Preparing our visit to Tenerife

Filipa and Nuno are going to visit IES Los Cardones next week.

Preparing their presentations....

Our Comenius team in Finland

João and Ricardo with the Spanish students.

Carlos Paiva and José Ramalhoto with the Spanish teachers.

Our trip

On Monday, the 31st March, it was the start of a new adventure for Ricardo and I, because we arrived in Finland for a visit to our Finnish Comenius Partners.
At the airport in Porto we saw many people from different countries and we had a good time doing some “explorations” and taking a lot of pictures. In the plane we saw the most incredible landscapes and everything was so beautiful.
When we arrived in Helsinki, it was a pleasure to meet teacher Harri and the two girls that “adopted” us in their families. The houses were pretty, big and warm.
In the following days we got to know the school, met some students and teachers too. We did a presentation about ourselves and about the work done by our students to the Comenius project.
The Finnish school is different from our school. It has a classroom for each school subject, like “hotel services”, “good habits”, German, religion and other subjects like the ones we have in Portugal (mathematics, English, music…).
During our stay in Finland we visited some museums, churches, a castle, a forest (National Park), some ancient places, we saw the President’s house, the court, some shopping malls…. a different culture. The Finnish are very different from the Portuguese, they are open-minded, the way they look is different, they have a good quality of life, they eat many times a day and have healthy eating habits (they eat a lot of vegetables), but they also eat too many chocolates and gums. But the Finnish have a thing in common with the Portuguese: they are a warm and welcoming people.
We had also the chance to taste Finnish food and to experiment some Finnish habits like sauna, riding horses, snow fights, bowling, some Finnish games… And of course we had the possibility to communicate in English, to discover another country, to be in contact with new people, to learn more about many different subjects.
The weather was cold; the most part of the Finnish people is blond and has green or blue eyes. The city where we stayed in had some green spaces and we could see reindeers, deers, rabbits walking in the streets and in the houses. The Finnish people don’t eat rabbits because in Finland they are pets.
We loved the entire Comenius group. The Finnish people are as nice and as funny as the Spanish people.
It was a fantastic trip and having new friends it’s great! It was a good experience, it was positive and nice.
To celebrate our farewell we had a party in Annu’s house and in the last day it was so hard to say goodbye! We didn’t cry but in our hearts we felt something strong and strange, it was really difficult.
So, we wish to meet you all again. A big kiss and a big hug to all of you! We already miss you so much!
See you in Portugal. Bye.

João Mota and Ricardo Vieira

Self-Esteem Questionnaire: analysis by the Comenius team

The following is the analysis of a survey that was done as a part of a Multilateral Comenius School Partnership project. The questionnaire aimed to analyse and compare the self-esteem levels shown by the Portuguese students with the ones shown by the students from Finland, Spain and Italy. The questionnaire included a total of 36 questions regarding the evaluation of self-esteem and was organized by the Italian school Istituto Tecnico Commerciale, Turistico e per Geometri "Enrico Mattei" in Decimomannu, Sardinia, and translated to Portuguese by the Portuguese project coordinators.
It is important to say that 60 male students answered the survey, which corresponds to 61% of the total students surveyed, and that 38 female students also did it, which corresponds to a rate of 39% of the total students involved in this survey. The students´ average age was 17 years old and they were all students at FORAVE.
In what concerns the analysis of the results it’s possible to conclude that the average score of the 98 students is placed in a high self-esteem level (average = 53). Looking at the results of the 38 female students, 36,8% have high self-esteem levels, 47,4% have average self-esteem levels and 15,8% have low self-esteem levels. Regarding the 60 male students, we can say that 76,7% have high self-esteem levels, 21,7% have average self-esteem levels and that 1,6 % have low self-esteem levels.

It must be stressed that these results aren’t a faithful picture and that they only represent trends. Nevertheless, this survey was important because it made our students realize the importance of being able to evaluate themselves in a positive way and of considering the self-esteem as a temporary psychological condition, that is to say, a condition that can be changed so that it can influence all their actions at school and with their families.

