Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Música Inclusiva nas escolas : Music Day




Orquestra Geração | Teatro S. Luís

"Music should be a very solid part of the education of young children."

Sir George Martin

Hoje, 1 de Outubro, celebra-se o Dia Mundial da Música. Para além das muitas actividades que estão a decorrer em todo o país, nada melhor do que apoiar a divulgação da Orquestra Geração Portugal, um projecto de inclusão social através da Música, de jovens portugueses que vivem em condições sociais degradadas, tirando-os da rua e dos riscos inerentes à sua condição, pelo ensino da Música (clássica e jazz).

Em 2007, foi tomada a decisão de acrescentar ao projecto Geração já aplicado num bairro da Amadora, uma pequena orquestra que aplicasse em Portugal o modelo do El Sistema.

Todos conhecemos o El Sistema de orquestras infantis e juvenis da Venezuela idealizado pelo maestro e economista José Antonio Abreu, há 40 anos, para tirar crianças da pobreza com o auxílio de Mahler ou Beethoven. E que tem como grande dinamizador o maestro venezuelano, Gustavo DudamelLA Phil director.


Orquestra Geração | Portugal

Sete anos passados, Portugal tem a Orquestra Geração (OG) reconhecida pelo Ministério da Educação como projecto especial e gratuito. Com a segunda fase do projecto concluído - a constituição de orquestras municipais Geração -, falta agora a maior expansão do projecto a nível nacional, constituindo orquestras regionais incorporadas em várias escolas do paísE, por último, a criação de uma orquestra nacional de cariz profissional, seguindo o modelo da Orquestra Sinfónica Simon Bolívar, Venezuela.



Orquestra Geração 

Actualmente, mais de 800 alunos de escolas situadas em zonas com menor oportunidade de acesso ao ensino das artes, que estão envolvidos, no âmbito de protocolos estabelecidos com os concelhos da Amadora, Lisboa, Oeiras, Loures, Sesimbra, Sintra, Vila Franca de Xira e Coimbra. Universo que se amplia cada dia, tal como a música que toca.

"Começamos a ter mais notoriedade, com a OG a apresentar concertos na Casa da Música (4 de Março, Porto), e no Centro Cultural de Belém (3 de Maio, Lisboa). Por isso, e com apoios privados, em 2015 vamos expandir para Norte", explica ao DN António Wagner Diniz, da direcção da Escola de Música do Conservatório Nacional responsável pela Orquestra Geração.




créditos video : Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian

Em Portugal, a OG - que pertence ao Sistema Europeu - é na Europa, o projecto mais antigo e o que segue mais de perto o El Sistema, já adoptado em 42 países.

"Os miúdos trabalham cerca de 35 minutos por semana, em França. Nós trabalhamos sete horas", sublinha Wagner Diniz. 

O empenho foi premiado por José Antonio Abreu, presente na Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian no passado dia 31 de Maio, durante a apresentação da Orquestra Teresa Carreño, uma das formações de topo da grande pirâmide musical que é o El Sistema



Orquestra Geração | Entrevistas alunos

Educação : 

"O projecto Orquestra Geração tem revestido em Portugal um papel igualmente importante na aproximação e motivação das famílias dos alunos, no sentido de se integrarem progressivamente nas actividades da orquestra, contribuindo para o alargamento do espectro de acção do mesmo, motivando e responsabilizando todo o agregado familiar na obtenção dos resultados por nós idealizados. "

Objectivos:
  • Promover a inclusão social das crianças e jovens de bairros social e economicamente mais desfavorecidos e problemáticos;
  • Combater o abandono e o insucesso escolar;
  • Promover o trabalho de grupo, a disciplina e a responsabilidade para uma melhor cidadania;
  • Promover a auto-estima das crianças e das suas famílias;
  • Aproximar os pais do processo educativo dos filhos;
  • Contribuir para a construção de projectos de vida dos aadolescentes;
  • Promover o acesso a uma formação musical que seria impossível para a maioria das crianças e jovens que vivem em contextos de exclusão social e urbana.
São já muitas as escolas nacionais incluidas neste projecto. Confesso que fiquei feliz ao tomar conhecimento que esta ideia de El Sistema já tinha criado raízes em Portugal. Se quiser saber quais, é só ver aqui

Sou grande admiradora deste projecto desde que passou a ser divulgado pelo maestro Dudamel na Venezuela, pais de onde é natural.

