O testemunho do Nicolò

5 months of Lisbon dominated by 2 states of being, late and busy, especially in the last 2 months, September was particularly challenging for 2 things:

the Feira da Luz and the On-Arrival Training

The first is a traditional festival in the Freguesia of Carnide lasting one month in which there are folkloristic performance, activities related to the Portuguese culture and concerts with both traditional and modern artists, it was the first experience in which I worked in close contact with the staff of Junta de Freguesia de Carnide, I dealt with the reception of the artists, loading and unloading instrumentation and sometimes even taking some pictures. I was very excited to participate, especially because it would have been an excellent opportunity to meet new artists and discover new music, it was very fun but also very tiring, especially on days when there were many activities to keep under control ( Sundays in particular). 

Every weekend for the entire duration of September there I spent working at the Feira except for the week from the 16th to the 22nd, where I was in Gêres for the On-Arrival training with other EVS volunteers currently in Portugal.

 This experience was really refreshing, until then I had not traveled a lot in Portugal yet, so it was an opportunity to get out of Lisbon and be in touch with the nature (The Pousada da Juventude where the training took place was in the middle of Gêres natural park), especially at that time, between the feira and work in the library, I was really tired. 

Also knowing the other volunteers was very interesting and inspiring, a lot of interesting people from many different countries (from India to Thailand to Liechtenstein) with whom we have formed a close-knit group very quickly, the days have been stimulating and varied, I really appreciated the non formal approach and the arguments treaties (perception of other cultures, stereotypes, team building, problem solving) that often led to discussions and debates. In particular, an activity that we have done in the last days and that I appreciated a lot was the one on the workshops: Some volunteers had to propose and organize a 30 minute workshop based on their knowledge and what they could bring to the group, the others could then choose what take part. The workshops were very varied (from traditional dances to cooking to therapy methods on boredom) and they gave me a lot of creative ideas.

The remaining part of September was spent between the last visits to the beach before winter and the final part of Feira da Luz.

October has been less stressful but still full of stuff to do, i returned full time in the library and as I mentioned in the last post, I started giving computer lessons that took place 3 times a week throughout month, at the beginning the subscriptions were not many but within a week I had 5 students! It was not easy, some people did not even know what a computer was, I tried different approaches to teaching trying to find the most suitable and I admit that I was amazed by the improvements achieved by everyone in just 2 weeks. Unfortunately, many people discovered about this training too late and so they could not take part but since the answer was so positive, i'm thinking of re-proposing something similar in the new year. In addition to the EVS I tried to carry out as many personal projects as possible, I continued to compose since I arrived in Lisbon and I managed to release 2 EP of original music and I'm now working on other music to be released for the end of this year I continued to attend the jam sessions in the city, trying to be part of the scene as much as I could, always meeting new musicians, with some of these we decided to form a  I've never been a "traveler" but after the on-arrival I stayed in touch with the other volunteers and I took the opportunity to move a little from Lisbon to see other parts of Portugal and also host people who wanted to come to visit Lisbon.

In particular, one of the projects that most struck was the one in which Costance participated, a French girl, located in the north of Portugal in a small village called Uva in the district of Bragança.

The situation was similar to that in the On Arrival period, I really needed to get out of the city and go to a place more in contact with nature and spend a weekend there was very relaxing and interesting I'm roughly half of my experience here in Portugal, for the future I have other projects that I hope will be able to complete (more in the video area) that I would like to combine with music

We'll see

Seminário “Don’t ESC From Game”, Espanha

"Don ESC from game" foi um seminário de intercâmbio de boas práticas que decorreu em Errenteria dos dias 7 a 14 de Setembro de 2018. Durante estes dias foram trabalhadas muitas competências e diversas metodologias inovadoras no campo da educação não formal. Durante este período foram também partilhadas, muitas experiências e bastante conhecimento entre os participantes deste seminário.

Como Educador Social recém-licenciado, estive (re)enquadrado com uma panóplia de ferramentas, que podem prestar um apoio de carácter pedagógico, cultural, social e recreativo a indivíduos, grupos e comunidades abrangidos por equipamentos sociais, com vista à melhoria das condições de vida, através de uma ferramenta educacional para todos os tipos de ambientes, idades e contextos diferentes. A metodologia usada neste projeto foi à gamificação, esta é uma forma inovadora de criar um jogo e ao mesmo tempo criar aprendizagens ao público alvo que vai participar no mesmo. Uma sala cheia de grandes desafios onde o objetivo é sair da mesma sem que o tempo termine e onde um grupo de pessoas tem que resolver os enigmas e desafios. Destaco que na minha área de formação, a área social, esta é uma forma muito dinâmica de trabalhar conteúdos através da educação não formal e durante este projeto pude desenvolver estas competências que permitirão que no futuro eu consiga criar com mais criatividade atividades socioeducativas de índole cultural, educativa e recreativa na ocupação de tempos livres de crianças, jovens e pessoas idosas.

O impacto que este seminário teve em mim foi que me permitiu alcançar competências, para criar o meu próprio projeto de "sala de fuga educacional". Assim, acredito que estes projetos serviam para que nos jovens, tenhamos um crescimento exponencial pessoal e profissional. A verdade é que o futuro da Europa passa pelo fortalecimento da cooperação entre os jovens europeus, pelos laços de ligação entre culturas bem como por um aumento do investimento na educação e a preparação dos cidadãos mais novos para o ingresso no mercado de trabalho.

Manuel Barbosa

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"Don ESC from game" was an exchange of good practice seminar held in Errenteria, Spain, from September 7 to 14, 2018. During these days many skills and innovative methodologies in the field of non-formal education were worked on and many experiences and knowledge were also shared among the participants of this seminar. 

As a newly-graduated Social Educator, I have been (re)introduced to a range of tools, which can provide pedagogical, cultural, social and recreational support to individuals, groups, and communities with the goal of improving life, through educational tools for all types of environments, ages, and different contexts. The methodology used in this project was gamification, an innovative way to create a game and at the same time create learning for the target audience that will participate in it. A room full of great challenges where the goal is to get out of it before the time is over, and where a group of people has to solve the puzzles and challenges. I emphasize that in my area of training, the social area is a very dynamic way of working through non-formal education and during this project I developed these skills that in the future will allow me to create more creative socio-educational activities of a cultural, educational and leisure type for children, young people and the elderly.

The impact that this seminar had on me was that it allowed me to achieve skills, to create my own project of "educational escape room". Thus, I believe that these projects serve for young people to grow exponentially on a personal and professional level. The truth is that the future of Europe is in strengthening cooperation between young Europeans, the links between cultures as well as increasing investment in education and the preparation of younger citizens for entry into the labor market.

Manuel Barbosa