St Michael Foundation reach out to Nature and neighbours

Building a tolerant multicultural society based on understanding, co-operation and mutual respect, and the human impact on the world are the two themes that students from St Michael Foundation, San Gwann, are focusing on this year as part of a Comenius project.

Entitled 'European Encounters', the project's aim is to bring together students and teachers from Malta, Germany, the Czech Republic and Portugal to share their culture and views on a number of topics.

This year the project is focusing on two themes. On the theme "Humankind is powerful. Nature is more so", students are observing and evaluating the human impact on the world and how Nature has been affected. They will make suggestions on how they can effectively contribute towards improving the environment.

On the theme "How do we see our neighbours?" students are reflecting on how foreigners see themselves and how others perceive them. They will make suggestions on how to build a tolerant multicultural society based on understanding, co-operation and mutual respect.

The partner schools for this project are from Giessen, Germany; Letohrad, Czech Republic, and Soure, Portugal, while St Michael Foundation is the co-ordinating school this year. It is the second Comenius project that the local school is participating in.

Six teachers and eight students from the partner schools recently visited St Michael Foundation and joined the staff and students of Forms III-V for a project meeting to share and evaluate the work done so far in the project. This included the presentation of a number of DVDs, PowerPoint presentations and talks on the themes chosen for this year.

The students also visited historical sites while the foreign teachers discussed issues relating to education with their Maltese colleagues. They compared the curricula and education goals of the different countries.

For one morning St Michael Foundation students together with their Comenius partners also welcomed all the students from Guardian Angel School for students with disabilities.

The students of the schools took part in a number of activities including art, crafts, sports, drama and music. St Michael Foundation has a twinning project with Guardian Angel School.

Another highlight was a visit by George Pullicino, Minister of Rural Affairs and the Environment, who listened and shared ideas with students on matters related to the environment and how it could be safeguarded.

European Encounters is partly funded by the European Socrates Comenius Programme.