HESTIA Erasmus+ Project

Istituto Comprensivo "Gianni Rodari" in Palagiano (Puglia, Italy) hosted the 2nd Learning, Teaching & Training Activity for the HESTIA project from the 11th to the 17th of March 2018. 10 teachers from the partner schools accompanied 14 pupils who followed classes in the Italian school during a full working week.

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The activities as described below, took place in collaboration with SPRAR Svegli-Arci and CPIA School, which are institutions working with refugees:

• Day 1: Welcome to the Italian school by headmaster, teachers and pupils. Giving a welcome hand-painted t-shirt to the foreign guests with multilingual peace messages (by SPRAR Koine Project people). Traditional dances by Italian and foreign people. “Shoe box” workshop with the participants to choose the stories to be dramatized. Job shadowing for teachers and interviews in a classroom of refugees. 

• Day 2: Visiting the low secondary school. Volleyball match among teachers and pupils. Painting multiethnic shapes and the Hestia project logo on the school wall, by teachers and pupils. Cultural visit to Matera, the European Capital of Culture 2019 and Unesco heritage site, for all participants and host families. Guided visit to the Sassi of Matera.

• Day 3: A running race/walk with all students and teachers from the pine forest to the seaside. Craft workshop for teachers and pupils in the primary school held by Vincenzo Maraglino “Making the Civic Tree of the Union”. Workshop for teachers “The theatre of the oppressed” by the trainer Pio Castagna with the SPRAR Koine Project refugees, teachers and students. Cultural visit to Taranto, the ancient capital of the Magna Grecia, (a port where boats with migrants arrive) for all participants and host families. Guided tour at the Aragonese castle and the historical centre.

• Day 4: Cultural visit to Martina Franca and Alberobello (Unesco heritage site) for participating teachers. Evening seminar for teachers and the public titled “Immigration and welcoming” at the primary school with Anna Maria Petrera and Christian Recchia, representatives of the Unicef National Committee. Official delivery of the Hestia project manifest to the Mayor of Palagiano. Buffet of multiethnic dishes with vegetables from the school’s “Social Garden” project by SPRAR Koine refugees.

• Day 5: 6 foreign pupils accompanied the secondary school to Bari to see the Divine Comedy musical. The rest of the foreign pupils presented the “Shoe box” storied in the primary school. Evening seminar for teachers and the public titled “Unaccompanied and separated children-International protection in Italy” held by Valentina Caron and Roberto Lucarella from UNHCR. Presentation of SPRAR (Protection System for Asylum Seekers and Refugees) by Angela Surico, Circolo Arci President and SPRAR Koine project coordinator in Palagiano.

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The following photographs depict a few special moments from the activities during this learning week.