Prosegue la serie di post in lingua inglese dedicati agli amici TGS Eurogroup oltre i confini nazionali. Attraverso la mailing list dedicata “Friends of TGS Eurogroup” raggiungiamo tutti i nostri amici, collaboratori, volontari che operano assieme a TGS Eurogroup in Gran Bretagna, in Belgio e in tutta Europa, con i giovani e per i giovani, attraverso molteplici progetti internazionali che ci vedono protagonisti assieme.
Buona lettura!
Dear Friends, it is time to come back to you. We are now at the end of August, towards the end of Summer. How is it going at TGS Eurogroup? What follows is a brief summary of two of the main projects we carried out in July and August. We detailed the most relevant features in our newsletter last month and are now sharing some thoughts from a different point of view.
TGS Summer Camp, Mogliano Veneto/Venice, July 2020
As you already know, we hosted two English courses, one week each, according to the students’ age, at TGS headquarters in Mogliano Veneto. When the adventure started, TGS Committee knew what they wanted this Summer experience to look like. Today, we mean to highlight the participants’ point of view as protagonists of a new view of a TGS Summer experience. It was interesting to read the students’ expectations as collected on the day of their arrival at Collegio Salesiano Astori. Here are some of their expectations that soon met their resolutions too:
I’m here to improve my English
I wish to get to know everyone at this Summer camp
I want to learn English and interact in English
I want to enjoy my time with the group
I hope we’ll have fun all together
I would like to live the week to come as in a family
I wish to become a better person
Notwithstanding the unexpected events in the previous months, students showed the same expectations as ever. We put in place a programme that would stimulate them. The pandemic affected young people very much: all of a sudden they had to master new ways of attending lessons, they were not allowed to go and meet people and they might have experienced the loss of dear ones. Nevertheless, they still express the same needs, perfectly fitting their age. They feel they need to “physically” mingle with other people and improve themselves.
The impression was that we helped them as they reentered the world. In most cases it was the first time for them to leave their home after a long time of isolation. Getting in touch with a friendly environment supervised by young adults ready to support them in case they needed help, became their daily challenge. While at the campus, they were in a condition to practice one-to-one interaction again and to socialize with people of the same age. Little by little they walked their way to “normal” routine, although very attentive and conscious about all health regulations we put in place, from physical distancing to face masks to frequent hands cleaning, and hopefully raised their awareness of the next steps they are to take, as going back to school in only a couple of weeks now.
Have a look at the picture books on our Facebook page:
TGS Summer Camp On Line, July/August 2020
This is another chapter of our TGS Summer. In our last On Line Newsletter we explained how gratifying it was to allow TGS people to gather together. At the same time, these meetings were meant to give learners of English authentic tokens of everyday language as well as the chance to practice English in an informal context. In August, TGS Eurogroup further specialised the Summer Camp On Line experience, taking into account another programme among those to whom it feels particularly committed to: the European Citizenship awarenedd programme. A few years ago, TGS launched the so-called “TGS18+ Project” which takes the form of a study trip to Brussels offering young people the opportunity to meet the European institutions. The project is aimed to a specific group age, that of students turning 18, and exercising the right to vote for the first time. Regardless, on line meetings were open to everybody interested. In our August on line meetings we first met Mrs Sara Fasoli and Mr Mattia Tosato, manager at the European Volunteer Centre in Brussels and consultant at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Brussels, respectively. Then it came the turn of Ms Aubérie Samson, general secretary at Don Bosco Youth-Net in Brussels and Mr Renato Cursi, executive secretary at Don Bosco International. These people are immigrants in Belgium which added extra value to our conversations as they deal with and work in a multicultural environment. They carry their cultural background and way of thinking in what they do and need to find a compromise with other people’s background and thoughts. These meetings offered the chance to issue civics and active citizenship too, from the point of view of our young guests.
Check out the picture book on our Facebook page:
Up and Down the Veneto
Finally, we still have some news to tell. We haven’t mentioned the Up and Down the Veneto, which the next (and last) issue of our Summer Newsletter is reserved to. A session will be completely dedicated to the Up and Down the Bridges in Venice as the trial of the next edition of the well know walk for solidarity, finally back.
Good news on your side? Any feedback or comments you would like to share with us? Feel free to e-mail to blog@tgseurogroup.it and we would be more than happy to read your story!
TGS Eurogroup
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