20th April

The last day of the CITIES project

Sadly the project has come to an end. It is not only the end of the week on Ibiza, but also the final day of the CITIES-project. Some of the teachers have been participating since the very beginning almost four years ago. Since then a lot of work has been put into the project and collegial friendships have evolved also between the teachers.

Before closing up the project, the hosts at IES Algarb handed out Certificates of Attendance to all the students and teachers. The students also evaluated the project week, and particularly the dissemination task they completed yesterday. Judging from the evaluation, they benefitted from working in international groups, even though it sometimes made it difficult to cooperate and come to a joint conclusion.

As a special treat on this final day, the Spanish teachers invited everybody on an excursion to the beautiful island Formentera. It is located about thirty minutes from Ibiza with ferry, and the ferry crossing itself is worth the visit. After a week with hard work, the students could enjoy eating lunch together before spending some time on the beach playing and even swimming.

Thank you Ibiza! Thank you CITIES!

Thursday 19th April

THE FRUITS OF “CITIES”

Photo 1: Mrs. Cristina Martín Vega, the editor of Diario de Ibiza, showing students from the CITIES-project how editing is done.

On the last working day of the three year long CITIES project, dissemination was the main task. The students had produced leaflets, brochures, films and articles to present their reflections on the impact the CITIES project has had on students, teachers, schools and local communities over the years. Generously, the director of the main newspaper on Ibiza, Diario de Ibiza, received students and teachers in their modern localities. The students got a lecture on the programs and processes of editing the newspaper by the editor Mrs. Cristina Martín Vega, who is also hosting one of the visiting students this week. One of the student groups has written an article on the CITIES project throughout the week that will be published in the paper soon. One of the newspaper’s journalists used the opportunity to interview a couple of the students, and immediately published it on the newspaper’s Instagram account and webpage: http://www.diariodeibiza.es/pitiuses-balears/2018/04/19/estudiantes-cinco-paises-visitan-diario/983302.html

Photo 2: A journalist from Diario de Ibiza interviewing one of the students about the impact of the CITIES project.

As the final step in the dissemination process, the students and teachers were divided into groups and went to different places to spread the knowledge on the project. One group went to the Townhall and presented the CITIES project and the fruits of the project to the mayor of Saint Josep.

Photo 3: Mayor Josép Marí and his staff gave the students a warm welcome before he listened to their presentation.

The other groups presented their work at schools in the area. One of the aims was to inspire young people to take part in international projects in the future by promoting the positive outcomes of transnational projects. As many of the students underlined in their presentations, the most important for them is how it has affected them personally by rising awareness of the value of cultural cooperation and knowledge. They have made new friends and increased their cultural competency by living in host families and working together in groups with students from different countries. The students also stressed the skills they had acquired through working on the project tasks, like ICT skills, improved language skills and cultural understanding.

Wednesday 18th April

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    "The CITIES project has made me more aware of the role I can play in my own community", says participant Joan Marí LLorens.
In January, this Spanish student was spending a week in Poznan where he learnt about how young people can actively take part in local democratic processes. Among other things, he learnt how to set up a debate after the Oxford model, the so called “Oxford debate”. Some weeks ago, he was participating with his school setting up a debate discussing to what degree young people on Ibiza have influence in their own society. This week Joan is one of the young hosts when IES Algarb is receiving 24 students from The Netherlands, Poland, Germany and Norway.
Together with Kari Jervell, one of the Norwegian students, he is editing a brochure which aims to sum up the impact the CITIES has had during the three years the project has been running. "There is no problem working together with the students from the other countries", says Kari. "We discuss the matters and decide with ease. Personally, the project has left me with awareness of my own voice in my community."

On Thursday the brochures will be presented at local schools on Ibiza, and the students have been working throughout the day with their presentations.

This afternoon students and teachers visited the Dalt Vila, the old city of Ibiza. The guide, history teacher Antonia Cardona, gave a brief historic backdrop on the Ibiza castle. The island has been populated since the 6^th century B.C. Ibiza was attractive for trade because of its location.

On the route through the very picturesque streets of the old city, the group stopped by an important spot. From 902 A.C. Berbers from North Africa ruled the island and inhabited the fortress. The 8^th of August 1235 A.C. the Catalans managed to overtake the power. They besieged the fortress for a long time without succeeding to enter. A local legend tells the story of how the Vali (governor of the muslim city) had a relationship with his brother’s wife. This naturally upset the brother of the Vali, and to revenge himself, he opened a secret passage (on the photo) and let the Catalans in. Antonia Cardona explained how this action is commemorated by the Ibizians putting down flowers on this very spot on the 8^th August every year.

