A Volunteer Point of View

 A spirit of tolerance and respect by interculturality is a significant topic to discuss under the personal point of view of each student to encourage their opportunities in their future commitments. It is not hard to understand that there are corroborative studies which show that the most eager for experiences and creative people are constantly searching for new spaces to develop their potential. Creating scopes where you can interact with other cultures, distinct languages, ways of thinking and variant struggles (in summary, other people different from us) means to build experience and creativity opportunities.

I am a Spanish volunteer, nowadays I am working in an European Voluntary Service in Arad, Romania. In my own experience, I am dealing with interculturality day by day, not just because I am living in a foreign country but also because I am working with other volunteers from different nationalities. Working as a group with people from other countries you learn to build strategies through discussions among different points of view that produce as a result better outcomes as well as an enriching learning process for the person concerned.

My volunteering consists on working with children in two schools, one Romanian and one Hungarian, the two of them in Arad. We do sports and we create daily activities to prevent children obesity and to show that physical activity is significant. In addition I work dancing Spanish traditional melodies and teaching Spanish language to a group of Romanian teachers.

In my Spanish language classes, besides of learning the most important aims for grammar knowledge, I always use non-formal education. We make games for them to know the habits and traditions and we compare them with their own customs with the purpose of acquiring lore about the culture, also for them to see the disparity at working in an environment in which not only students are learning, also I am uplifting through the outfit constructions that they use to solve the activity suggested.

When I work with the other volunteers creating spaces for games and events for children in the sports class, we share opinions among people from three different nationalities: Macedonia, Portugal and Spain. We develop activities that we used to do when we were children, and Romanian kids are so open to learn how to play or how to manage not the same things they are used to, they even ask us for the translation in our own language of some words and they make a big effort to carry out the pursuits we have prepared for them.

In brief, the adjustment to diversity as a growth and learning process is a personal achievement. Children who develop this kind of practices during their educational years will have seen their potential in linguistic communication skills, in social and citizen crafts and also in artistic talents as an adding part of their knowledge.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Romina Elisondo, Danilo Donolo (2014) : Interculturalidad, apertura a experiencias y creatividad. Aportes para una educación alternativa,Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Argentina. 

International symposium of education

We had the chance of being part of an international symposium of education, and this is the work I presented! It's only a little bit of one of my experencies during the EVS. Why teaching spanish culture in Arad?
Daniel Villanueva

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxwZW50cnVlZHVjYXRpZXdvcmRwcmVzc2NvbXxneDo2MWVlOGY0MjFkODJhOTUz

International Symposium of Education

TELL ME AND I FORGET. TEACH ME AND I REMEBER. INVOLVE ME AND I LEARN

ESTEBAN SÁNCHEZ, Ana

Asociatia pentru protectia mediului, turism si educatie

Since I was 18 years old I learned about non formal education throught my experience as volunteer. The volunteering was focused in a non formal education because of I spent my time with children and people in social risk. It was during to my childhood, when I had my first contact with that education way. Thank to my parents, who teach me to learn, to reserach, to think, throught traveling. However, until I started my degree, I was be able to name that education way. I mean, a empirical education. Nevertheless, finished my degree, I made the decision to go to Arad. To do a European Voluntary Service, to take an international experience, and finally to put in practise this before background connected with the education. The tittle of the article remained in my mind

First of all said that I´m sure I want to be a human rights educator. I did a lot kind of courses in Spain about it. Why not fight for the human rights throught the education? Going directly to the school, high schools, institutions, and teach them, and finally all of us learning together.

Following my degree, History of Art, I started Spanish Art Conference at Art school of Arad. That´s the first non formal education experience with the art. I am still doing it until June. The art can be education too. See and realized how much the students know what I am talking about during my conferences it´s something amazing. Give them the chance to think, to envolve them in a conversation, because it´s the most important way to interact together. All of  experience  was done with a powert point back me, because, what can be the best way to teach art that the pictures? I am talking about a empirial education and about a picture´s memory. In addition, I don´t want to teach always talking, without any opportunity for them to express themselves. From my point of view it´s not teaching.

In other hand, I did a peace and non violence campaign and a gender equality day with teenagers and kinds. Fort he first campaign I needed a powert point to dynamaze my class. I had the chance to know too many teenagers,  and more than 30 hours to undestake on three schools and high schools. Even places with different cultures, so distinct ways to learn, to teach. I was at German school of Arad. It´was a surprise how they polite they are, but at the same time, how few they know about the reality, about wars, violence, people who figh for the peace.

I try to made them think through videos, Nelson mandela´s speech, and a powert point too. They didn´t react so well. So I decided to do one step more talking about my volunteering experience in Guatemala. It´s the best choice. To envolve them in my experience, to show them what they can do as humans they are. After the German school conference, I realized how the people need a close experience to understand deeply a them. To envolve them still was good to educating them on values.

About the gender equality scholar day, I should said it was a totally different experience. My objective was the shame that the peace and non violence campaign, teach values, but because of the school was distinit, the way to do it as well. The place, Mihail Eminescu school is a poor school. I kept in mind it to use the material. None powert point; to interact directly with them. To make them work drawing, painting and using the imagination. Show them that it´s not neccesary using too much material to the great labour to educate. For that seasson I show them the most important women characters in the History throught papper dols. I also prepare a crossword with main words relationed with the theme, as suffragist, gender, vote etc. Finally I give then the chance to imagine a impacting sentence to sum up the seasson. If a teacher do that, the students will feel useful, and appreciating.

Apart of that, I am spanish teacher at Liceul Dimitri Tichindeal. It a good way to bring Spanish culture to Romania. And in this sense to exhibit my own culture over E.L.E[1] videos, real roles and facts, read them spanish novels, listining spanish music, spanish gramar etc. My students are teenagers so I have to do a lot of differents activities because I dont want them to feel boring. In the end, it´s educate them in spanish values, and teaching them spanish language. Remarking that two distinct aspects.

In the end, I must finish talking about the Picasso´s Project, that I am still doing. The objectives is teaching Picasso’s art and cubism for children in an interactive and non-formal way through art. Teach how easy is the cubism for children with free eyes without prejudice. I would like to summarize my experience in Romania with the sentence of Benjamin Franklin[2] which is name after the article.

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[1] The Spanish as a second language or, more commonly, Spanish as a Foreign Language (ELE) is a matter which consists of bath teaching Spanish one Students who have a different language as their mother, especially immigrants, tourists, indigenous, Refugees and any other you have the person learn for work , business, diplomacy and cultural curiosity. Currently, the number of students of Spanish as a foreign language in the world is about twenty million.

[2] Benjamin Franklin (1705–1790) was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A renowned polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, freemason, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat.