Here we are again, starting a new chapter in our Erasmus+ story – the accreditation with the project we entitled „Step up! Learning and Evolving”. This year has brought a lot of wonderful people back in our lives, ready to share amazing experiences with us. In our accreditation program, we returned to Agrupamento de Escolas Anselmo de Andrade in Almada, Portugal because we knew that they were going to offer us one of the best learning experiences. So, we embarked in this journey eager to discover new things, new strategies, new tools that could help us become better and better.
The mobility focused on using digital tools to help ease the learning process and also create new digital tools bu the students, thus standing by one of our biggest wishes: to have out students as content creators not only as content consumers.
Here are their thoughts on the Erasmus+ experience!
Mara: From my perspective, the time spent in Portugal has taught me that there is nothing more meaningful than being able to discover a new place and its culture side by side with enthusiastic people. One of the main highlights of this mobility was the opportunity to learn more about our surrounding world from dedicated teachers along with clever students, that helped me deeply understand each lesson, regardless it was biology, maths or computer science, while also testing my personal knowledge and sharing our contrasting school experiences. What’s more, we also got the chance to explore Almada and Lisbon and come upon historical facts about their people’s lifestyle from natives and interactive museums, such as the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology.
Mario: The school in Portugal is very different from the Romanian one in many ways. I got to experience the practical side of some subjects such as experiments in chemistry, biology and interactive programming methods such as video games. Also, the sights and activities were incredible. In the end, the Erasmus experience was unique and I would choose to repeat it anytime!
Sebastian: The professors were also really welcoming and kind. The lessons we took part in were captivating and enjoyable, and the fact that they had ways of teaching different from ours made it even more interesting. Their entire school was really nice to discover, and I really liked the fact that they study different things then us, which I find very exciting. Alongside this, we got to see Lisbon and Almada, two great locations with amazing views and places.
Mihai: Going to Portugal with the Erasmus program was an amazing experience that changed me a lot for the good. From the start, everyone was super welcoming and made me feel right at home. The school that we went to was very lovely and looked incomparable to what I was used to, everybody was so happy I think they had fun at school. In the Informatics classes, everybody had prepared projects to show us in Unity, Tinker CAD, and Blender that were unbelievably creative and they were happy to see us. It was really cool talking to everyone, making new friends, and learning how their school education system works. In chemistry and biology, we did a lot of fun experiments where we saw cells from an onion skin changing color and shape, and we did reactions with enzymes from some liver. Other games that we played at the school were Solve the Murder where we had to work together and the solution was mind-blowing and Dark Stories which is an app that I still play with my friends.
Cristina: I’m glad that I managed to see a different educational model compared to the one at home. I saw how the classes were going, I participated with the foreign students in various activities, such as science, biology, and chemistry experiments, and experienced a school canteen for the first time. One of the most interesting things for me was the informatics class because I was able to test games made by students, a new method meant to make learning more fun. We did experiments in the science laboratory, where we learned new interesting things, and also organized a fun Geocaching activity.
The friendships made during this time are really special. Meeting people from all over the world helps you understand others better and makes you feel like you’re part of a global community. These friendships will stay with you long after the Erasmus program ends.The Erasmus+ experience in Almada taught us to appreciate different cultures and the value of travel as well as different educational strategies. It is something we will always remember and be grateful for. Almada was not just a place we visited; it was an experience that changed us for the better.