Migration Matters
The meeting in Galatsi, Greece
30th April - 4th May 2018
The meeting in Galatsi has been declared in our Erasmus+ application as a "transnational meeting" so that organizational issues of our partnership are addressed. Originally it was scheduled as the last meeting of the partnership so that we address issues related to final arrangements and closing of the project. However, we decided to change the time schedule and exchange the meeting in Greece with the one in Spain due to organizational issues of the Greek team. Since it turned out to be a mid-term meeting, we reviewed the progress of our project, we arranged issues related to the mid-term report for those partners who were obliged to fill in such a report and we arranged the remaining implementation of our partnership.
According to the agenda of our project, we also involved teachers in activities that would contribute to their professional development. Focusing on their pedagogical skills we organized for them to approach and practice the "roleplay" and "debate" learning/teaching techniques. The organization and implementation of the related activities are documented at the "Practicing "roleplay" and "debate" learning/teaching techniques during the meeting in Greece" link of our twinspace.
Moreover, as foreseen in our application, we had students participating in the meeting. The need for their participation was threefold. First, we deemed beneficial for them to practice along with their teachers the aforementioned learning/teaching techniques. Second, we needed students to address migration matters as they are presented in literature and music, e.g. myths, fairy-tales, poems, songs, etc. Last, we wanted to involve them in the creation of the common webpage of our project (http://erasmusmigration.wixsite.com/matters) by organizing a workshop in which they contributed to the webpage (see about the workshop here).
Before the meeting, each partner school studied how migration has influenced the literature and music of its country and presented one influential aspect during the meeting. The material is available at “Migration in literature, movies and songs” link of our twinspace. Moreover, the Greek team researched international filmography on migration and picked 10 movies that span into reporting several migration incidents. These movies are presented at the "Migration Movies Library" page of our twinspace.
Finally, the common product that we produced during the meeting in Greece was a “migration song”. Instead of exploring how migration is depicted in songs (as declared in our original application of the project) we decided to be creative and produce our own migration song. Preparation for this song started prior to the meeting with partners exchanging suggestions for its melody and voting in order to select one of them. The suggestions along with the link to the voting were organized on the etwinning page "Preparing the Migration Song". The Greek team as a host was in charge of preparing the lyrics which were finalized during the meeting and providing means of performing. An international group of students rehearsed during the meeting and finally performed the migration (the video of the performance is available at https://youtu.be/ZK2VPI8Txwg)
Sunday, 29th April 2018
On this day, the partners travelled from their countries to Galatsi. All teams flew to El. Venizelos international airport of Athens and then by metro to Athens center. Upon arrival to Athens the students were picked up by the Greek students and their families and left for Galatsi an urban suburb of Athens located around 10km from the city center. As it had been pre-scheduled in the agenda of our program, during the meeting all the students from the visiting teams were hosted by Greek families while the teachers arranged their accommodation in a hotel in the center of Athens.
Monday, 30th April 2018
Early in the morning, both teachers and students went to the center of Athens. Specifically, we met at the Panathenaic stadium where an unofficial welcome ceremony took place. Next, we had ice-breaking activities which were actually athletic activities since we were in a stadium.
Everyone was very enthusiastic to compete in such a historic stadium, especially the winners who were nominated medals by the Greek team.
Afterwards, we headed towards the Acropolis museum where we split in national groups and we were guided by Greek students. Since the topic of our project is about migration, the Greek team had prepared a special guidebook for us which highlighted exhibits of the museum related to migration matters in ancient Greece. Then, we fulfilled every travelers’ dream by visiting the Acropolis hill. On our way to Propylea the main entrance of the Acropolis, we visited the Theatre of Dionysus and the Odeon of Herodes Atticus. Then we admired Parthenon, the enduring symbol of Ancient Greece, Athenian democracy, western civilization and one of the world's greatest cultural monuments!
Tired, but full of everlasting memories we walked through the ancient Agora to the Monastiraki area where we tasted souvlaki, the quintessential Greek fast food and later we did some shopping.
The rest of the day was free. Students arranged to stroll at Galatsi while teachers strolled around Plaka, the old historical neighborhood of Athens, clustered around the northern and eastern slopes of the Acropolis.
