Socrates-Comenius Project: “Finding

similarities; understanding differences”

IES Bernaldo de Quirós.

Mieres, Asturias

INTRODUCTORY PRESENTATION

The Principality of Asturias, Spain

Geography The Principality of Asturias is a region located in North West Spain and lies between the Atlantic coast, on the Cantabrian Sea shore, and the natural boundary of the Cantabrian Mountains, separating it from the Spanish Northern plain. The region has an extension of 10,604 square kilometres and 334 km of coastline. The territory is administratively divided in 78 municipalities

PopulationAsturias has a population of about 1,076,635 inhabitants. Average density of population is 101,5 inhabitants per square kilometre. 80% of the population is concentrated in the Asturias central and metropolitan area formed by the most populated cities: Gijón, Oviedo (Administrative capital), Avilés, Mieres and Langreo, where the industrial activities and services are also concentrated. The peripheral areas on the regional East and West wings are basically rural and dedicated to agriculture, farming and tourism mainly.

Government

• The Principality of Asturias is a region administratively divided in one province bringing together 78 municipalities. The territory is ruled by the Regional Government as a whole and by the 78 local governments ruling the different municipalities. Each one of these public institutions has their own competences according to the Spanish Constitution and the Regional Autonomy Chart.

Regional Government structure • The Asturias Regional Government is the so

called ‘Principality of Asturias’, formed by the President and 10 Regional Ministers (Executive branch), and supported by the Regional Parliament with 45 representatives (Legislative branch).

• The Regional Government has a wide range of competences in the regulation of the social, economic and political life of the Region, except those competences exclusive of the Spanish National Government: Constitutional law, Nationality and immigration, Foreign relations, Defence and Armed Forces, Justice, Criminal law, Trade law, Labour law, Civil law, Social security regulation, Customs, Treasury, etc.

History

• Due to its situation and difficult terrain, the territories along the north coast of Spain were never part of Islamic Spain; the north served as the nucleus of a small Christian enclave, the Kingdom of Asturias, which was linked to Spain's visigoth kingdom. For this reason since the 14th century the heir to the Spanish throne automatically takes the title Prince of Asturias, much as the heir to the British throne is the Prince of Wales.

Historical places

Geography & Climate

• The Cantabrian mountain range (Cordillera Cantábrica) is Asturias' natural border with León province to the south. The Picos de Europa National Park forms the eastern range and contains the highest and most spectacular mountains, rising to 2648 metres at the Torrecerredo peak. The Cantabrian mountains offer opportunities for activities such as climbing, walking, skiing and caving, and extend some 200 kilometres in total, as far as Galicia province to the west of Asturias, and Cantabria province to the east.

• The Asturian coastline is extensive, with hundreds of beaches, coves and small fishing villages (Cudillero, Tazones) , and summer resort towns (Llanes, Ribadesella)

• The climate of Asturias, as with the rest of northwest Spain, is more varied than that of southern parts of the country. Summers are generally humid and warm, with considerable sunshine, but also some rain. Winters are fairly mild but with some very cold snaps. The cold is especially felt in the mountains, where snow is present from November till May.

Asturias: mountain landscape

The Asturian language• In Asturias there´s a regional language called Asturiano or Bable. It´s

not much spoken nowadays, except in small villages, though it´s taught in schools and university.

• The problem with “bable” is that even within Asurias there´re many varieties and most words are pronounced differently in each valley. Most of the words come from celtic languages and from latin.

• You´ll probably here words like “guaje” meaning child or “antroxu” meaning Carnival.

• A conversation in bable may sound like this;BABLE: ¿Onde ta tu pa? Colo a trabayarESPAÑOL: ¿Donde está tu padre? Fue a trabajarENGLISH: Where is your father? He left for work

MIERES

• The county of Mieres: situation

General view of Mieres; a valley between mountains

Mieres

• Mieres is a municipality of Asturias, Spain with approximately 45,000 inhabitants. The municipality of Mieres is comprised of the capital Mieres del Camino, and many smaller villages like Baiña, Figaredo, Cenera, Loredo, Bustiello, etc.

• Mieres is the heart of the coal mining industry in Spain and the industrial backbone of Asturias. The topography of Mieres is mountainous with the greatest population centers being located in the valley along the banks of the Rio Caudal(Caudal River), in the center of Asturias.

MIERES• In the sixties and seventies

this was one of the most important industrial centres in the region with a huge steel and Iron factory (Fábrica the Mieres) and several coal mines around the city. At that time the river and this area was very polluted. The factory was moved to the coast and most of the coal mines are now closed.

