Learning Mobilities: PORTUGAL
Learning visit in Bombarral (Portugal)
The 1 st Learning, Teaching and Training activity took place on the 11-15 th March in
Bombarral, Portugal with short-term exchanges of groups of pupils. The pupils from Poland,
Turkey, Lithuania and Italy were heartily welcomed and hosted by the Portuguese families.
During the 5 days project meeting in Portugal all the participants were offered
multiple activities to foster soft skills: “Yoga for exams”, “Ice breaking games”, “Team
building games”, “Social development games”, “Rope activities”. 5 students and 2
accompanying teachers from each country attended all the activities. Nowadays a lot of
teachers feel the need to develop their students’ soft skills. Currently, these skills are more
and more important in students’ education and appreciated in the labour market. Based on the
experience of their school, the Portuguese partners suggested “Games and Sports” as a tool to
develop soft skills: educational and social games to do in the classroom in order to develop
communication skills and Sports as a complement for training social skills. Learning by
doing and modelling methods were used throughout the week. Through “Games&Sports” it is
possible to develop self-esteem, communication, team-work, creativity, resilience,
cooperation, problem-solving techniques and other soft skills.
The other activities of the meeting outside the school included going on tours of
historic places such as Obidos, Caldas da Rainha and Foz do Arelho. The small town called
Obidos is situated along a limestone ridge and is completely encircled by ancient town walls.
Within Obidos there are traditionally painted houses, a labyrinth of narrow cobbled streets,
and a medieval castle, which has guarded the region for over 800 years. Obidos also boasts an
illustrious history, as it was traditionally given to the queen of Portugal on the day of her
wedding, a tradition which began in 1214 and continued through to the 19th century. We
were also taken to Buddha Eden park which spans for 35 hectares of land and is the largest
oriental garden in Europe. It includes 2000 stone and terracotta sculptures from the late
Gandhare period (6th Century AD). Owned by a private wine company this park features tons
of sculptures, pagodas, stone lanterns, lakes, trees and bridges to explore in this land of
wonder. The oriental park opened in 2007 and uses 6000 tons of marble and granite
commissioned from China. On day 5 we had a chance to visit Lisbon, the stunning capital
city of Portugal, which is one of the most charismatic and vibrant cities of Europe. We did
the sightseeing visiting the key landmarks of Lisbon- one of them São Jorge Castle, offering
both excellent history and views of the city.
All the participants took delight in surf learning session in Peniche, one of the best
surfing locations in Europe. After some basic instructions, the students tried this complex
sport on their own and demonstrated courage and perseverance to control a board.
On the last day of the meeting all the pupils, teachers, host families were invited to
Farewell dinner party at school where final speeches were made, certificates handed out,
sincere hugs exchanged.
The entire week was abundant in educational and cultural activities providing all the
participants with invaluable experience and allowing all of us to improve our soft skills and
become better at communicating, cooperating and team-building.
