Programme & action: ERASMUS+, Key Action 1: Training course
Venue: Worcester, UK
Dates: 7-14 November 2018
Participants: Jana Lejskeová, Jana Karasová
Please read the info-pack.
Hosting organisation: Consilium Development and Training
Participating countries: UK, Austria, Bulgaria, CR, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Lithuania, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey, Slovenia, Latvia
Project report:
EI Positive
Emotional Intelligence, born from Gardner’s Interpersonal and Intrapersonal Intelligence has, as already probably understood, two parts. One is understanding yourself: self-reflexion, self-regulation and motivation and understanding the others: empathy, social skills. And about all this, a group of individuals, more or less oriented in the same or similar path, was learning in the Guildhall in the town Worcester. It was very playful, it was sometimes very emotional and of course, it brought positive feelings at the end.
Day 0
At the evening one by one we’ve arrived, during the dinner quickly introduced ourselves and received basic information about following days, where we will have breakfast and dinners, how we will manage lunch, where will be the place in which we will get through all that upcoming learning process. Lucky me got an amazing roommate from Latvia, who very quickly became my friend and who I hope I will stay in touch with in the future.
Day 1
Once everyone arrived at the Guildhall, where most of our days in Worcester passed, all amazed by the beauty of this historical building and our room and wooden chairs, we’ve introduced ourselves and with few activities tried to imprint to our memory the names of others. We’ve met and learned about each other, later about the organization and we’ve also introduced our organizations. We got to know, that our trainers are fun, joyful, yet very professional and we could not dislike them. Later we’ve met over international dinner in our hotel, where we could try the taste of other countries. And were many… Latvia, Estonia, Bulgaria, Moldova, Slovenia, Greece, Italy, Spain, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, England….etc.
Day 2
The morning started with a view to a beautiful cathedral and a little walk for the café, where we’ve been served fresh croissants, fruits and coffee. And time for Emotional Intelligence arrived. With games and activities, we’ve been introduced to Emotional Intelligence and its importance, we’ve named the main Emotions, such as Happiness, Sadness, Anger, Disgust, Fear or Surprise and connected them with feelings. In the afternoon we’ve tested our main drivers and learned more about our motivation and how it fits within the teamwork. And the day ended with fish and chips, at least for me.
Day 3
Right in the morning we’ve been divided into groups and introduced to some of the tools. Each of the tools was different, some more oriented toward motivation, some oriented to personal development, so questions about our learning process, about how do we understand our needs, reactions, how can we regulate our emotions etc. By this, I had also a chance to get closer to two lovely women, and realized, that we all are different, but a bit same.
The afternoon was free, but for those, who were interested, there was a planned tour to the Cathedral with bell ringers as Worcester in one of the worlds Capitals if it comes to bell ringing. We could see the roof of the Cathedral and yes, we could try, how it feels to ring a bell.
Day 4
Our environment changed on the day 4, we were in the Hive, the library and University library, modern building with a lot of books. We’ve been stood in front of the mirror metaphorically, by comparing adjectives we’ve merged to ourselves with adjectives other merged us and vice versa. In the afternoon, we were trying to communicate our different universes, by playing the game where no one can speak, and everyone has different rules.
Day 5
So now we knew all we needed and was time for us to share. The experienced ones could offer the tools they use themselves and we could learn from each other. Once we’ve done it, we’ve divided Emotional Intelligence for its main parts and in groups created kind of a guide, how to work with this one, which tools are useful etc. And in the evening, we’ve been invited to practise our bell ringing skills, we’ve been amazed by ringing bells and by bell ringers and later on went for the beer to get to know more about this interesting hobby.
Day 6
And the last day is here and we are surprised, how fast it has gone, becoming sad that soon we’ll leave all these amazing people. So this was time to summarize all we’ve learned, get to know something more about Erasmus+ in general and Evaluate. And our amazing trainers managed for us a meeting with the Mayor of Worcester in his own office, which was in the very same building, where the course took a place. He was an inspiring man, respectful and witty politician, who is being a Mayor for free in his free time, having his full-time job as well. After the beautiful dinner, we’ve received our Youthpasses and during the evening say our last goodbyes.
And then the train left, but in our backpacks, we have a lot of souvenirs. We have new connections with amazing people all over Europe, people, who work in a similar field and so even in a future we can share our practices. We also have tools, how to work on our goals, how to work on our motivation, how to self-reflect ourselves, how to regulate our emotions, we have awareness about other and their universes, so different from ours, yet the same. Those souvenirs are not just for us, we’ve got them to share them and we will. And most importantly, we know, how to ring the bell.;)
Jana Lejskeová