Tem ainda outra vertente que me alegra muito - a música de jazz. Teve lugar o 
2º Estágio GeraJazz em Junho 2014, em colaboração com o Hot Clube Portugal.


Orquestra Geração | Portugal

The Orquestra Geração programme offers children from underprivileged suburbs of Portugal (Lisbon and other cities), the opportunity to keep on practice music: instruments and music courses are available to them free of charge. It's a musical project for inclusion of the young Portuguese who live innderprivileged suburbs.

I remember the project from Lisbon suburbs that took part at the international tour of Roger Waters (concert in Lisbon) in 2011. Sixteen ethnic kids from "Associação Moinho da Juventude da Cova da Moura"  (near Lisbon) had a special participation on stage with Roger Waters and his fourteen musicians. 

The Orquestra Geração has two different projects:

Gerajazz project | Portugal
  • The Gerajazz project, which offers 25 children with a classical background intensive courses in jazz:
  • The Orquestra Municipal project, intended for 30 to 40 children who have already completed their schooling and want to continue their music training outside of school.

Gerajazz project | Portugal

What has happened until now ?
The first Gerajazz two-day workshop took place on the 16th and 17th December with 3 groups of 12 children and 2 teachers in each group. There will be 3 other workshops in the year in order to create a jazz band (25 children minimum, 4 public concerts).
The rehearsals of the Orquestra Municipal have been started since the 5th January and are held every two weeks in the Amadora Theatre in the suburb of Lisbon. The first public concert took place on the 25th April 2013.

Now, the Orquestra Geração is in different Portuguese schools. More than 800 kids and young adolescents from the suburbs are playing music in differents schools.

Education:

The holistic immersive approach of Music (classical, rock, pop, jazzc) and the engagement of important and experencied musicians is central to achieving significant transformation, particularly to the life of the most vulnerable children.


Children and young people from all backgrounds should have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, to make music with others, to learn to sing or to dance,  to have the opportunity to progress to the next level of excellence.

As I wrote already on this blog: "Music has the potential to achieve social and psychological transformation of children and young people. Their sensibility will be accurate. We must never waste such an opportunity as teachers! Captivating the major interests of our students about Music."

Music, as you can read on several posts on this blog, is fundamental in Education of young people.
Today, we are celebrating the World Music Day in Portugal. Nothing better to present you the Orquestra Geração that follows the El Sistema project.
Happy Music Day !


G-Souto
01.10.2014
Copyright © 2014G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com®

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Música Inclusica nas Escolas : Music Day bG-Souto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Monday, September 29, 2014

Education : Photo Competition for Young Europeans - Berlin Wall





Photo contest for young Europeans

"Are you a young European? Are you a photo enthusiast? Do you think Europe can be ‘Instagrammed’?"

Those are the right words to motivate students to participate. They love Instagram, photos, and of course be European.

Well, Storyhousepro.org has launched a 10 month-long photo competition for young Europeans on Instagram

Since January to November 2014, they are annoucing a new monthly theme  on their Facebook and Instagram profiles.




photo contest Berlin wall fall

This month’s theme of September, for the YOLO Instagram photo competition for young Europeans is out!


To enter the contest, post up to five cool recent pictures of the Berlin Wall or simply show us how you connect with this anniversary. Special hashtag #anniversarygoesinsta.


All the monthly winners will be invited to Brussels in December to see their photos exhibited at the European Commission and for a free tour of the European institutions. The overall competition winner will also be invited to visit the production set of the ‘YOLO – Das große W’ show in one of the EU countries.

September is the "25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall and the iron curtain" - post up to five cool recent pictures of the Berlin Wall or simply show us how you connect to this anniversary using the hashtag #anniversarygoesinsta




Berlin Wall fall


Some history facts to the young students:

9 November 2014 will mark the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. To honour this major anniversary, a series of special events and museum exhibitions are planned to take place throughout the city, focusing on the division of Germany and Berlin, the Cold War, and the peaceful revolution leading to reunification.