Self-Esteem Questionnaire

Here is the Self-Esteem Questionnaire answered by our students...

SELF-ESTEEM QUESTIONNAIRE

Following you’ll find some situations you could have found yourself or you’ll maybe have to cope with. You should evaluate them according to your personal experience.

0 means “Doesn’t correspond to my personal experience”
1 means “Hardly ever corresponds to my personal experience”
2 means “2 out of 3 doesn’t correspond to my personal experience”
3 means “2 out of 3 corresponds to my personal experience”
4 means “It usually corresponds to my personal experience”
5 means “It definitely corresponds to my personal experience”


1.I sometimes think that I’m not fun to be with
2.I often don’t feel to be accepted and appreciated even by those who know
me well
1.I’m not sure of what doing or saying when I’m together with people I don’t know well
2.I can hardly see other people’s qualities
3.I often feel to be a too shy guy, even if I don’t look like that to other people’s eyes.
4.People don’t like me if they don’t know me well
5.Even if I try to trust more my own capacities, I’m always afraid to deal with new situations
6.I’m worried about censures and observations about me
7.I don’t think I’m a creative person.
8.I often put off my job/school engagements.
9.I find it difficult to express my opinions when they are different from other people’ones
10.When I look at myself in the mirror, I don’t like me
11.When someone pays a compliment to me, I get amazed, I can’t believe it.
12.I find it difficult to accept and cope with my errors
13.My friends rarely appreciate my ideas or accept my proposals
14.I’m a too highly strung person
15.In occasion of important events I’ve always felt alone.
16.Other people see me as in introverted guy
17.Among other people, at work/school, with my friends I’m often not at ease.
18.When something goes wrong in my life, I think it’s because of ill-luck
19.It’s difficult to say what I think.
20.There are many things I’d like to change in myself.
21.I lack “common sense”.
22.I try to conceal some parts of my body.
23.I often feel to be left outside the group
24.I’d change my look if I could.
25.I try to face clashes and contrasts.
26.I don’t trust me very much.
27.I sometimes do things just to please the others more than myself
28.I’ve always thought that my parents don’t like the way I am
29.I’ve sometimes suffered because of unexpected frustrations
30.When other people are kind with me I become suspicious
31.I can’t understand what teachers expect from me
32.I try to fulfil an engagement carefully
33.When I’m not able to do something I often think that I couldn’t have done better.
34.I sometimes feel uncomfortable when I’m in physical contact, even with known people

You total score is______________

If your score is between 30 and 70, you’ve got a high self-esteem level.
You’re satisfied of the life you’re living and the choices you have done. You have got a very good “image of yourself”; you express to other people your “uniqueness”, accepting the risk to look different. Your job/studies gratify you and this allows you to invest creatively your energies to achieve new goals.

If your score is between 71 and 110, you’ve got an average self-esteem level.
You have got a good self-esteem level, even though the new situations make you fell ill at ease. You are aware of your strong points and positive features, but you find it difficult to accept your weaknesses. At school/work you are very appreciated for your capacities but you don’t accept with pleasure other people’s advices and proposals.

If your score is between 111 and 160, you’ve got a low self-esteem level.
You often feel to be of no worth, you’re critical with yourself, and often use negative statements to describe yourself. New situations get you frightened, you start thinking that you won’t be able to cope with them and this fills you with concern. When studying/working you often lack power of concentration and this prevent you to come to the end of an activity. The relationship with your teachers/head clerks is often marked by defiance and rebellion.

Our students in Finland

João and Ricardo with the Finnish colleagues.

Sightseeing in Helsinki...

Visiting Veikkolan Koulu, in Veikkola

This week our students are visiting our Finnish partner.

Here are the presentations they took.

Sports in Portugal
Our Sports
Xutos e Pontapés
Da Weasel
Nelly Furtado

Hope you like them!