Tuesday November 8th

Castle Santa Maria de Frieda 

Today we spent a lot of time in school and did some teaching sessions. Mr Wilson planned a great music lesson on rap music. We both worked together to teach some rut ham and sang our own rap as an example for the students. They had fun creating a rapper name like Little G and writing some fantastic lyrics in their Second language of English ! 

 

Teya's entry...

Today, we went to SO many places! First, we went to the Santa Maria de Frieda castle. It was absolutely beautiful and full of history. We then went to a school for lunch and all the students there were following me, Tal, Lucy and Holly around everyone and asking us for pictures! We then visited the paper museum and watch how paper was made and recycled hundreds of years ago. It was very interesting! Finally we went to a workshop making traditional sweet bread for Santa Maria dr Frieda. It was really fun having a go at making it and also hanging out in the village afterwards! 

Talia's entry...

On Monday we went to school and performed our presentations in front of other countries, I enjoyed them all! We then got changed and went to lunch and played a bit of volley ball with the other countries. We went to the town hall and listened to a talk on the history and about the famous breads! We sat with the family in the evening and had a lovely meal. On Tuesday we went to school and had a class taught by the Cyprus teacher, it was ICT, we learnt about photoshop on pictures. After that we got the coach to the paper museum and I had lunch in a different school. We then went in to a bread museum and sculpted our own bread. We then had soup for tea with the family, it was delicious! 

Views from the castle

A paper chair! 

Tom's entry...

When I arrived at school today I was introduced into some of my hosts friends who were very friendly. We then got split up into groups and went to a lesson . I was put in biology class room but two teachers from Italy come in and did Hamlet with us which was an added bonus as we did it in English so I understud very well. After lessons we went into room for coffee break like the same as yesterday. We then all got on the coach to go to St Maria da Feria which means the castle of St Maria . I got lots of good photos in the castle although there were a lot of stairs to climb . We then headed back to the coach and went to a paper museum where we learnt how paper was made some the 1900s . We saw all the old mechanisms which created the paper and even got shown how to fold a piece of paper into a old fashioned paper bag. 

On are way out we saw all sorts of coloured toilet/kitchen roll which was as I would call the 'rainbow of the loo rolls'. For lunch we went to a Portuguese school where we had pasta and chicken . We then had a look around the school when a big group of boys started following us and taking pictures holly,tal,teya and Lucy. 

Finally we went to a cafe in the town centre to learn the history of the fogaça about how the people of St Maria gave fogaça to the poor . Then we got shown how to form a fogaça which is where you roll the dough into a sausage shape the roll it into a spiral shape then cut for slits into the top, you slit the fogaça because when it bakes it will for the shape of a castle . We then got the coach back to school to be picked up and taken back to school.

Paper museum

The view from the castle

Bread making

The old costume in the bakery 

Lucy's blog for Tuesday: 

Today, we went into school and went into classes. In my class, the Polish teacher taught about the history of Warsaw, as it was a history class. The history teacher spoke amazing English and the students had a positive attitude on the lesson. After, we went to the Paper Museum and had a fascinating experience and an incredible insight on the past of paper making. For lunch , we went to a junior school where all the kids were intrigued by the fact we were English. I thought it was very busy but welcoming. Finally, before returning home, we went to a famous bakery where the national sweet bread is made. I also tried to make one which looked really nice. In the evening, we had a delicious meal with the host family where we ate soup and pasta and had lots of laughs.

The paper hanging to dry in the museum.

Day one in school Monday November 7th

Our group at school

With thier host students in Portugal 

Waiting for the presentations

The entire Erasmus group Outside the town hall 

Holly and her day at school

Snacks and coffee break at school

Meeting the head teacher 

Tom giving his presentation and his blog entry for Monday.