• At present we have several new factories in the industrial areas on the other side of the river, but services is an important part of the economy.

MIERES

• In Mieres there are all kind of facilities and services, including 3 High Schools and a modern Technical university where you can study different engineering branches. At the moment they are building a residence for students and a huge research centre.

Mieres: Wilkipedia

• Mieres del Camino is an example of working-Spain, far from the sunny vacation destination

typically associated with Spain. Mieres is located in a valley, flanked by mountains along the

banks of the Caudal River (Rio Caudal) and Route 66 in the center of Asturias.

• Mieres has a several small museums and cultural centers, a couple of art galleries and

numerous restaurant-bars, boutiques and shops. The highest concentration of shopping is

located along “calle Manuel Llaneza” and the pedestrian mall on “calle La Vega”. On market

days, the city market, the “Mercado de Mieres” and nearby streets are filled with all kind of

vendors selling a wide variety of products, most especially food and textiles.

Mieres Some of Mieres’ main gathering places are the

Catholic church of San Juan de Bautista, adjacent to

the Cider Square (Plaza de Requejo) popular for al

fresco dining; the Jovellanos Park (Parque Jovellanos)

for relaxing, sports and the evening “paseo”; and the

plaza at the Ayuntamiento de Mieres (City Hall Plaza)

for festivals and cultural gatherings.

Mieres’ most popular and important festival St. John's

Bonfire (La Foguera de San Juan) occurs every June

24th's eve, and is high-lighted by a huge bonfire,

cultural events, live concerts, fire works and great

quantities of al fresco food and drinks. Another

important festival is the Folixa na Primavera, in April,

in which you can have a good time listening to celtic

music from all over celtic countries and a bit of cider,

sidra, the most typical asturian drink.

San Juan´s church La LLechera´s square

IES BERNALDO DE QUIRÓS• Our school is one of

the oldest in Mieres and it has recently being renovated. The main bulding was a palace of the Bernaldo de Quirós family, one of the most powerful families in this region since the Middle Ages. The palace is from the XVII century but there was a defense tower here since the XIII century.

OUR SCHOOL• Ten years ago there were more than 1200

students, but now the area´s population has decreased and we are only 535 students and about 65 teachers.

• We have four years of secondary education (from 12-16) and 2 years of High school (1st and 2nd of Bachillerato, from 16-18).

STUDIES• In our High School you can choose between

3 different branches of studies:

a. Technology and Sciences

b. Humanities

c. Art

In each of the branches you can choose several subjects.

After the last year you have to take the university entrance exam or Selectivity test.

CULTURE

• Our school is famous for its Art collection and the cultural activies that often take place here: conferences; art exhibitions, trips, cultural days, etc.

• Graduation day is also very important in this school and we are looking forward to it.

SCHOOL ACTIVITIES

SCHOOL ACTIVITIES

Our Comenius Project: “Finding similarities, understanding differences”

• OBJECTIVES:a) Linguistic objectives:

To achieve a basic knowledge of the language of both countries participating in the project by attending classes in the preparation phase of the exchanges.

To improve linguistic communication skills in English .

b) Cultural objectives:

To promote and widen cultural awareness through the study in both countries of the history, culture and economy.

To research and find similarities and differences in the history and culture of both regions.

To participate in and experience culture and traditions through games, food, visits, music, etc. during the exchanges.

Comenius Project: Objectives

c) Attitudinal objectives:

To promote and foster the understanding of other cultures in the context of a multicultural society.

To promote attitudes of respect and tolerance towards other nationalities and other people.

Comenius Project: Activities• Language classes in both countries to learn some basic linguistic skills in the

target languages.

• Cultural / educational visits to increase their understanding of both regions/countries. The visits include monuments, museums, rural villages, natural landscape, craft centres, local government institutions, etc.

• Research work carried out by the students using different resources (written information, interviews, field work, multi-media, observation etc.) to study and understand the history, culture and economy of both regions.

• Attending some regular classes and lectures in both schools in different subject matters (History, Mathematics, Sports, English, Economy).

• Experiencing some customs and traditions by listening to music, participating in games, eating traditional food, dancing.

• Active reflecting on cultural issues by participating in group and plenary discussions.

• Writing essays in English in order to exchange information on the different topics of the project and daily diaries during the exchange time.

THAT´S THE END

• THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR ATTENTION!!!