Roermond meeting
The third short-term exchange of pupils took place from 12 May till 18 May 2019 in the Netherlands. Host school BC Broekhin Roermond hosted 35 pupils and teachers from partner countries. Pupils stayed at their peers' homes.
On Monday, 13 May, the whole group visited the Town hall, where we were greeted by deputy mayor Rens Evers, who talked about the importance of mitigating climate changes and showed us a short film about ocean cleanup technology, which was designed by young Dutch engineers, inventors and entrepreneurs.
Then we went to school and, after a short tour of the school facilities, pupils were divided into groups and attended six climate based lessons in English, conducted by guest and host teachers. Each group attended two lessons.
On Monday, 13 May, the whole group visited the Town hall, where we were greeted by deputy mayor Rens Evers, who talked about the importance of mitigating climate changes and showed us a short film about ocean cleanup technology, which was designed by young Dutch engineers, inventors and entrepreneurs.
Then we went to school and, after a short tour of the school facilities, pupils were divided into groups and attended six climate based lessons in English, conducted by guest and host teachers. Each group attended two lessons.
On Tuesday, 14 May, there was a coordinators' meeting. Teachers discussed ongoing and future project activities. Pupils attended two lessons: Art lesson entitled „Global Warming“ and a lecture about Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands. Then we had a guided tour organized by Waterschap Limburg (Water Board Limburg), which is in charge of building and maintaining dikes, regulating the water level and monitoring water quality. We walked along the rivers Roer (Rur) and Maas (Meuse) and were informed about dams and dikes. We also learned that beavers damage lots of trees by the rivers and learned about the importance of accurate water level management for agriculture.
On Wednesday, 15 May, we went on a trip to Amsterdam. First we visited Dam Square and saw the neoclassical Royal Palace, Gothic New Church and the national Monument erected in 1956 to memorialize the victims of World War II. Teachers had a guided tour of important sights and pupils were divided into groups and played „City Game“ : they were given tasks, e.g. to find certain sights, to find out facts about buildings, etc.
In our free time we walked across bridges, along numerous canals and visited some museums, for example Tulip Museum, which is near Anne Frank's house.
In our free time we walked across bridges, along numerous canals and visited some museums, for example Tulip Museum, which is near Anne Frank's house.
On Thursday, 16 May, we visited Wastewater Treatment Plant, which is a part of Limburg Water Board Company. The plant purifies wastewater for about 500 thousand households and 30 thousand companies. We saw a film about water consumption and purification, then we were able to see the plant.
In the afternoon there was an international buffet, food was prepared by hosts and brought by guests. Pupils from all 6 partner countries performed a school play „Everybody's Water“.
In the afternoon there was an international buffet, food was prepared by hosts and brought by guests. Pupils from all 6 partner countries performed a school play „Everybody's Water“.
On Friday, 17 May, all the participants went to Deltapark Neeltje Jans, a theme park with an educational role. We visited Delta Experience, an educational attraction about 1953 North Sea Flood with a panorama view of the day, with film images and special effects. We went on a boat trip and saw a sea-lion show. After watching a film about the construction of Delta Works dams and storm surge barriers, we had a guided tour of the Oosterscheldekering (Eastern Scheldt storm surge barrier), the largest of the dams designed to protect the Netherlands from flooding from the North Sea.
All groups departed on Saturday, 18 May.
