Portuguese Report

2nd Portuguese Comenius Report (May-October 2013)

After the approval of the “Virtual Guide” of the Project:  http://comeniusgtpr.wix.com/virtualfoodguide presented by our team in the meeting in Antalya (Turkey 14th – 19th April 2013), we posted on the “Virtual Guide” all the work agreed in our last meeting in Antalya sent by our Comenius partners, after adapting and illustrating it in order to establish an equal space for everyone. To have the work finished in the defined deadlines we had to send a “memorandum” to the partners who hadn’t sent their work yet.

In what concerns the work done by our students (from May until October 2013) here are the following activities:

       May and June:

§  A brief research study about the “Food Pyramid History” – the students from the 7th and 8th grades studied the evolution of the Food Pyramid from 1916 with the first Food Guide established in the USA called “Food for Young Children” until 2011 with “My Plate”.  The different shape helps to grab consumers’ attention and make them know how much food to consume in the 5 food groups.

§  A study of the food group “Legumes” (agreed in the meeting in Turkey). The Portuguese students from the 7th and 8th grades studied the legumes developing the following items: characteristics, functions, importance in food, presence in the Mediterranean diet and the traditional dishes where the presence of legumes is visible.

       July and August

§  A research study about the “Portuguese Traditional Food” and the most traditional dishes from the north, centre and south of Portugal including the archipelago of Madeira and the Azores.

§  A survey of “Traditional recipes” from their grandmas, during their summer holidays.

       September

§  “Food Pyramid Poster Contest” – participated by students from all school years (5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th grades). The posters, made by different materials, obeyed the theme "Food Pyramid" . A jury made ​​up for the purpose selected the best poster according to the following criteria: scientific and linguistic correction, originality and creativity. The winner was created by two students from the 5th Year.

§  Poster Exhibition – all the posters submitted and accepted entered a final exhibition in order to show students’ creativity and originality. 

§  Final work about “How does our traditional food take place in the food pyramid”. It was really a big problem for our students because, among so many different ways of cooking different types of meat, fish, birds, soups, side dishes, vegetables and desserts, they had to choose the best one to illustrate each region. Otherwise it would be a very, very long work. It wasn’t an easy task. But they

were sure that one of the biggest influences on Portuguese cooking is without any doubt the ocean. So seafood is an integral part of the Portuguese cuisine (from shrimps up to hundreds of varieties of bacalhau (codfish).

The work presented showed us that the position of the Portuguese typical traditional food in the food pyramid is very similar. But even so we can say that the healthiest traditional food is in the south of Portugal.

§  A video about the work done so far in the context of the project to be presented in the meeting in Spain. Our students made a great effort to finish their work nevertheless their English teacher (our colleague Teresina Paz) was ill at the hospital having a very complicated surgery. But with my help and of two Art teachers they were able to elaborate a very interesting work to be presented, to the other Comenius partners, in the meeting in Spain.

       October

§  a report (after the visit to Spain) about their experiences in a foreign country and what were their feelings about it in what concerns its culture, culinary tradition, people, places, etc.;

§  a powerPoint presentation with the most representative photos of the visit to Spain to be presented to the school (students, teachers and other staff);

§  a short information about the meeting that was posted, with some photos, on the school website: http://www.agilpaes.pt and sent to the local press to be published;

§  a study about the physical activity pyramid to make them realize about the importance of the physical exercise in their lives and the types of physical exercises they should practise combined with a healthy food in a healthy growing.

§  answering the questionnaire “Be active” proposed by the Portuguese team and agreed by the other partners in the meeting in Spain, in order to know if our students practise physical activity.

In conclusion I can say that the project objectives continue to be fulfilled. All the agreed activities were carried out; the students had the opportunity to visit different countries and to develop their language skills in English and their research methods. On the other hand they are more concerned about healthy eating habits and much more motivated to the benefits of the culinary tradition. By the end of this term they’ll be aware of the importance of the physical exercise in order to be fit and healthy.

The Comenius Project Coordinator

Gabriela de Azevedo