Geography weekend inside-out

Those of you who happened to be in the Cirkewwa area during May, would surely have noticed a lively group of 12-year-olds. You would have bumped into them walking uphill to explore caves, or even carrying out interviews with people on the Cirkewwa ferry.

From a supposedly one-off idea of the Humanities Department 12 years ago, the Grade 8 students of San Anton School wasted no time in transforming this activity into a permanent highlight on the school calendar. With an average students' turnout of 98 per cent every year, these weekends have been set up in order to expose the children to a different dimension of geographical learning. In addition, the possibility of shifting from a classroom to an outdoor environment packed with hands-on experiences is always an exciting prospect for the students.

The event kicked off with the students arriving at Paradise Bay Hotel on Thursday at 6 p.m. They barely had enough time to admire their sea-view rooms or settle down to the weekend rules (which are unfailingly broken the next day!), before an hour later found them already walking in the sunset light of Cirkewwa to explore a subterranean cave and hopefully see some bats. To discharge more of their youthful energy, the group was then involved in a geography quiz tournament, which sometimes could get rather animated much to the consternation of other residents, especially if it dragged on to 10.30 at night! To call Friday a full day is an understatement. By 9 a.m. the students, all clad in Geography Weekend T-shirts, hit the road heading for the Cirkewwa ferry to carry out a transport survey. With transport studies as part of the geography syllabus, the children were encouraged to carry out interviews with tourists and locals about the use of transport. But the activities for the day did not stop there. Once in Gozo, they headed to Ramla l-Hamra for a fieldwork on coastal geology and geomorphology and engaged in a treasure hunt on the beach. Nowhere else were their orientation skills tested to the full, but in the challenge to find the treasure on the map!

In the afternoon, they visited the Mellieha Holiday Complex to get an insight on solar heating, waste separation and water recycling. After this swift succession of events, they walked to Popeye Village, where they gave in to the fun of the water rides, bumping cars and roller coasters. The rest of the afternoon was spent 'resting' at the hotel but by dinner, some eyelids were already drooping and only a few manage to watch the movie Eight Below scheduled for them on big screen.

Saturday started off with a wake-up call that was always a struggle for the teachers, who ruthlessly resorted to the dragging of curtains, singing and even jumping on beds. The hours spent awake to chat the night away started to weigh heavy, as a handful of students could barely drag themselves down to breakfast. Luckily for them the Saturday programme was less demanding, taking in a landscaping activity in the hotel gardens and a workshop to discuss and present their findings of the transport survey. The event closed with Saturday lunch after which, much to their disappointment, the students had to pack up and leave with a luggage full of dirty clothes and exciting memories of an unrepeatable geography learning experience.