During December and January, our school, Alternative Learning Programme (ALP) of Paola, hosted two other mobilities of learners, one from Porto, Portugal, and the other from Alicante, Spain.

The scope of these school exchanges, forming part of the Erasmus+ KA1 projects of the European Union, is to get acquainted with and compare how schools function, and for the students to get to know and make friends with other students of the same age.

On their arrival at school, the exchange students were welcomed by the head of school, Josette Spiteri, who explained to them how our school came to be and its purpose. 

The agenda for both groups was more or less the same. The exchange students attended some classes with the local students and took active part in them, such as in the art lesson, where they drew pictures and did some pottery work − most of them had never worked with clay before. They also attended the hairdressing and beauty care classes, where female students showed more interest than the boys. Automobile engineering and welding lessons were more appealing to the boys.

They also took part in team-building activities and socialised with the local students during breaks.

Other activities included a visit to Valletta, where they joined a tour of our magnificent St John’s Co-Cathedral, and watched the Malta Experience, which gave them a good idea of the history of the Maltese islands.

It was also possible for one of the groups to visit Gozo. There we visited the Ġgantija Temples, Ta’ Pinu shrine and the Ċittadella, among other places.

The other group visited Tarxien Temples. The programme also included a tour of Mdina, where the students were struck by the city’s architecture, and a walk along the Sliema promenade.

On the last day, our head of school presented the foreign students and teachers with a certificate of participation.

Our students and teachers will be reciprocating the visit both to Porto and Alicante in the coming months.

These types of school exchanges are of great importance, especially for our students because they open new horizons, they get to know other places and, most importantly, they make new friends beyond our shores.

I would like to thank St John’s Co-Cathedral, Malta Heritage and Malta Experience for the complementary and discounted tickets.

Emanwel Zammit is an automobile engineering teacher and Erasmus Projects coordinator at ALP.