Estonia and Italy: A fruitful collaboration

As in the last two years, in 2024 CFP Canossa Milano and JKHK in Paide (Estonia) are continuing their collaboration on Erasmus+ projects. Since March 1, four Estonian students in their third year of IT (Information Technology) have been in Milan to attend classes on Android app development and to design and build digital products, supported by students in the 4th and 2nd Business Services classes.

The students at CFP in Milan, having overcome their initial shyness, have proved to be very welcoming and collaborative and are supporting their Estonian colleagues by using English as a ‘glue’ for both classroom work and social relations.

Marcos, Kevin, Mihkel, and Raymond will stay in Milan until the end of the month, while a second group of five students from a post-diploma course at JKHK is due to arrive in April. If the success of an initiative can be measured by numbers, then there is no doubt that the Estonia-Italy collaboration is a real winner!

It is wonderful to see that the collaboration with our colleagues at JKHK is continuing and growing in terms of numbers. For the staff and students of the CFP in Milan, it is a wonderful experience and a source of great satisfaction! But let’s hear from those directly involved:

Raymond says: I am happy with the experience, I discovered a lot. I started talking to people in English. The work was hard but also easy. The biggest advantage is that people are friendly, which you don’t see very often in Estonia.

Marcos: I had a great time here in Italy, except for the part where we were robbed in our hostel. Working with Alessandro and the students was very positive and fun, the food here in Milan is delicious, and the people are so kind and polite. So the overall experience was lovely.

Kevin: So far, the internship in Italy has been fun and a good learning experience.Finally, Mihkel: My experience in Italy has been good so far, I really enjoyed my stay, the work was great, and now I’m very interested in mobile app development.

HRM – KITCHEN TEAM: ENAC Puglia’s experience in Poland

A week of international training, cultural exchange, and culinary discovery: this is the experience that the students of ENAC Puglia enjoyed in Poland as part of the HRM – KITCHEN TEAM project, an Erasmus+ initiative dedicated to training in the catering and hospitality sector.

The adventure began with their arrival in Gorzów Wielkopolski, a Polish town in the Lubusz region. After settling into their hotel, the students took their first walk through the city center, beginning to immerse themselves in a new culture and a context completely different from their own. It was a first taste of what would be an intense week, full of discoveries and international relationships.

The heart of the experience focused on practical cooking workshops, where the young people from Puglia had the opportunity to cook side by side with their Polish and Ukrainian peers.

At the Lubusz Chamber of Crafts, they prepared and decorated catering snacks, discovering different techniques, new aromas, and traditional local recipes. It was a moment of authentic cultural exchange, where the universal language of food broke down linguistic and cultural barriers, creating genuine bonds between the participants. In the following days, the training continued at the ZSG (Zespół Szkół Gastronomicznych) school, where the students took part in a more structured international cooking workshop. Cooking together means sharing knowledge, comparing different approaches, and enriching each other: not only technical training, therefore, but also personal growth and transferable skills that are fundamental for their professional future.

A particularly significant moment was the workshop at the bakery in Gorzów, where students learned how to make bread and rolls according to Polish tradition. Kneading, shaping, and baking bread is an ancient art that requires patience, precision, and passion: values that the students were able to experience firsthand, guided by local artisans.
The trip also included a stop in Szczecin, an important Polish port city, where the group visited a local artisan pastry shop, discovering the region’s confectionery specialties and observing traditional processing techniques up close.

The experience was not limited to Poland. As planned, the students traveled to Germany, to the Schwedt/Oder and Angermünde region, to visit two farms at the forefront of sustainability and short supply chains.

After the farm visits, the day in Germany ended with a convivial moment at the UBV in Schwedt, where Italian, Polish, Ukrainian, and German students cooked and ate together. It was an opportunity to put into practice what they had learned during the visits, but above all to strengthen the bonds created during the week and celebrate cultural diversity through food.

This Erasmus+ mobility program was not only an opportunity for technical training in the catering sector, but also a real journey of personal and intercultural growth.

