It was quite difficult to decide on the dates for this first gathering between coordinators, because of agenda obligations on the different countries. This explains the chosen dates, late in November. The country for the first transnational meeting was Portugal.

 

The international students have been prepared to join in the project thanks to the creation of Erasmus+ corners in every school. The main objectives of the project have been transmitted to the targeted students. Photo exchanges started on Padlet and were made possible to share for each partner country.

 

The host country prepared the project meeting keeping in mind its implementation. The very first day, time was given for exchanges between coordinators and Portuguese students who were directly involved in the handling of ice-breaking activities. These students in Tourism also accompanied the coordinators for a tour of the town of Miranda do Corvo, giving explanations for every place of interest and thus putting into practice their mastering of English as a foreign language. The students also accompanied the delegation during the visit of Coimbra University.

 

In Portugal, the activities and working sessions were planned with the wish to include many teachers from the host school. This revealed a remarkable team spirit, as several teachers took actively part in the meetings.

The objectives as described in the agenda have been respected. The coordinators also agreed to implement the project as suggested on the agenda concerning budget questions.

 

The coordinators agreed to work on the estimate of each mobility in order to provide accurate data enabling the delegations to calculate the cost per student, the objective being to have 4 students travelling abroad for each mobility when only grants for 3 students are in most cases given.

Sometimes, a mobility with students also corresponds to a transnational meeting. In such cases, 4 students will travel, one teacher will be given a grant as taking part in the coordination mobility and another teacher will be given a grant as part of the mobility with students.

 

 

Apart from for the English delegation, the host country will find out host families to welcome visiting students with siblings. English students will stay at the hotel and when in England the delegations will stay at the hotel, teachers and international students alike.

 

The chosen mobility calendar is described below for the 23 months of the project:

 

 

This mobility to France includes a Saturday during which will be held a Food Fair with professionals and a prestigious chef in Saint-Amand-Montrond, outside school. Should it cause organisational problems (travelling on a Sunday, tiredness for the delegations to start the week after), other dates might be suggested, or visiting school might adapt the return to home countries.

 

 

On Wednesday, November 23rd, the coordinators agreed on the activities implementation.

A guideline was provided for a mobility with students including 5 full days in the host country, as follows:

 

 

Welcoming of the delegations.

General introduction of the project.

Visual introduction of the different regions, schools and classes by students.

Ice-breaking activities and school visit.

 

Local town/city tour led by host students with a focus on food, commerce and places of interest.

Use of questionnaires, treasure-hunts, with photos and selfies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Each partner will refer to the Erasmus+ file concerning specific activities as they are mentioned. 

 

Each partner is advised to provide a program in the shortest delays including a list of activities and a budget estimate to help the visiting schools choose the students' profile for each mobility, as well as the number of mobilities for students.

 

On Thursday, November 24th, the delegations visited two different schools belonging to Miranda do Corvo Agrupamiento de Escuelas. These were schools for young children and offered an insight into the variety of places dedicated to teaching in Miranda.

 

The meeting in the afternoon dealt with the implementation and dissemination of project results. 
Each partner will contact the local press in order to get press coverage for every step of the project. The press articles will be scanned and made available on each school website. Each partner will participate in the content of long-distance collaborative tools like

e-twinning (Portugal),

Padlet (France),

Facebook ,

Youtube and

Printmedia (England).

 

The Portuguese team already provided dissemination material with the use of ITCs and a video about the ice-breaking activities led by students. The video shot at this occasion is broadcast on Youtube for the partner countries to use.

 

It is highly recommended that each school provides a certificate proving that the families authorize the use and publication of the photos of their children.

Long-distance activities should enable students to collaborate online.

The assessment of the project should be made thanks to mutual documents.

The partners should elaborate a document indicating each student's specific food diets, allergies and health requirements to make it easier the match with a host family.

 

These documents will be produced and agreed upon by the group.

 

The use of the Mobility Tools was evoked.

 

The Certificates of Attendance were signed. These certificates will be prepared for the very first day of encounter in the host country, in order to deal easily with administrative work. The same will be done to cover the costs for the implemented activities and meals the host school will have prepared.

 

 

To conclude, this first transnational meeting was the occasion to meet all participating partners in Portugal and become acutely aware of the profiles of every student. This enabled to define the project activities targeting the needs of the students, taking into consideration their specific vocational courses and their profiles!

 

To go on with the project, a suggestion:

Each partner team will work on collaborative ideas and activities, one of which being the creation of a touristic digital booklet introducing each region, town and places of interest, with partner companies. Recordings will be done in English as well as in the mother tongue of each country, thus enabling cooperative work for translation in five languages.