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Wednesday, 7 January 2015

"PIECE OF A WHOLE" IN LAS PALMAS, GRAN CANARIA, SPAIN


During the second week of December (8th-12th of December), POW Team met in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, Spain.
Sonia & Miguel, teachers of CEIP Utiaca, had organized a dream week for their guests. Though they had experienced some misfortune because of a theft at school, they managed to fix up this disturbing event and they could prepare the school for our visit.
They had prepared a chorus with the pupils and a presentation of Gran Canaria's Culture by the help of the students' families.



We also had some excursions to several important places in the island.




On Monday, we have been to Galdar which is a town and a municipality in the north of  Gran Canaria island that belongs to Las Palmas Province (Canary Islands, Spain).

Later we have been to Antonio Padrón museum with a guided tour about very interesting local pseudo-primitive art. After we left this museum exposition, there have been a workshop especially prepared for the kids in our group.  There was a big paper and painting tools ready for our POW Team at Antonio Padrón Museum Garden to paint and show their impressions about a real picture inside. French pupils enjoyed their time with colours and paper to much in the museum.






It was also Immaculate Conception Day and we could have the chance to see the ceremonies in the village.

On Tuesday we have been to Gran Canaria Botanical Garden (Jardín Canario) which is located in the northeast part of  Gran Canaria and 7 kilometers southwest from  Las Palmas Capital. The garden comprises approximately 27 acres (10 hectares), on which approximately 500 Canary Island endemic plant species.




That day we have been to Columbus Museum, Santa Ana’s Cathedral and Elder Science Museum.



On Tuesday night we have been to Nutcracker ballet and kids in POW Team enjoyed the ballet too much.

Wednesday was the school day for Comenius week in San Mateo.  We watched the presentations prepared by Spanish team and watched the performances of pupils in school.





All the teachers of CEIP Utiaca had workedhard to prepare a wonderful welcome and several activities for us. Many thanks to each of them.  





We also exhanged Christmas postcards made by pupils to be sent to their new friends.

Estonian teacher, Kristel had brought their handmade dolls with traditional Estonian clothes. She gave each team dolls that are specially prepared by her pupils.

In Spain, it was the time to play traditional children games according to the project activities. And it had been planned that French, Estonian and Turkish teams would teach one of their traditional children games in CEIP Utiaca.

Levent, physical education teacher from Turkey, had taught a game called “Tombik”. French and Spanish students formed two teams and played the game for three times to learn better. Here is abstract and video for the game:
“Tombik
9 tiles, one ball and 2 teams needed.
 One of the teams is in  the middle. The other team try to hit the members of the team in the middle one by one by the help of ball. The team in the middle tries tol ine up the tiles over and over beside trying not to be hit. If the the team in the middle manages to line up the tiles before its last player is hit, it gets one point.
Here is the link for the game Tombik we played in School Utiaca 
Audrey, Pierre and Vincent from France taught Spanish pupils to play the "thèque" which is a variation of baseball and a good game for young children and teenagers. Audrey said that they play it often at school and it is a game from Normandie.  The instruments for  "thèque" is a tenis racket and tenis balls.
Here is the link for the game thèque we played in School Utiaca 
Estonian teacher Kristel taught us the game called “A Master Takes A Wife
Here is the introduction  and words of the game:
“How to play A Master Takes A Wife
Players march clockwise in a circle holding hands and singing ’’A master takes a wife ... ’’         A boy (MASTER) is in the middle of the circle and marches in the opposite direction. He chooses a girl to be his WIFE and now they march together holding hands. While the second verse is being sung, the wife takes one player to be their CHILD. In the third verse the child chooses a NURSE, in the fourth the nurse chooses a MAID and in the fifth the maid chooses a HELPER. In the last verse the helper remains in the middle while the master, wife, child , nurse, and maid find a place in the circle of players. The helper becomes a new MASTER and the game starts again.”
Here is the link for the game A Master Takes A Wife we played in School Utiaca 
While playing the game kids sing these words:
A Master Takes A Wife

1   A  master takes  a wife (2×)
    And gets a beautiful wife (2×)
    A master takes a wife.

2   The wife takes a child (2×)
    And gets a beautiful child (2×)
     The wife takes a child.

3   The the child takes a nurse (2×)
    And gets a beautiful nurse (2×)
     The child takes a nurse.

4    The nurse takes a maid (2×)
      And gets a beautiful maid (2×)
      The nurse takes a maid.
     
5   The maid takes a helper (2×)
     And gets a handsome helper (2×)
     The maid takes a helper.

6    The helper becomes a master (2×)
      Becomes a handsome master (2×)
      The helper becomes a master”

In the late afternoon on Wednesday, POW team have been to Artenara. Artenara is a village and a municipality in the western part of the island of Gran Canaria in the Las Palmas province in the Canary Islands. Its population is 1,198 (2013), and the area is 66.70 km². Artenara is the smallest municipality of Gran Canaria in population. The village Artenara is situated in the mountains, 24 km southwest of Las Palmas. It is famous because there are many inhabited caves and cave traditions as the "Lady of the Cave".



Then we have been to Teachers’ Center and had the opportunity to watch the music performance of an orchestra consisting of families of some students from CEIP Utiaca. It was a fantastic performance consisting of Canarian music.


We also had a project meeting about the traditional children game activity. We decided that Polish&Slovak teams would teach their games in France and Italian&Spanish teams would teach their games in Turkey. We talked about next mobilities to France and Turkey as well.
On Thursday, teachers have been to Agüimes and students have been to Cocodrilo park.   
During Thursday, Friday and Saturday POW team said goodbye to Sonia & Miguel and Las Palmas.
The Comenius week in Spain had been full of game activities and Canarian culture.


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