One of the main highlights will be happening on the weekend around 9th November: Along the former course of the Berlin Wall a new temporary Berlin Wall will be built with thousands of white balloons. It is going to run right through the city centre and it will be illuminated. If the weather is good enough this wall can even be seen from outer space.


Visitors to Berlin have many choices to experience the history of the wall and what it meant to the city and the people of Berlin. These include a GPS-guided walking tour on the trail of the Berlin Wall, guided or self-guided bicycle tours on the Wall path, visits to underground Berlin, former watch towers, Wall memorials, The GDR Museum, or a drive into the East of the city in an original GDR Trabant car.

  • Terms & Conditions :
Who can participate?

  • All residing EU nationals and nationals belonging to countries with EU candidate or potential candidate status (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Iceland, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey)
  • Age limit: 30 years old maximum.
Themes :

To enter the contest, participants must post up to five cool recent pictures of the Berlin Wall or simply show how they connect with this anniversary

Each participant may send a maximum of five entries on Instagram per monthly competition.

Entries should be original and not contain insults or copyright infringements of any kind.

Special hashtag : #anniversarygoesinsta

Rules: https://bit.ly/1bGovvd

  • Deadline :
The deadline is 15th October 2014.

The competition was launched by the 3 hosts of the RTL youth show 'YOLO', Cecilia KnodtLukas Wandke and Natalia Höppner and runs every month til November!

Prizes : 

All the winners will be invited to Brussels to see their photos exhibited, and the overall winner will be invited to visit the production set of the YOLO - Das große W show- so get your entries in now!
For some inspirational ideas, go on the website Visit Berlin Convention and choose the right activiy.

Winners :

All the monthly winners will be invited to Brussels in December to see their photos exhibited at the European Commission and for a free tour of the European institutions. 
The overall competition winner will also be invited to visit the production set of the ‘YOLO – Das große W’ show in one of the EU countries.



Berlin Wall fall

Education :

2014 marks the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I. It would be interesting if teachers talking about the event, motivate the students to understand the reason of the Berlin Wall and its fall 25 years ago.

The contest could be a creative actvity to introduce in different curriculum or even better as a cross-curricula project.

Targets : All levels 

Curriculum : History ; Geography ; Languages, Arts (Photography).

Send in your entry today !

G-Souto
30.09.2014
Copyright © 2014G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com®

Creative Commons License
Education : Photo Competition for Young Europeans - Berlin Wall bG-Souto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Resources (different countries) :

The German Historical Museum, the major exhibition The War 14-18
https://www.dhm.de/en.html

Bibliothèque de France : La Guerre 14-18
http://expositions.bnf.fr/guerre14/index.htm

First World War Centenary
https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/first-world-war-centenary

Mission Centenary 14-18 USA
https://centenaire.org/en/dans-le-monde/first-world-war-centenary-commemorations-united-states

The Centennial Commemoration of The United States in World War One
https://worldwar-1centennial.org/

Imperial War Museum London: The Holocaust Exhibition
https://www.iwm.org.uk/exhibitions/iwm-london/the-holocaust-exhibition

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
https://www.ushmm.org/

Musée de la Guerre Canada
http://www.museedelaguerre.ca/cwm/exhibitions/guerre/home-f.aspx

Portugal 14-18

Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal : Diário da Grande Guerra

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Let's talk European Languages : Languages matter !

"A day to encourage language learning across Europe."
The European Day of Languages has been celebrated every year since 2001 on 26 September, as an initiative of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.  

There are 24 official languages in the EU – as well as about 60 regional and minority languages Today is the best day to celebrate this diversity!





Throughout Europe, 800 million Europeans represented in the Council of Europe's 47 member states are encouraged to learn more languages, at any age, in and out of school. 

Being convinced that linguistic diversity is a tool for achieving greater intercultural understanding and a key element in the rich cultural heritage of our continent, the Council of Europe promotes plurilingualism in the whole of Europe.
The European Day of Languages continues, to raise public awareness of the languages used in Europe, and to promote cultural and linguistic diversity and to encourage people – schoolchildren and adults – to learn languages.