CentroModa Canossa returns to Togo with a two-week mobility program!

On Saturday, November 25, Eleonora, Chiara, and Ilaria, three fifth-year students from CentroModa Canossa, left for a unique experience in Togo.

For two weeks, they were hosted at the “Centre Catholique de Formation Technique et Professionnelle ”Madre Agata Carelli,” where they shared classes with fashion students.  They participated in classes on fashion design, pattern making, and more, visited the city and the market, and attended the fashion show of the graduating students. It was an intense, educational, and very useful two weeks to learn about a new culture, test themselves, and share best practices and #knowhow.

The aim of the experience was to teach the art of fashion design, pattern making, and garment finishing. It was a unique opportunity to create clothes by mixing typical African fabrics with Italian ones.

The International Week in Treviso

Cultural exchanges between the high school and middle school of Istituto Canossiano di Treviso

Building Europe starting with young people, through cultural bridges between Italy, France, Spain, and the Netherlands. With this goal in mind, three cultural exchanges took place last week between the Madonna del Grappa school in Treviso and three European schools.

Some eighth-grade students who study Spanish flew to Spain for an exchange with students from a school in Madrid, where they were hosted by families from that school. They attended some classes at the Madrid school and visited the city’s most significant sites, including the Prado and the Palacio de Lidia. Other students, in their second and third years of middle school, hosted peers from Orléans, who arrived thanks to a long-standing twinning arrangement between the two cities. The Italian and French students visited the cities of Padua and Treviso, where they were welcomed by Councilor Sernagiotto, representing the municipal administration.

Twelve students arrived from the Netherlands, specifically from Oranje Nassau College in Zoetermeer, as part of an Erasmus+ project. The key theme of the project was sustainability, which was the focus of group work and meetings with Deputy Mayor Alessandro Manera and Luana Rotari, who told us about the prestigious Green Leaf Award won by our city.

In addition, we visited Venice (stopping at Venice Calls) and Padua, as well as Prodeco Pharma in Castelfranco V.to and the Museum of Natural History and Archaeology in Montebelluna.

These experiences undoubtedly broaden the cultural horizons of our young people, as well as being significant for their independence and enriching from a linguistic point of view.

Dieter Loots, an expert lecturer at the Artevelde Hogeschool in Belgium, had a very engaging experience during his stay in Verona and Treviso.

The Belgian teacher told us about his experience at our centers and how useful it was for our teachers too. They took part in a training course on the principles and theory of active learning, teaching methods that engage students through videos and AI, and how to redesign classroom activities.

“Before the start of the summer vacation in Belgium, I had the opportunity to conduct training for ENAC in Verona and Treviso on the topic of “Engaging Learning Strategies.” Coming from my role as an educational support and development professional in higher education, as well as a secondary school teacher, I had already built up considerable expertise in this area.

Providing professional development and training is part of my job, but I was honored to be given the chance to deliver training in Verona and Treviso. It was a bit of a surprise awkward for me to be labeled as an expert, as it was the first time I had been given that title.

I was very curious about whether I could effectively convey the theme, whether language would be a barrier, and whether the teachers would find it useful. For four days, I worked with two small teams of incredibly dedicated teachers. They were authentic, engaged, and highly motivated. It was a pleasure to work with them, and they actively participated. I must give special credit to the English teachers who provided live translations for their colleagues who were less proficient in English. This ensured that everyone was on the same page. Of course, we took regular breaks for good espresso, as I expected in Italy.

The program included discussions on the principles and theories of active learning and motivation, engaging teaching methods, and interactive educational tools. In the end, it felt like an experience where we could discover new things together and engage in discussions.

Apart from the content of the program, I found it personally enriching to meet new people who were passionate about providing good education and caring for children. Through them, I gained new ideas and was inspired. More than the two beautiful cities, I was charmed by the teachers and their dedication to their profession.

I have made connections that I hope will endure for a long time. This experience was not only professionally rewarding but also personally fulfilling, and I look forward to continuing to learn and grow with these connections.”