Our school, Ramon Berenguer IV high school in Amposta, Spain.

Spain
Amposta is a small town in the South-East of Catalonia. It has about 22 thousand inhabitants and it lies about 150 km from Barcelona and about 150 km from Valencia. The economy of the town was mainly based on agriculture, and it has still an influence on its economy. Amposta is surrounded by rice fields, which in its turn conform what is known as the Ebro Delta (a natural water area which has been recently declared Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO . It covers 367,729 hectares and includes the delta and watershed of the Ebro River, which is Spain largest river in terms of volume. It has a large number of different ecosystems ranging from inland to coastal areas.

 


Our school, Institut Ramon Berenguer IV, is a secondary school with around 700 students aged from 12 to 18. The social background of our students is varied although in the last years the effects of the economical crisis has affected a large number of families.
Our students attend classes in the morning from 8.30 to 15 h. In the afternoon most of them have different activities, mainly sporty and musical (the town has a long musical tradition).
Employment in the  town is a clear reflection of what is going on in the rest of our country. Families are going through a difficult situation and this fact  has a direct effect on the relationship with the school.
One of the reasons why we are interested in carrying out this project is to involve our students in knowing more about different communities to see how different and how alike they are. Another reason is that with this project they are able to travel and experience other realities they wouldn’t be able to afford otherwise;  and to cooperate to make their world a better place to live in.
The last but not least important reason is that we, as teachers, are eager to learn and exchange our views and experiences with other colleagues around Europe as something that can enrich our knowledge and our souls.