We have hold the second students mobility of our project in Vila-real. During this week, students from the three schools have learned some basic notions of mediation.
We have learned what problems are and different ways to face them. Our students were trained in some social abilities which are really useful to become good mediations.
In order to understand the different concepts we have worked through a series of videos and small workshops. We learned what empathy is by watching the short film ‘In my shoes’ and the video ‘Colour your world with kindness’.
We also learned a new word: assertiveness and we did an assertiveness test. We displayed 18 questions and our students had to think what they would say or do in each situation. We gave them three possible answers and they had to choose one. Once all the students have completed the test, we showed them a grid with the score for each answer. We summed up the scores to see how assertive our students were.
We also have understood how important is the communication in order to help others to solve their problems. Especially the active listening and we experienced it in a funny activity. We did a ‘Picture dictation’.
Students were divided in pairs and they sat in a chair with their backs to each other. One of them was given a drawing and the other student was provided with a blank sheet of paper, a pencil and an eraser, and in no case was he/she able to see or chat with his/her classmate’s pair. Then the member of the pair who had the drawing dictated some instructions so that the other could draw an approximation of what the student who dictated had in his/her photocopy. The student who dictated was not allowed to turn around to see how his / her classmate was drawing.
Once all the participants finished, the original illustrations were displayed next to the drawings in order to observe the variations that had taken place. Then we started a debate on the importance of communicating some of its elements and of the barriers that we had found.
Finally, we learned the steps that we have to follow on a mediation and how to perform a mediation in the playground by watching a video.
On the last day of the mobility, we learned a bit about Serbian traditions, as the Serbian National Day is marked on 15th and 16th February. One student gave a short presentation about the holiday and presented to us some cultural symbols of Serbia. We learned about the Pirot rug (a traditional hand-woven rug that is in UNESCO list of world heritage) and the dance Kolo (also protected as typical Serbian tradition by UNESCO).
Our student made a paper version of Pirot rug. Later we learned some basic steps of Kolo. Since Kolo is danced in a chain, kids had to act as a team, listen actively, practice coordination, and most of all, have fun.
It was such a great experience, although we couldn’t meet in person!
By Diego Bernat Clausell, Team Spain