Today we went to school with are Portuguese hosts . All the schools went up the stairs into the library to present their presentations on 'the place where we live'. When teya showed her video her and Lucy were practically crying . After all the presentations were finished we went downstairs to have a coffee break where we socialised with each other whilst munching on some patisserie, which was very scrumptious. After that we went to the nursery next to school and saw lots of little children . According to tal they were that cute she wanted one which lead to a German student saying 50 euros for one. We then went into a room and were shown three different dances by the children of the nursery . As we left we got given some fogaça which is a sweet Portuguese bread which tastes like a hot cross bun , but without the fruit . We then walked back to the school to have lunch which was meant to be fish and rice but I forgot to go and get but fortunately my hosts mum had made me two ham and cheese barms. After we finished eating we went outside to play volleyball which was very fun . When the bell went to dismiss lunch we went back to library where we did nothing for a hour . Finally we went on a coach to the town centre to get a warm welcome and a bag of goodies . We then went into a open area to be put into groups for the week where we were interrupted by a man who started dancing and singing which created a lot of laughs . We then ended the day by riding the coach back to the school to be picked up and driven back to my host's house .

Teya's weekend...(see group selfies above)

On the Saturday morning when we got there, Érica, my host was at a violin lesson. So I sat with her non English speaking mum and sister who were using google translate to talk to me. When she got back, we talked for hours about England and Portugal and other things. In the after noon we went for a walk around the village and then we went for a swimming lesson. It was really fun and quite different. Then we went to Érica's Grandmother's house for dinner. 

Then on the Sunday I slept on till 9:30am and then at 10am we went shopping! I got to see what a Portuguese shopping centre looks like and some Portuguese foods too. It was really fun! Then we went to her other Grandmother's house for lunch and had some really tasty pork. I met her aunt, uncle and cousin too. They are all super lovely. Then we went for a walk and then went back to the same grandmother's house again for dinner. Then we went home and went to bed.

Teya

Blog for Monday from Lucy! :

Monday was such a good day, and an amazing experience. It was strange going into a school with our uniforms on when they don't wear them. Although, the presentations were amazing and everyone loved Teya's and Miss Underwood and Mr Wilson's videos😁. We stayed at school which I loved because at lunch we played volleyball with all the exchanges and everyone were so lovely😊 Later we went into Santa Maria da Feira and got given the traditional sweet bread as well as going into our groups for the first time, walking around the town with them. Me and Tal then visited Joana's family who are also lovely as well. Lucy

Departure from Manchester! November 5th Erasmus + Portugal!

Here we are ready to go! Next stop Porto ready for our hosts and week of Erasmus +

We arrived to a warm welcome and host families were eager to meet everyone!

A few photos of the weekend...

Porto promenade

Seafood! 

The old town of Prto

Lucy's scones , yummy!

Ready for school tomorrow! 

Friday Erasmus farewell

The First order of the day was for students to work on their Europe in a box presentation which was to be ready for the evening party.

Following the early start in school, we went to the camera Obscura museum which was really interesting. The old water tower had been converted into an old model of a camera and students were given a tour of the exhibits and then made their own kaleidoscopes to take home. 

We had a picnic in the sunshine and it was great to see all nationalities mingling together by the end of the week and enjoying the weather and some sport! 

After a "free time"afternoon the students got ready to go to the farewell party which included staff, students and parents and was held at the school. 

Eiscafe, German style! 

We arrived to the party at 6:30 ready and 

all the Erasmus students presented thier work to the group. 

The collaboration and creativy of the students was incredible. From sharing speeches to musical additions: guitar from Italy, vocals from Cyprus and Poland, and piano and drums from England and Cyprus! Very talented group of students! 

The "Europe in a box" 

The groups were divided into 8 at the beginning of the week with the Erasmus students and hosts.

England and Portugal

Parents brought food for our pot luck dinner and the students headed to the stage for a disco.  A huge thank you goes out to our coordinator from Germany, Frau Geissler, who made every moment special and matched our students so well together! 

The evening was a great success and there were some tears from many at the end as we said bye for now. ...until the next visit! Thanks for following!