It takes part in an Erasmus project with another school from the hellenic town Katerini, with which there will be a cultural exchange.
Galdakao
The high school Elexalde from Galdakao has been one of the two schools from the Basque Country selected to carry out an Erasmus + project. In particular, it is going to strengthen ties with a secondary high school from the Greek town Katerini, a town approximately an hour from Thessaloniki. An initiative which responds to the title " Discover and share your identity mark" which will bring an exchange between Basque and hellenic students.
All started at the end of February, when Elexalde decided to present an Erasmus + project." We see the necessity to internasionalise the school and the Latin teacher knew another school in Greece, so we started the contact" explains Gemma Gutiérrez one of the responsible of the project from Elexalde. Some weeks later, in August, they received the positive result,so they started the preparations.
It is a project which deals with some aspects related to the cultural, architectural, natural historical and maritime heritage about the hellenic and Basque cultures.
"As it is the Year of the European heritage, the main objective of this enriching project is to make students aware about their own cultural heritage, discover Katerini heritage ( Greece) , reflect on both and share it with a respectful and tolerance mind" points out Mrs Gutierrez.
It will take place during two years, considering this school year 2019-2020 and it is aimed at students who are in 3 DBH.
First contacts
The first approaches or mobilities as they are named in the project, have materialised.
Gemma Gutierrez and her colleague Iratxe Cuñado travelled to Katerini in October " We went to train ourselves in the platform we will use to disseminate the project eTwinning , to know the Greek educational system and to know the people who will participate" explain " We have also exchanged Good Practice" adds Gemma Gutiérrez .In May hellenic teachers will return the visit " they will come to Elexalde , and then we will train in assessment tools and disseminate the project and they will also know our students" announces the Basque project initiatives.
For next school year, the two students' events led by students will take place, which will be full of activities " In March 2020 15 students from Elexalde will go to Katerini where they will work different aspects of the project visiting places around the area related to the heritage" describes. Among them, for example the slopes of Mount Olympus.
Two months later, in May, the Greek students will visit us" We will have to organise the activities and we have already designed some of them " For example and considering the importance of rural sport, we will organise a sport competition. In Greece the students from Galdakao will be challenged with ancient sports.Not without reason, those have the honour to host the first Olympic Games in the history.
There will be much more" In the natural heritage , we will bring them to Urdaibai, in the cultural we will visit Guggenheim and we will also go to San Juan de Gaztelugatxe or the Old Part of Bilbao. Precisely, in Bilbao we will explain to them the transfomation
of the city through the river" describes Gemma Gutiérrez. We will also have time to talk about Greek and Basque mythology or taste the best food of each place." We will see Greek recipes and we will teach them Basque ones and we will organise a type of Masterchef" announces .They won't forget to dance, so the Basque dances and the Greek ones will be protagonists.
All of it has been possible due to the collaboration of some departments of Elexalde high school. ." Apart from the English department, the main teachers from other subjects take also part: Art,Music, Basque, Language, Physical Education , History and Science" point out.
Precisely , Shakaspeare language has an important role in Erasmus +" Although we will learn some words in Greek and they will learn some words in Basque comunication between students will be in English, so it will be very important the improvement in this field"celebrate.
