly dressed to role-play that character in order to create a Tableau Vivant. Each Tableau was carefully prepared by each group and presented to the others;
- Working on a project : some drama games to get energized, promote teamwork, encourage personal development, strengthen relationships among diverse students and to make them think introduced the discussion about serious subjects such as: “Do you believe that Arts and Drama should be the principal subjects in the school curriculum?”, “What if you were the Principal of a school for a day, what would you change?” or “Think of a Motto for this exchange of pupils.”. This theatre game ( as an alternative to the game “ the Mole”) integrated some behind-the-scenes exercises, which promoted working together on a shared goal and came out with a final “product” to be shared with everybody.
Students final projects/conclusions were shared with the Principal of Reggesteyn, other Dutch teachers, all the Erasmus partners (teachers & students) and a representative member for Education of the Municipal Council of Nijverdal. The motto proposed by the students was “CHANGE IS HAPPENING NOW”
- There was also an interactive evaluation activity that was successfully performed by students in the school canteen and the results were pretty good for the host country.
As for the teachers they met to evaluate the day activities and to settle other points in the project in the evening teachers’ meetings.
Cultural activities included : Preparing all together a real Dutch meal (which was also part of activities within the Non Formal learning); Education on Ice at the Ice stadium of Twente ( Dutch students and teachers helped the foreign students and teachers with some useful ice skating tips to get them started); a trip to Amsterdam where there was a short guided tour carried out by the Dutch teachers, who showed and explained some of the monuments and cultural aspects.
It was not possible to visit Rijksmuseum as it was closed for unforeseen reasons.