Aims:

Language skills are a necessity and a right for Everyone – that is one of the main messages of the European Day of Languages.

The overall objectives are to raise awareness of:

  • Europe’s rich linguistic diversity, which must be preserved and enhanced;
  • The need to diversify the range of languages people learn (to include less widely used languages), which results in plurilingualism;
  • The need for people to develop some degree of proficiency in two languages or more to be able to play their full part in democratic citizenship in Europe.
  • Promote the rich linguistic and cultural diversity of Europe;
  • Encourage lifelong language learning in and out of school.
In the EU28 in 2012, English was still the most commonly studied foreign language at lower secondary level1, with 97.1% of pupils learning it, far ahead of French (34.1%), German (22.1%) and Spanish (12.2%). The importance of English as a foreign language in the EU is also confirmed by its leadership in nearly all Member States.

Ok ! What about the other 25 languages? It's up to us, citizens, educators and students to promote our mother language in Europe. 

My students and I are Portuguese. So we care about our mother language on our blog in Portuguese.

But I teach French as well, so I have a blog in French language to enhance the skills of my students. 




26 September must be about having some fun together in different languages.
  • Check out the material for download and for order with your national relay ;
  • Watch the video "Countries names in international sign language". Students click on the map and will listen the name of each country in international sign language ;
  • A map showing the approximate distribution of indigenous languages in Europe (codes according to ISO 639-1 and ISO 639-2).

Credits: Wikimedia

Education:

On the occasion of the European Day of Languages, a range of events are organised across Europe. 

26 September must be about having some fun together in different languages, not only in English, French or Spanish.



Every year throughout Europe, events are organised to celebrate languages: shows, kids’ activities, music games, language courses, radio and TV programmes, conferences. 

Everything is permitted to motivate students to learn languages, all European languages.

In order to learn more about language diversity students can take part in different activities proposed by their teachers or following a school project. 

Whether large or small, don't forget: 

  • Have a good idea (an event such as a party, a tournament, a breakfast in school, a cultural presentation at the school library ;
  • Organise creative events with your students and promote on the EDL website here ;
  • Create promotional texts/flyers and distribute them at the school, at home;
  • Tell your school library about the event and about the European Day of Languages and ask to make a presentation to students and teachers on the importance to learn different languages.
  • Tell your national relay about your events, they may know of other ways of promoting your initiative ;

  • Enter the event into EDL database
Make it happen! 

But there is more ! Yes, something your students will love it ! A European Day of Languages Photo Contest !




DigiSkills network is promoting a photo contest. The European Day of Languages (EDL) Photo Contest 2014 is intended to illustrate language learning in action in different environments. 

Objectives :

The competition is open to persons of all ages living in all Council of Europe member states and observer states. The ECML will use the best photos for promotional purposes. 



Theme: Language learning in action

Important information:

  • Photos : The photo(s) should represent your experience of learning languages. Your upload needs to contain the following information: title, name of the contestant, email, age, country and place photo was taken.
  • Format : Images should be no smaller than 2000 pixels in width or height. No watermarks, signatures, or copyright notices may be added to images.
  • Submission period: Your photo(s) should be uploaded the between 14 September 2014 and 14 November 2014 on this page.
  • Voting period : Online voting will be from 15 November 2014 to 15 December 2014.
The winners will be announced on 18 December 2014.

  • Prizes: There will be prizes for first, second and third to be announced shortly. A small prize will be awarded for all photos that are subsequently used by the ECML.
For further information click here



#EDL
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/

“On 26 September we celebrate Europe’s rich linguistic diversity. Let us take a moment to remember the words of Antoine de Saint-Exupery – that language is often the source of misunderstandings. Language can be used as a weapon, as an excuse to discriminate and humiliate. 

Together we can ensure that languages, rather than being the source of misunderstanding, become the key to intercultural dialogue and mutual respect. To do this, we must challenge existing mindsets and embrace diversity."

Thorbjorn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe



G-Souto

25.09.2014
copyright © 2014G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com  

Creative Commons License
Let's talk European Languages : Languages matter ! bG-Souto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.