same schools will meet in Tibães,

in an event organized by Escola

EB2,3 de Mosteiro e Cávado to

celebrate Multiculturalism.

In June we will try to pro-

mote a sports event, in Braga,

that will count on the population

participation, with the aim of

raising funds for a Solidarity Insti-

tution, the APPACDM. The CC

wants to stir people’s conscious-

ness and appeal to the impor-

tance of the solidarity value.

Let us wish that many students

from the ENA cluster arouse be-

fore the positive stir of con-

sciousnesses and lead their lives

by the solidarity, tolerance, and

inclusion values and respect for

the Human Rights.

This is the first number of a bi-

monthly Newsletter that wishes

to promote some actions that

have taken place or will take

place in a near future at ENA

cluster schools. We will be open

to the sending of suggestions by

email

(espl.connecting@gmail.com).

Teresa Lacerda

The Connecting Classrooms is

a project promoted by the British

Council with the Portuguese sup-

port of the Education Bureau

through the General Directorate

of Innovation and Curriculum

Development, and the Portu-

guese Youth Institute, involving

twenty schools from European

countries. This partnership began

in 2010/2011.

The Portuguese partnership

has been developed with three

European countries: Greece,

Czech Republic and the United

Kingdom. There are two main

clusters: one in the north (ENA

Cluster) and another in the south

(OI Cluster).

The CC has been developed in

a curriculum context and it is

about the inclusion issue, appeal-

ing to the group work between

partners through the use of vir-

tual spaces provided by the Inter-

net. This year many actions will

take place in each school. How-

ever, some will occur simultane-

ously, at the Portuguese schools

from the ENA cluster with the

goal of having an important visi-

bility at school and in the Portu-

guese society, so that it can sen-

sitize the most people possible to

the importance of tolerance, mu-

tual respect, solidarity and re-

spect for human rights.

Having this in mind, three ac-

tions will take place on thirtieth

January- Connecting Classrooms

Day; on sixteenth March – Multi-

culturalism ―My world is as big as

what I know‖; and on eighth June

– ―We want to help!‖ (fund rais-

ing campaign for the APPACDM).

On thirtieth January 2012,

ENA cluster schools will dedicate

the day to the promotion of the

project and will join the School

Day of Non-Violence and Peace.

On sixteenth March, the

Presentation

The School Day of Non-violence and Peace

The School Day of Non-

violence and Peace has been celebrated worldwide since 1964 on January 30 and aims at calling attention for

the importance of a lifelong

education for non-violence and peace.

This year, the Portuguese

schools from the ENA

cluster have decided to

celebrate this day together with the schools of their part-

nership (Greece, Republic Czech and London).

[cont. page 2, 3]

Connecting Classrooms (CC)

January 2012

Volume 1, Edition 1,

English version

CC.ENA Cluster

Contents:

30th January 2

Open CC Day 2

Connecting cultures 4

CC Hymn 5

International Day of

Disabled People 5

News from Czech

Republic

7

A caring school 7

Math, Yes you can 8

Young leaders training—

October, © Cristina Santos

TwinSpace >>>>>

To start the opening day

―Connecting Classrooms‖, stu-

dents will sing and play a version

of the song ―Imagine‖ from John

Lennon along with a choir of

students from the 8th grades.

The school activities will stop for

about 25 minutes so that all the

school can partake in this activity

which will consist of an human

lace in the outdoor school space

constituted by all the participat-

ing students, school staff and

students from the unity of autists,

all dressed in white and green,

symbolizing peace and hope. We

will also launch white balloons

with messages inside referring to

peace, inclusion and cultural di-

versity in several languages and

with an email address for even-

tual answers.

Throughout the morning, images

under the theme ―We are the

Others‖, from the documentary

―Babies‖, will be broadcast on

the school LCDs. The report of

the events will be made by the

students from ―multimedia‖ and

by the School Newspaper

‖Impressões‖ promoted by stu-

dents from the 12th grade of

―Humanidades‖. The students

from ―Turismo‖ will make the

protocol of the day. We will

build a mural with the sentences

sent in the balloons and others

to be completed.

