Wednesday, 10th April 2019

After a really long journey, I arrived at my destination in Greece. Thessaloniki is a big city located in the north of the country. The 28th Lyceum of Thessaloniki provides schooling to about 350 students, aged from 15 to 18, from working-class families.
As in my school, there is an increasing rate of immigrants, with the subsequent challenge it means in terms of coexistence and educational needs.
 

At 28th Lyceum of Thessaloniki's
entrance gate.

Two of my colleagues at the school's entrance.

On the first day, and before starting our guided visit of the school and the programmed meetings, the first thing we did in the morning was to see students and teachers praying, as they always do first in the morning. The bell rings and they all go to the yard and pray:

One student volunteers every morning
for leading the prayer

Students displayed
for the prayer.

  


We had a meeting with the school's management team and the Erasmus coordinator, Dora Glaraki, in order to adjust the programme of our job-shadowing.

At the Headmaster's office, Dimitri Sokoutis, before the meeting.

After the meetings, we attended a welcome lesson. Students had prepared a presentation of their country and their city:

Welcome lesson:
Warmth begins in the heart.

Students presenting their part about Thessaloniki:
the White Tower.

Once the students had finished their presentations, the Spanish teachers presented them with a bit of information about our country, our city and our school. We talked about stereotypes, youngsters in Spain, the Spanish educational system, the programmes we have at IES Tirant lo Blanc and so on.

After chatting with the students and answering their questions, we all enjoyed some delicious typical Greek dishes they had prepared for us. The atmosphere was great and all students looked happy to meet us and to learn about our country.

My colleagues and I talking about our country
with the students.

Students explaining proudly
their homemade presents.

In a nutshell, I can say that, as for what I learnt from the meetings we held and the lesson I attended during the first morning, the school works mainly thanks to the great vocation of teachers and the management team, since the scarce resources provided by the authorities are even more limited than the ones we have in Spain.

What drew my attention most was how happy students are when they live these experiences. To be true, when I applied for this mobility I thought that it wouldn't influence Greek students much, that I wouldn't be able to teach them anything new, as my role in their school is as a simple observer. However, from the very first day they showed me how wrong I was. They had been preparing our arrival for weeks with their teachers, they had worked hard to prepare presentations about their city and their culture, they collaborated with their teachers in the preparation of didactic units about specific points in their subjects and so on. And this is something that I learnt on my first day in the 28th: when teachers try to learn, students feel it and respond to their changing energy in a surprisingly committed way, which results in a positive environment at school.