[:en]Spending four amazing weeks with youngsters of Caiazzo

After a meeting we have had with the nuns of Centro Madre Claudia the first week of June, I got the responsibility to organize workshops in English for the kids that will participate at the GREST 2019 (Gruppo Estivo 2019).

The workshops were designed according to the group dynamics, following the structure of a Non-Formal Learning workshop: [Storytelling (a. Rules of the activity / b. Repeat the rules), Divide groups (if needed), Implementation of the activity, Debriefing, Evaluation/Reflection].

Objectives of all the workshops were to encourage teamwork and trust among the group so that everyone can understand better one another’s strengths, weaknesses and interests. Main goal is to make team works efficiently together. Foster innovation and creativity, help the group feel more comfortable and share ideas or concerns with one another and working together for a common challenge/goal. The last week I made a presentation about Cyprus in order to let them know about my home country and information about my project here in Caiazzo. During these four weeks, apart from get to know each other activities and energizers, I apply team building activities, language animation activities, theater activities and expression activities (physical and emotional). All of these with a 15 minutes debriefing at the end of each Main Activity.

This project had a lot of challenges. The first was the dealing with the kids (ages 05-14) and introduce them an alternative way of learning in a summer camp project.  The biggest challenge was to keep the balance between learning and having fun. The kids found really interesting Non-Formal Learning Methods and some groups they express their interest for more, so in some workshops we were applying more variations of the exercise.

For me it is always a pleasure to work with young people. The nuns have been so kind and professional during the project that motivates me to do my best these weeks to thank them for trusting me this workshop sessions.

If you are interested for the sessions outlines feel free to contact me by email georgekritic@yahoo.com.

Get informed also for all Erasmus+ Youth Opportunities through European Youth Portal.

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