The days between 21 and 24 November were very busy for the teachers that arrived at Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. Noblistów Polskich in Rydułtowy and their hosts. The main goal of the meeting was to plan and organise the project work that is ahead of us and to learn how the Polish school works, especially in the field of mental health and psychological issues.

 We started the visit with an integration workshops for the guest teachers that took place in the nearby mountains. Besides climbing, they tried to bake their own bread which appeared to be a very interesting experience. 

The next day started with the Festival - an annual event that aims at showing how the pupils of Rydułtowy learn languages - there were performances, dances and songs, everything in foreign languages of course. Afterwards, we had an intensive workshop on an educational tool called SYMBALOO EDU. The trainer, Agnieszka Bilska, taught us to work with the tool and to prepare online lessons with it. She inspired many of us. 

On Wednesday the students took our guests for a tour around the school. Later the coordinators had a meeting to discuss the project activities, evaluation and dissemination of the project. While they were working, the rest of the guest teachers had a workshop with the school psychologist. Next, the students invited the whole school for a healthy food fair - we tried fresh juice, healthy snacks, fruit and vegetable salads and lots more. Our guests had also an opportunity to take part in a workshop on anorexia and bulimia held for the students by external specialists working for the counselling centre in Wodzisław. 

To let our guests take some rest after the tiring day we invited them for a relaxation session. They could try some relaxation techniques they had probably never tried before (for example flour massage). 

On the last day we had a few meetings. First, we visited the Counselling Centre in Wodzisław, an institution that cooperates with schools in the area helping students of all ages, teachers and parents deal with problems (dyslexia, problems with learning, behaviour etc). We had a walk around the centre, a talk with its director, we compared the ways schools handle such problems in all five partner countries, we observed some classes there. Next, we attended a meeting with the  district head’s representative at RCK in Rydultowy to learn how the district authorities take care of people (not only kids) with mental problems, disabilities and addictions. Finally, we were guests at the Rydultowy Town Hall where we met the deputy mayor and had a nice chat about the similarities and differences of our schools and hometowns. The last attraction of the day was a tablet lesson at school. It was held by one of our teachers of English, Mirka Dyka-Płonka who made the guest teachers feel as ... students again. They had a lesson of English working with tablets, trying the possibilities they offer in education and learning some useful tools that are used in our school. It was an amazing experience for all of us, some of the guests even admitted that it was their first contact with tablets. 

The visit was a very fruitful experience, we said goodbye to each other full of enthusiasm and energy, happy that it was the beginning of our ERASMUS + adventure. We learned a lot, we spent a great time together, got to know one another even better.

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We are looking forward to our next meeting in Bulgaria. 

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THANK YOU EVERYONE 

MB

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