That day, a cinema cycle will be

started with themes related to

the Connecting theme ―We are

the Others‖ – films such as

―Gran Torino‖, ―Billy Elliot‖,

―Desert Flower‖, Water‖,

―Kandahar‖, ―Invictus‖ will be

presented for four weeks.

A Human Ribbon will be built-up,

in order to promote Non-

Violence and Peace at

schools, and bracelets, which

will identify the members of

―Connecting Classrooms‖ com-

munity, will be also delivered

among the CC members.

On ―Connecting Classrooms‖

Opening Day a promotional

video of the project will be

shown, as well as other works

done by students who belong to

ENA Cluster’s schools, during

the Teen Leaders’ training.

[>>>].

One of the main goals of the

project is the one of solidarity.

This is the reason why we will

p re s e n t t he AP PACD M

(Portuguese Association of Par-

ents and Friends of the Mental

Handicap Citizen), an institution

which ENA Cluster’s schools will

try to support, during this school

year.

The School Day of Non-violence and Peace / open CC day ...

… at Escola EB2,3 de Matosinhos...

… at Escola Secundária Carlos Amarante ...

At Carlos Amarante High

School, within the activities,

there will be a human chain all

around the whole school

building.

Also as part of the activities to

celebrate this day, the CC

launched a digital poster com-

petition to raise awareness in

the school community, and the

winners will be awarded. “Since wars begin

in the minds of

men, it is in the

minds of men that

the defenses of

peace must be

constructed”.

(Prologue of the UNESCO

Constitution )

Page 2

CC.ENA Cluster

… at Escola Secundária Dr. Joaquim Gomes Ferreira Alves ...

Exhibition room >>>>>

Tv GFA >>>>>

Radio GFA >>>>>

On 30th January teachers will

motivate students for the impor-

tance of our actions in order to

fight the ―Bullying‖ and ―Cyber

bullying‖ problems, which have

been spreading everywhere, as

well as for the need of every-

body’s cooperation in the resolu-

tion of this social illness. The

main purpose is to call every-

one’s attention for an active role

in order to defend the Human

Rights and to promote the Peace.

Thus, teachers will explore some

videos aboutBullying, Cyber Bul-

lying and Human Rights.

The School Community of Póvoa

de Lanhoso Secondary School

will get together joining those

who are likely to be victims of

school violence. To reach this

the School yard. Slogans and

thoughts against School Violence

will be shared. The ―Connecting

Classrooms’ Hymn [>>>] will

also be sung by the school com-

munity.

Ângela Pereira, ESCT

In Mosteiro and Cávado

Compulsory School a

recital of the poem ―If‖, by Rud-

yard Kipling, will be recited by

All day long, in Caldas das

Taipas Secondary

School’s entrance, informa-

tion about the project will be

shown through pictures and vid-

eos on the wall collected by the

Teen Leaders, in order to give

information related to Friendship,

Integration and Diversity in the

School Community.

A Human Heart of 100

students will be organized in

students. There will also be a

digital presentation about impor-

tant personalities worldwide who

were recognized by their struggle

for the Peace in the World. This

activity will take place in the

Students’ Room; an exhibition of

photos and brief biographies of

well-known personalities re-

searched by the students, will be

shown in the School Library; a

leaflet will be put in the teachers’

… at Escola Secundária da Póvoa de Lanhoso...

… na Escola Secundária de Caldas das Taipas … & … EB2,3 de Mosteiro e Cávado

intends to honour the victims of the

slaughter in Utoeya.

“We say no to fear,

We say no to violence,

In the silence you hear,

Hidden in each tear

Lies the power of tolerance!”

Fátima Veiga, EB23 Paranhos

Oslo, Norway, 22 July 2011 AFP - Two

attacks on Friday in the region of Oslo

shook Norway with the news of 87

killings, as the result of an action perpe-

trated by a right wing extremist against

the labour party. Witnesses of the

attack in the island of Utoeya revealed

that the aggressor - a man with Nordic

features and that spoke norwegian shot

against the victims, the majority of

which were youngsters (France Press).

The Human Lace in EB 2,3 Paranhos

“There is no way to

peace. Peace is the

way! ”

Mahatma Gandhi

Page 3

… at Escola EB2,3 de Paranhos ...

