Press article in Ettlingen about the meeting in Portugal

Portugal

From 19th to 26th March 2018 six teachers at the Eichendorff-Gymnasium in Ettlingen, Germany, travelled to Mirandela, Portugal, where they took part in a teachers‘ workshop. Our Portuguese colleagues, their headmaster and the town’s mayor all gave us a warm welcome.

The topic of the two-year project called Erasmus+, which The Eichendorff-Gymnasium takes part in, is “debating“. The project‘s first meeting took place in Germany in November 2017. A group of 10th graders have been meeting with their teachers ever since, to improve their debating skills in English.

All countries participating in the project were present at the meeting in Portugal: Turkey, Italy, Bulgaria, Germany, and, of course, Portugal. The colleagues discussed about the rules and regulations of the debates, which the pupils will have to hold at the following three meetings. Moreover, the motions for the first debates were set and a guideline for the judges was established. In May 2018 six German pupils accompanied by two teachers are going to travel to Italy, where they will have to debate on different motions regarding women’s rights against peers from the other four countries.

Besides discussing the content of the debates, the meeting in Portugal also focused on a cultural exchange. Since the host school teaches their pupils different forms of agriculture, we were introduced to wine-making, the production of cheese and the making of olive oil. We also went on trips to Mirandela, Bragança, Pinhão and Porto, which gave us an insight into Portuguese culture and history. After an interesting and informative week we are convinced that Erasmus+ will once again be highly beneficial for our pupils‘ intercultural competence.