Visit to the European Schoolnet and EU Quarters

On Monday, 18 May, fourteen enrichment students of S3L2ZENB class, accompanied by Ms. Smolcec and Ms. Grabovac, had the opportunity to participate in the Cyber Kind project at the European Schoolnet, whose headquarters are located in Brussels.

We left the school after P3, but before taking part in the cyberbullying activity, we all played the role of tour guides around the European Quarters. Each group had to present an important building or place that was connected to Nowhere Boy, the novel we had been studying in our Enrichment lessons.

To get to the city center we travelled by bus 38 which took us straight to Place Luxembourg next to the Parliament where we started with our first presentations. For the second presentation, we walked to Parc Leopold, where the Museum of European History is located. After that, we went to the Berlaymont, where the third group gave their presentation about the European Commission even though it had started to rain. Because of the weather, we quickly made our way to our final stop before taking part in the cyberbullying activity. Our last presentation took place in front of Parc du Cinquantenaire.

After a short lunch break, we started walking back to the European Schoolnet. There, we were welcomed with snacks and drinks by two members of the EUN, who led all the activities about cyberbullying.

At the EUN, as a warmup activity, we had to build a bridge using blocks by cooperating with one another. That was a really fun part, and we really worked as a team. For the second part, we took turns, and the volunteers were asked to complete a mind map. On one side, they outlined how adults are thought to perceive and understand cyberbullying, and on the other side, how children perceive it.

For the next activity, we all turned around and closed our eyes. We then had to anonymously choose one of three colours on the board: red (the situation is cyberbullying), orange (the situation may or may not be cyberbullying, depending on the context), or green (the situation is just a joke). After everyone had made their choice, we discussed the reasons behind our answers for the three different situations.  This was followed by a debate about our perspective on cyberbullying; it was interesting and constructive.

For the last part, we had several categories to choose from to answer a question: parents, friends, teachers, nobody, others. The question was: Who do you turn to first if you are bullied or cyberbullied?” It was interesting to see that most of us would rather talk to a friend or parents than teachers if we encountered a cyberbullying/bullying situation.

All the activities were really useful and helped us become more aware of cyberbullying and made us realize the impact it has on people.

We would like to thank Ms. Maria and Ms. Chiara, the members of the EUN for inviting us!

Valentina Gecse, S3FRB and  Mona Glejser, S3FRE, EEB1