TODAY WE HAVE INTERVIEWED GIOVANNA, A STUDENT OF OUR SCHOOL WHO IS WORKING WITH STUDENTS OF FOREIGN SCHOOLS ON AN ERASMUS PROJECT ABOUT GENDER VIOLENCE PREVENTION.
1 The topic of this project is gender violence prevention. Were you already familiar with this topic? Have you learnt something new?
Gender violence has always been a common topic as we know that there are plenty of inequities between men and women so I was already familiar with it although, throughout the project, I have learned lots of things I didn’t know before. I learned better in detail about the different forms of violence which is not only physical but it could also be emotional and economical.
2 Which languages do you use to interact?
I mostly use English to interact as the different countries that have taken part in the project are Portugal, Spain and Latvia and I am not able to speak neither Portoguese nor Latvian. English is the easiest language to use to communicate with foreign people. Apart from English, though, I also use Spanish with Spanish people as I’m learning it at school and it is a great opportunity to improve my communication skills.
3 Thanks to this project, have you improved your English language skills or other skills?
I actually wouldn’t say I improved my English but for sure, this is a great opportunity to learn how to have a proper conversation with someone who doesn’t speak your language. I guess in this way we are forced to speak so we have to be quick to say what we want to communicate to the other person and this surely improves your communication skills, your fluency and gives you motivation to keep studying the language.
4 What kind of activities have you done so far?
I remember doing very interesting activities when I was in Spain. Apart from visiting many stunning places, we also collaborated in school doing activities such as the "escape room" one, related to a story of a girl who had been murdered by her boyfriend or the bag creation in which we had to write phrases and where we learnt about new useful things about gender violence such as the different numbers a woman can call to if she’s in danger in each country. At the moment every country is working in groups on some presentations as regards the topic so that we can have an online meeting in the future and have a final product of the whole project.
5 Have you visited other partner countries?
I visited Almeria, in Spain and it was a wonderful experience! It was really interesting because it reminded me of why I chose to study languages in the first place and to not give up when things get hard while studying one. I also met amazing people and I feel lucky to have had this experience.
6 Have you met new people?
Yes, I have. I met wonderful people and I love the fact that this project also gave us the opportunity to make friends apart from giving us the chance to make a new experience while learning new things. My host family was amazing and I would love to meet them again. They had even invited me to go on holiday with them but because of Covid we couldn’t. I hope one day we will be able to do that though!
7 Do you keep in touch with the other participants of the project?
I became friends with my host sister and some of them so we still keep in touch. We text sometimes and I also met two of them when they came to Italy last summer. It was really great to see them again and I hope I can meet my host family again because they were absolutely amazing to me.
8 Is it interesting to interact with foreign students and teachers?
It really is! I didn’t think it was possible for me to interact much since I’m usually shy but going to Spain actually made me become sort of more extroverted. I interacted with lots of people and even with some of the teachers! It was lovely!
9 Do you enjoy this project? Would you recommend it to other students?
I enjoyed the project more in the past, before the whole pandemic, since we had the chance to physically visit places and have more social interactions. I don’t really like that we just have online meetings now because I think the most interesting part is to have a new experience in a new country while still learning something important like gender violence. All in all, I would still recommend it to other students because it is a unique experience and it is really worth it!
10 What is the most difficult thing you have to deal with?
Since I’m introverted, I thought the hardest part would have been how to communicate with people but I discovered it is something that comes out naturally and it is not a problem at all! It was actually the best part and gave me more motivation to keep studying languages! Right now, the most difficult thing that we have to deal with is to organize the things we have to do for the project while still studying for all the subjects which sometimes can be a little bit overwhelming.