Volume 1, Ed it ion 1 , Engl i sh vers ion

Utoeya

books, so that they can ex-

plain the role of the project

―Connecting Classrooms‖ to

the several classes. The

main purpose of this

activity is to inform the

students about the impor-

tance of the project in the

development of well-formed,

active, critical citizens, as the

main agents for a better soci-

ety.

purpose, a big Human Ribbon will

be held in the open school yard in

order to call the attention of all the

members involved to the impor-

tance of being an active citizen to

build up a world of PEACE. A t-

shirt with the slogan ―I took the

anti-bullying pledge‖ will be given to

every school members who will get

together for the Human Ribbon. To

complete this activity, two groups

of students will play two perform-

ances with messages against School

Violence, as a manifesto. These t-

shirts will be delivered in the school

building .

The notion of six degrees of

separation between any two

people stems from a research

performed in the 1960s by

the American social psycholo-

gist Stanley Milgram. Six de-

grees of separation is the the-

ory that anyone on the planet

can be connected to any

other person on the planet

through a chain of acquaintan-

ces that has no more than five

intermediaries. According to

a study by Facebook and the

University of Milan, the aver-

age number of steps it takes

to link any two individuals on

the social network is 4.74.

Thus, we can conclude that

ICT, and particularly the so-

cial networks, are an effective

way to communicate with

other people, to share ideas,

to discuss different points of

view.

By using ICT to communicate,

Connecting Classrooms project

approximates students from

different schools both in Por-

tugal and in Europe. Different

pupils in a distant country can

share their work and experi-

ences by using, for example,

the TwinSpace platform or a

blog. That is what Esco-

laBásica do Cávado has done.

You can have a look at our

Christmas Campaign by con-

sulting our Blog:

http://

connecting-

cavado.blogspot.com/

Perhaps Stanley Milgram was

wrong… perhaps there is no

such thing as six degrees of

separation…if we work to-

gether nothing can or will

tear us apart…

Cristina Gonçalves,

Escola EB2,3 de Mosteiro e

Cávado

Connecting Classrooms: connecting cultures

“By using ICT to

communicate,

Connecting

Classrooms

project

approximates

students from

different schools

both in Portugal

and in Europe.”

Page 4

CC.ENA Cluster

Blog - EB2,3 do Cávado >>>>>>

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too:

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream---and not make dreams your master;

If you can think---and not make thoughts your aim,

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same:.

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;

CHORUS

Think of things you want to do

Think of things that make you smile

And forget your troubles for a while

Here there’s so much to do

But you can have fun, too

Here you can take a break and chill out

Actually, we know this is what life is all about

(Chorus)

Here you can visit places

Try new things and see new faces

Working out mobility to restyle again society

Curbing down all prejudice refusing bullying and

cowardice

(Chorus)

Dive into diversity

Think of solidarity

The world is out there, so bright and so new

The world is waiting for me and for you.

CC Hymn composed by César Silva and song

lyrics by 10ºPDM & 10ºPCC 2010-11

IF [… share in EB2,3 de Mosteiro e Cávado]

Connecting Classrooms Hymn

Page 5

Volume 1, Ed it ion 1 , Engl i sh vers ion

Lecture on International Day of Disabled People On last December 2, 2011, a lecture entitled

"Terminology on Disability in the Era of Inclusion"

was held in the auditorium of our school as part of

the activities to celebrate the International Day of

Disabled People. This event allowed us to present

some CC's activities to be carried out during this

school year.

School day Among many other initiatives to celebrate our

school the Connecting Classrooms Project organ-

ised a "Cultural Display" – a stand of typical dishes

from different countries, language and literature,

folk music and dance. Students from different

countries attending classes in our school talked

about their places and traditions and discussed

multicultural sensitive issues in a round table de-

bate.

Adelina Moura, ESCA

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings,

And never breathe a word about your loss:

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with Kings---nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much:

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

And---which is more---you'll be a Man, my son!