Tuesday, 1st May 2018
Although Mayday is supposed to be a public holiday, activities were arranged at this day as well! In the morning we all met at the Greek school, i.e. 3 Geniko Lykeio Galatsi, where our Greek hosts welcomed us warmly. The Greek team had organized a welcome ceremony in which they presented the current situation in Greece regarding the influx of refugees, their city Galatsi and the programme of the meeting in Greece. Short speeches were given by the headmaster mr Kostas Siemos and the chairwoman of the parents’ association of the Greek school mrs Natasa Demi Chelioti. Next, we had ice-breaking activities which took place at the school’s yard since the weather was VERY warm. Actually we were very “lucky” during our time in Greece to enjoy everyday sunshine and high temperatures!
At noon we experienced the epitome of Greek hospitality: lunch, with traditional Greek food prepared and offered by Greek parents and teachers.
After lunch, feeling energized, all the teams presented fairytales and myths related to migration. Each team had its unique way to do this presentation varying from presentation slides to dramatization. The material is available at “Migration in literature, movies and songs” link of our twinspace.
Afterward, the teachers had a meeting and discussed issues related to the implementation of our project so far. The Greek teachers also informed them about the roleplay and debate learning/teaching techniques as they are documented in the international bibliography. They presented the suggested organization and implementation of these techniques along with the students. The participants exchanged their ideas and agreed on how to organize activities during the meeting.
The last scheduled activity was related to Mayday and the Greek custom of creating a wreath to celebrate Spring. The rest of the day was free for everyone to celebrate Mayday.
Wednesday May 2nd & Thursday May 3rd 2018
Early in the morning of May 2nd we met at Piraeus harbour and we embarked on a ship heading to Syros island the capital of the Cyclades, an island group in the Aegean sea. After sailing for around three hours we reached Hermoupolis the capital of Syros island.
We spent 2 wonderful days on this island and we had the chance to approach an excellent example of a peaceful coexistence of two different communities characterized by two Christian denominations. The first community was the one of the orthodox Hermoupolis. It was founded during the Greek Revolution in the 1820s by refugees from other Greek islands because of the War and it is characterized by its neoclassical architecture. The second community was the one of the Ano Syros, the medieval settlement of Syros built during Byzantine era where nowadays the majority of Catholic Greeks is settled.
Apart from getting acquainted with the island’s history related to migration we also worked on two of the meeting’s deliverables. Teachers and students formed two groups and were given two assignments: a) to prepare the lyrics for the “migration song” and b) to prepare the arguments for the “debate” and organize the argumentation in a form of a "roleplay". The migration song was a song related to migration that we had to prepare and perform during this meeting. The debate and roleplay were about practicing the teaching-learning techniques in order to enrich our skills and at the same time negotiate about an issue related to migration. A review of the outcomes of the meeting held in Greece is available at the “Migration in literature, movies and songs” link of our twinspace.
In the evening of May 3rd we returned to mainland and departed for Galatsi.
Friday, 4th May 2018
In the morning, students visited “The Ark of the World” (Kivotos tou Kosmou) a Charitable Nonprofit Organisation providing special care and protection to families (both Greek and immigrants). The teachers visited the National archeological museum, the largest museum in the world devoted to ancient Greek art.
In the afternoon, students gathered at the computer lab of the Greek school and participated in a workshop. The aim of this workshop was to revise and enrich the web page http://erasmusmigration.wixsite.com/matters of our project. Assisted by Greek professor Helen Zalavra together with 3 Greek students it was really creative contributing to our common web site by writing text and creating photo albums. A review of the workshop is available at the “Workshop for enriching the website of our project” link of our twinspace.
At the same time, the teachers met at school and had a long meeting in order to review the first year of the partnership and prepare the second year of the project.
In the evening, the customary goodbye ceremony was organized where the participation certificates were awarded. During the ceremony we performed the migration song (video available at https://youtu.be/ZK2VPI8Txwg) and the debate.
After the ceremony we had a farewell dinner and a PARTY! What better way to end the meeting than dancing altogether?
At night we greeted each other goodbye thanking Greek hosts for their hospitality and wishing to have the chance to meet again.
Saturday, 5th May 2018
According to time of departure, teams travelled by metro to Athens international airport. Parting of Greek hosts and their guests inevitably had some emotional moments.