Tuesday 17th April

Today we started our day in the groups with one student from each country, continuing the work on leaflets and brochures about CITIES’ impact in the different schools. The groups got to know each other better and became better friends. In the breaks we enjoy snacks in the beautiful sunny schoolyard. The students from IES Algarb were very welcoming and talkative. Each group has got tasks to work on throughout the week. Some are making brochures, others make leaflets and one group is working on an article that will be published in a local newspaper. The aim is to describe and reflect on the outcomes of the CITIES project. In the process of making the brochures, the students work on integrating the techniques and principles they learnt from the graphic designer that gave them the introduction yesterday. Each student is responsible for giving information on their home country's project week, nevertheless the final product should be one joint product. 

Later in the day we went to Ses Salines National Park at the southernmost part of the island. The view is spectactular with crystal clear water and beautiful white beaches. We enjoyed a walk by the sea and some of us got a bit sunburnt… 

The evenings we spend with our very welcoming families.

• Kari and Sofia (17), Norway.

Final Project week Ibiza, Spain 15th April - 21st April 2018

Monday 16th April 

Ibiza!

30 students and 10 teachers are finally together again and will spend five days on the beautiful island of Ibiza. The day started already at 8.15. Our hosts at Algarb had put together an interesting programme, starting out with some ice-breaker games to get to know each other. 

The students then presented films they had made as a pre-task, showing the Oxford-debates held in their home countries and talking about the impact they think the debates had at their schools and in their local communities.

To prepare the students for the work they will do throughout the week, which will involve making brochures, a graphic designer gave the students a lecture on the ABC of graphic design.

Before heading home to their host families, we all gathered for an international lunch where we enjoyed Sobrasada, greixonera, tortilla de patates from Spain, sausages and Schwarzbrot from Germany, poffertjes (small pancakes) from Holland, ptasie mleczko (chocolates) from Poland, cloud berries and kranskekake from Norway. Yummy! 

Debate on Nesodden

March 15th 2018

As part of the project week in Poland, students were trained in the technique of debating. During the week in Poland they learned how to write speeches, react to speeches and set up a debate using the format of the Oxford debate. On return to their own countries, they chose a topic to debate.

On Nesodden, the students involved decided to debate a topic which was very close to their own situation. The population is increasing and this brings a need for expanding the schools. In addition, several of the schools on Nesodden are in need of upgrading. Therefore, the local authority are considering ways to meet the educational needs of the students in the future. One proposal has been to build a large new lower secondary school which will be used by all the students in years 8, 9 and 10, instead of the three schools they use at the moment. This brought a strong reaction from the students and they decided to debate the claim: Nesodden municipality should build a new lower secondary school which will collect all students from year 8, 9 and 10.

The whole of the first year were invited to the debate, along with teachers, local politicians and the local press. Students  involved in the CITIES project prepared the speeches, and the jury was composed of three teachers and a politician from the local authority. It was clear that the students in the audience were strongly against the proposal, even though the affirmative team had strong and well-structured arguments. They had to answer many questions from the audience, and convinced only a few that their arguments were the best. The jury also had difficulty in deciding, but in the end they gave the victory to the affirmative team, as they had a more difficult task and had built up their case very well.

Friday 26th January

Today was the last day of the project and it was today that the students would test out what they had learned during the week of workshops. The two teams had prepared their arguments thoroughly, and today the twelve students, six for the affimative side and six for the negative side, were ready to present their arguments as convincingly as possible.

Schools don't do enough to encourage and develop active citizenship among the youth



The affirmative side



The negative side

Both teams had convincing arguments and answered questions from the audience thoroughly. The audience were rather divided as to the outcome, but it seemed that the negative side had more of the audience on their side.

Then it was time to wait for the jury to deliberate and then announce their decision. It was also difficult for them, and they were also divided, but the affirmative team were announced as the winners. The jury commended both teams for their performance, and pointed out that the affirmative team had followed through their arguments consistently, giving them the victory.

The official part of the project was now almost over. All that remained was to thank all the students for their participation and hand out the certificates of participation to all of the teams. After this everyone ate some lunch before gathering in the school entrance to take the tram down to town for an afternoon of bowling.