Centrum Hewelianum

Meeting in Almansa

From 16th to 19th March 2010, ESCUELA OFICIAL DE IDIOMAS MARĺA MOLINER - Spanish partner institution in the project “Let’s mix up creativity and innovation in adult education”, organised the second project partner meeting. Five days of our visit were fully filled out with activities associated with a presentation of good practices in a process of foreign languages teaching, as well as Spanish history and culture.

It was already the first day of our visit in the afternoon, when we took part in English lesson together with regular learners from Almansa and we went for a short walk round the city.

The second day of our visit was dedicated to excursion to Valencia where we visited The Prince Philip Museum of Science – an outstanding centre of culture, science and leisure. The museum is distinguished with its original architecture and amazing internal magic, encouraging visitors to learn, discover and rest at the same time. The Prince Philip Museum of Science is a part of bigger complex called The City of Art and Science (La Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciѐncies). It is a type of leisure town located above the water, where the main place is taken to Art, Science and Nature – three major spheres of human knowledge available for everyone. The whole area of the complex covers approximately 350 000 sq metres – which means a huge surface and culture-forming layout. The biggest and the most impressive facility is undoubtedly The Prince Philip Museum of Science building which arouses extraordinary interest in its various educational offer, organised into four thematic areas: space, biosphere, human being and culture. The building has almost square-shaped plan, 250 metres long by 110 metres wide. It is a huge exhibition pavilion with repeating and fascinating construction made of steel, glass and white concrete.

The visit to The Prince Philip Museum of Science was undoubtedly very fruitful in the context of receiving new ideas for exhibitions’ development at Hewelianum Centre. It gave us a great possibility to see how a knowledge might be presented in an unconventional way – directly, interactively and using multimedia solutions – arousing huge interest among visitors.

The third day was devoted to issues connected with a progress of the project realization. We were discussing about actual products of the project, showing results of our previous activities and we were planning next meetings. What is more, we listened to a lecture on Spanish culture and art, so we could learn a few Spanish phrases. About the noon, we visited The Bodegas Piqueras Factory, that produces and exports vine, where we took part in traditional vine testing. In the afternoon we pay a visit to ESCUELA OFICIAL DE IDIOMAS MARĺA MOLINER where we had a presentation on the history of the city of Almansa, school and its teaching programme. After the presentation, a meeting with teachers from Almansa school was organised, where we were discussing about our experience in teaching of adults.

In the evening, at The Social Activity Centre, a presentation about good practices in a process of teaching and learning English was made. An English version of the play titled “The dream of Carlos II”, was performed on a stage. The play was related to the Battle of Almansa – an important historical event, which took place in 1707 in a very close area to the town. The show was recorded by a cameraman in order to produce a movie that would be a part of the final product of the project. Showing such a historical performance in English was an excellent example how foreign languages can be taught in a creative and an innovative way, enriching an educational process with elements related to history and culture of local community.

In the fourth day we continued to talk about the progress of the project realization and finally we evaluated the second project partners meeting. As a project coordinator, that in November 2009 had organised the first meeting, we presented our movie showing the best practices that are used in the process of adult’s education at Hewelianum Centre. The movie, as a result of the first meeting in Gdańsk, is intended to be a part of the final product – “ European Creativity e-Handbook”. The presented movie was a basis for a discussion about content and standard of following movies that will be produced after each project partners meeting.

In the afternoon we had a guided tour to the Almansa Castle and afterwards to the site where in 1707 the Battle of Almansa took place. Here, on the historic battlefield, we listened to an interesting lecture about events during the battle.

The fifth day was dedicated to the return journey.

Sztuka wystawiana przez uczniów ESCUELA OFICIAL DE IDIOMAS MARÍA MOLINER

Muzeum Nauki Księcia Filipa w Walencji

This Project has been funded with support from the European Commission in the frame of Lifelong Learning Programme. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.