Erasmus
is a student mobility program of the European Union, aiming to bring
together young people and different cultures. We started a project
that we did not think could be transformed into such a great
experience that marked the end of our journey in the middle school.
It was difficult because it lasted two years, but we could make new
friends with both Italian students from other classes and foreign
students from the partner countries. We had some occasions to work
online, to meet them through their work but I would like to talk a
bit of out experience in Gela, for the closing project meeting. In
this occasion, we welcomed French and Romanian students. We met them
the first day in the science lab, we did some ice-breaking activities
and played games to get to know each other. Then, we were taken to
the Main Hall to attend a conference on the theme of migrations: “Us
and the others: welcome, understand and tell”.
The
featured speakers at the conference were: Nicolae Chilcos, Oldest
Member at the Romanian Orthodox Patriarchate in Sicily, who talked
about the integration of Romanian community in Sicily which is the
biggest group of immigrants in our area; Emanuele Cidonelli, Chief of
Communication Department, Advocacy and Fundrising, United Nations
Ocha in Niger. He explained clearly the political situation in Niger
and the reasons that lead people to escape. Then, we met Stefano
Hallam, Cultural Mediator for political refugees. He told about his
own experience like political refugees escaped from Egypt during
Mubarak dictatorial regime and how was his integration in Italy.
Students
showed great interest, attention and involvement about the
conference.
On
the second day, some students enjoyed a trip to Catania: I didn’t
go, but they told us that they especially enjoyed the meeting with
the Consul of Romania.
On
the third day, in the morning, from 08.00 to 09.00, French and
Romanian students attended again the first class at school together
with their hosting friends. They took part in the lessons and did
some CLIL activities.
After
that all the students were gathered in the Main Hall and were
involved in 3 Kahoot! games using their phones.
In
the first round, we had questions about the project, the Italian
students got the second place, the second round was reserved for the
foreign students to test their knowledge about Sicily and the third
test was about Europe. After, we went to the gym and we played
volleyball and we had a lot of fun!
