In January 2016 it was time for our next meeting organized
in Pietarsaari, Finland.
The meeting was held in two “waves”: The teachers
arrived on Thu 14th and left the following Monday while the second
wave of students and accompanying
teachers arrived on Saturday evening leaving the following Friday. That meant
that the whole group of teachers and students + all the local teachers and
students (about 70) spent the greatest day outdoors in Nanoq (The arctic
museum) and Merilä (the congregation camp center) also enjoying the beautiful
winter landscape and outdoor activities eg. walking on the ice or in the silent
forest. One aspect of sustainable development, the key issue of Pietarsaari
meeting, is the cultural aspect and that was implemented in our day in the
museum and in nature.
During the teachers and coordinators´ meeting they had
eg. a chance to discuss the best teaching practices and ideas considering
sustainable development, listen to the lectures about Finnish ECO-school in
Pietarsaari and Nature school in the neighbor city, Kokkola, and of course plan
the future of the whole project. As promoting good health is also an essential part of sustainable development, the teachers
were offered to try yoga and even test their limits - and sure they did: Most
of the teachers were brave enough not only to sit in the hot sauna but also
take a dip in the freezing ocean at Strandis. At least the dinner in Ädelbragd in Oravainen
on Sunday evening was quite an experience for our foreign teachers: the food
offered in the 18th century style and the vividly told details about
the fight in Oravainen as part of the Finnish war will probably stay in their
minds for a long time.
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The first day of the students´ week was spent in
Merilä and as they had arrived late the previous evening, the day was also
spent to get to know each other a bit better.
There was a lot of laughter, joy and excitement (and
snow fights) in the air as the students and teachers enjoyed this perfect
though a bit chilly day outdoors. The weather was almost perfect the whole
week: the temperatures varied between -15 to -30, but the cold was not a
problem: there were hardly any complaints and most of the people were well
informed and well equipped to face the chilly weather.
On different afternoons the students and teachers
tried skating in the skating rink, skiing in the school park, took a Nordic
walking –tour to music café After Eight and finally sledging in almost freezing
temperatures. For most people all the activities were new and exciting, but
there were also a few who had tried some of them earlier.
On Monday the actual work considering environmental
issues and sustainable development got started. After discussing a very
touching HOME-movie (students had watched it at home) and planning posters
based on it, it was time to get to work with the main theme during the week and
form the international groups. The work started by watching the videos made by
each country trying to gather possible environmental problems and choosing one
of them to be solved. The students were offered ideas how to think as creatively
as possible and the model that they used to analyse the problem and the reasons
behind it was called Fishbone analysis created by Japanese Kaoru Ishikawa. The
aim was to create 2 different solutions to the problem: both realistic and the
futuristic one, and when Thursday finally arrived, we were able to see
unbelievably creative solutions and lively presentations, because also the form
of the presentation was open.
In addition to this project lasting the whole week the
students´ knowledge about the environment and the importance of nature
preservation and sustainable development definitely increased when they had a
chance to visit Ekorosk, an exceptional waste disposal facility in Pietarsaari.
On Wednesday morning the students gave their individual, ecological promises to
reduce their ecological foot print and all of them were and are to be seen by
everybody else on a big blanket.
Considering the cultural aspect of sustainable
development, we wanted the students to present and teach something small from
their own home country: That was organized in the form of a short cultural
assembly on Thursday morning.
The grand finale to the whole week was the farewell party and Finnish evening on that evening where the students and teachers had a chance to taste typical Finnish treats, listen to and sing Finnish music, play some games and of course, meet Santa himself!
The grand finale to the whole week was the farewell party and Finnish evening on that evening where the students and teachers had a chance to taste typical Finnish treats, listen to and sing Finnish music, play some games and of course, meet Santa himself!
During the week and project tasks but especially in
other activities (ice swimming, evening at school and hanging around together)
they created long-lasting friendships and that is as important as any end
product of the week – if even more important.
Teija Kauppinen
English teacher
Pietarsaaren lukio
Teija Kauppinen
English teacher
Pietarsaaren lukio