Rudyard Kipling

(30th December 1865 – 18 January 1936 / Bombay)

... Also at Escola Secundária Carlos Amarante

Along the first term,

under the project Connecting

Classrooms, the students

made poems (some turned

into songs) about the themes

―The Importance of the Lan-

guages among the People‖ and

―We are the Others‖, which will

be published on the school page.

What’s more, the students

of arts will contribute

with drawings for the

creation of an e-book.

The students of the 12th grade

have presented their research on

PowerPoint about Valadares,

Portuguese Language Varieties,

Portuguese Culture/ Gastronomy,

Portuguese around the World, Dif-

ferences between the British and

Portuguese culture, under the

theme ―Here We are‖, once we

are only starting the project this

year.Moreover, Students

from basic and secon-

dary education partici-

pated in a volunteering

initiative in aid of the 'Against

Hunger' / Food Bank campaign

and took photographs. The stu-

dents will make a report about

the event along with a video.

Furthermore, the students

f rom Pro f e s s io n a l

Courses organized a show to

raise funds for the volunteer

firefighters from Valadares. In

philosophy, under the theme

―We are the Others‖ and articu-

lating with the Project Workshop

of Ideas, the arts students from

the 10th and 11th grades illus-

trated sentences from other

students of the same grades

which were printed on book

marks. Some of these sentences

and illustrations will be previ-

ously impressed on T-shirts for

The School Day (GFA Day). There

were also expositions of stu-

dents’ works about cultural di-

versity and tolerance, again an

initiative from Philosophy. The

students of the elementary and

secondary educations partici-

pated in debates in Civic Educa-

tion about the theme Social De-

scrimination and Networks. We

registered the event with photo-

graphs of the students defending

their causes in a debate for the

project ―Youth Parliament‖. Our

school also went along with the

project ―Sala de Estudo‖ (Study

Room): after the classes sched-

ule, volunteer students from

10th, 11th and 12th grades are

helping students from 7th to 9th

grades with their homework and

school tests at the school library.

Along the second

term, we will organize our

online page for our stu-

dents’ works and news

of the project. Work-

shops from Espaço T and

a conference about mul-

ticulturalism are due to

take place. In philosophy and

in articulation with English, the

Human Rights will be translated

and debated. The works done by

the students will be published on

the school page. Within the

project Workshop of

Ideas, a contest with de-

bate and videos direction

about the Problems of the

Contemporary World and

We and Others: participation

and citizenship has already been

regulated. 12th grade students

from ―Áreas de Expressão‖ are

preparing a theatre play which

they will present, in St. Valen-

tine’s Day, to the users of the

institutions where they will do

their internship (mostly retire-

ment homes). The activity will be

opened to the community and

they will be selling love cookies.

The Environment theme will be

dealt with in English subject by

11th grade students with power-

point presentations and the or-

ganization of a study visit. The

11th graders from ―Técnicas La-

boratoriais‖ have organized a

visit to the local television/radio

where they will record a film/

podcast in English presenting

themselves and giving their opin-

ion about some social/human

problems. In history, agroup of

work of 8th graders will be

formed in order to recover local

estate ( water-mills, typical of the

place ).

On the School Day,

2nd March, we planned to pre-

pare panels with the themes of

the project and we are going to

propose the writing of a sen-

tence or a drawing to the stu-

dents who will visit us. The mural

will have a digital and global side,

the ―Multimedia‖ students will

photograph the outcome right

away and publish it on our mas-

terblog. The sentences written

by the visitor students will also

be published in our blog and

projected ―live‖. We are going to

ask the teachers of our visitor

schools to bring something about

their community as well: for

example, a photo of their folk-

lore, the activities of voluntary

organizations or collectivities, so

that we can publish them with a

subtitle on the so called global

space.

Helena Reis - Escola Secundária Dr.

Joaquim Gomes Ferreira (ESFGA)

Connecting Classrooms activities in ESFGA

“Um homem não

pode fazer o certo

numa área da vida,

enquanto está

ocupado a fazer o

errado em outra. A

vida é um todo

indivisível”.

Mahatma Gandhi

Page 6

CC.ENA Cluster

“Só engrandecemos o

nosso direito à vida

cumprindo o nosso

dever de cidadãos do

mundo”.

Mahatma Gandhi

The project "Uma Escola Solidária"

was designed jointly by the Department of

Humanities and Social Sciences and the Inte-

grated Mediation Team of the Escola Básica de

Matosinhos, with the help of social worker

Claudia Gomes.

This project was developed dur-

ing the Christmas season and aimed to

assist the poorest households in our area,

meaning those with the highest rate of

unemployment, poverty and social exclu-

sion. Thus, during a period of two weeks, we

proceeded to collect a large amount of food

that was later distributed to 44 families who

have expressed serious economic needs, taking

into account the number of factors that were

affecting each household.

It is important to mention that this

act of social solidarity has gone through several

phases before proceeding to the subsequent

development and delivery of parcels, to be

designated: identification of potentially needy

families by the teachers; appeal for contribu-

tions by the school community through the

designing of posters by the 7th grade classes;

promotion of a bazaar by the 9th grade classes;

and analysis and selection of the families that

would be helped by this project by the social

worker Claúdia Gomes.

In short, I must commend the efforts

of all those involved in fostering and imple-

menting this project, from students, teachers

and non-teaching staff who have worked hard

to make this action a success. In terms of

learning, the students who participated directly

in the development of this project had the

opportunity to develop skills such as sociability,

responsibility, solidarity, initiative, cooperation

and creativity.

Andreia Mendes

Escola EB2,3 de Matosinhos

EB2,3 de Matosinhos:

A caring school

Page 7

Volume 1, Ed it ion 1 , Engl i sh vers ion

News from…

...Czech Republic

Christmas workshop (12/2011)

The Chrudim Business Academy students (the Czech school

involved in the British Council project, Connecting Classrooms)

organized a Christmas workshop for the attendees of the Day Care

Centre “Jitrenka”. They made together Christmas cards and

Christmas decorations. BA students also invited their friends

to the café run by them in the practical project for the school

subject Enterprise.

Sports festival in Chrudim (10/2011)

In October students from the

Business Academy in Chrudim (the Czech Republic) together with

other students from four Czech schools involved in the British

Council project, Connecting Classrooms held a festival for

physically and mentally disabled attendees of the Day Care Centre

"Jitrenka" and the House of Social Services.

A group of English students from Churchill Community College

helped them with the preparations and organization. The festival was a

great success and all participants enjoyed it very much. We are all

looking forward to meeting again in autumn 2012.

The day before the festival the

Business Academy students together with the group of English

students visited “Jitrenka”. They watched a performance prepared

by its attendees and made together decorations out of clay and

weaved baskets.

Sarka Pudilova

Business Academy in Chrudim

Pictures—Escola EB2,3 de Matosinhos

Pictures—Business Academy in Chrudim, Czech Republic

Published by Escola Secundária da

Póvoa de Lanhoso

Rua da Misericórdia

4830-503 Póvoa de Lanhoso

espl.connecting@gmail.com

Telef: 253 633 338

British Council - Porto

Rua do Breiner, 155

4050-126 Porto

Telef: 222 073 060

This edition had the collaboration of all ENA Cluster’s Schools.

Connecting Classrooms ENA Cluster

Sophia de Mello Breyner

“In the great

battles of life, the

first step to victory

is the desire to

win”

Mahatma Gandhi

DGIDC - Ministério da Educação

Av. 24 de Julho, 140

1399-025 Lisboa

Telef: 21 393 45 00

SIBYLS

Sibyls inside adamantine caves,

Totally loveless and blind.

Feeding emptiness like a sacred fire

While shadow dissolves night and day

Into the same light of bodiless horror.

Bring out here that monstrous dew

Of interior nights, the sweat

Of powers tied to themselves

When words strike the walls

In blind swoops of trapped birds

And the horror of having wings

Screeches like a clock in the void. © Translation: 2004, Richard Zenith

Reading suggestions: Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen

by Rosa Sousa, Escola Secundária da Póvoa de Lanhoso

Acknowledgements:

Andreia Mendes, Cristina Gon-

çalves, Conceição Ribas, Dulce

Ventura, Fátima Veiga, Helena

Reis, Isabel Friande & Manuela

Lourenço.

(Thanks for helping in translation)