Welcome to Utena Adolfas Sapoka Gimnasium

Utena Adolfas Šapoka gymnasium was founded in 1996. It is one of the best schools not only in Utena, it is one of the best schools in Lithuania. 792 students attend our gimnasium and 59 teachers work here. There are lot of events and competitions in the school and also there is a dance club, debate club, scholars are writing school’s newspaper "Paupėja", playing in the orchestra, acting in drama class, learning photography, singing in the choir...

Our Gimnasium.

Adolfas Sapoka Memorial room.
Our gimnasium is named after famous Lithuanian Adolfas Šapoka. He was a well-known historian in our country and abroad, too. He wrote the book "The history of Lithuania". We look up to him and have his memorial room. New students of this gymnasium go there to learn more about the person whose name they see every morning, when they come to school.

Our orchestra.

Orchestra room.

Geography lesson.
This is the a geography class. Obviously, half of the people are pretending to study in front of the camera, as you can see. No, I am just kidding, more than half of the people are studying. Maybe 2/3 of the class was actually studying. Anyway, the important thing that our geography teachers are great and the students are even better!

Canteen.
This is our canteen. Here our students spend their free time between the lessons. As you see in the photo, there they can eat, chat or do their homework. It is like our school center. :) School canteen looks very calm in this picture, but it gets really crowded during the lunch breaks. So you have to be very patient if you want to eat and fight for your space or you will go back to the lessons with an empty stomach. It used to be a common complaint, as far as I know, but now everybody seems to be happy about it. You can notice that this canteen is pretty big, other schools in Utena have twice or even four times smaller ones! People who make food are very friendly and funny.

Library.
And this is our most silent place in the school building, it is our library. There students can use the Internet, read newspapers or magazines, they also take some books for reading at home.

Gymnasium.

Exhibition hall.
This is the Exhibition hall of our school. Here the students can display their paintings, sculptures or some other works of art which they make themselves.

Chemistry lesson.

Dance group.
In this picture you can see the beautiful girls of the dance group of our gimnasium. We, as many other schools and gymnasiums, compete in various festivals and show the dancing skills in concerts. Recently there was a dancing festival "Agro 2008" in our school. There were dancers from all over Utena and, of course, our dancers too.

Corridors.
This is one of the corridors. As you see it is quite high and beautiful to look. Also, there are photos of the students who finished our Gimnasium.

LITHUANIA

And here is another sample, LITHUANIA:

A POSSIBLE VISIT TO LITHUANIA

As we all know, we are trying to make it possible to travel to Lithuania and meet our friends there. If that is finally possible (of course budget is always the point), we believe it id essential to feel the need to know each other. How do we feel that need? Maybe by seeing the wonderful sights, atmospheres and images of one and another country. Here there is one sample, GALICIA:

INTERVIEW TO JOLANTA

Last year Jolanta Karaliute was an assitant teacher we had at our school (IES Melide) through a Comenius European program. Although this year she is no longer our teacher, she is still ligin and working in Galicia (in Santiago). We meet her from time to time, and decided to make an interview to her. We were really itnerested in how she saw us, her country, and the experience she lived with us. Besides, she is the perfect person to appear on this blog, because she is a "living link" between our two cultures, the Galician (and Spanish) and the Lithuanian ones.Here is the interview. Enjoy it!!

Do you like Galicia?

Considering the fact that it’s my second year in Galicia, the answer is obvious – I LOVE it here! I like the people, I enjoy the food, and the constant rain is not as bad as I thought it would be at the very beginning. The Galician landscape is absolutely breathtaking and I honestly believe that Galicia is one of the most beautiful places in the world.

What do you think about Galician people?

I find Galicians very friendly, helpful and considerate towards foreigners. I made some really good friends here, and working with Galicians is always a great pleasure. I like the Galician sense of humour and their self-irony. I also think they are more hardworking than Spanish people in general, which I admire a lot.

Do you think Galician people are morriñentos that is nostalgic, homesick…?

I think this feature is one of the predominant characteristics of the Galician literature and is more common in the rural societies than it is in the cities. People in the cities are more cosmopolitan and I don’t feel “morriñentism” that much. The quality that I will always associate with Galicians is their tendency to reply to any question with ‘bueno…’, for example, ‘Are you cold?’ ‘Bueno…’; ‘Are you hungry?’ ‘Bueno’ etc. J

What do you think about Galician men? Do you prefer Galician men to Lithuanian men?

I do like Galician men as I’ve always been fond of brown eyes and dark curly hair. Although I think men are men, regardless to their nationality... Therefore I couldn’t choose between Galicians and Lithuanians. Los galleguinhos get an extra point for being better dancers than Lithuanians, and Lithuanians deserve a point for… simply being Lithuanians. J

How much do you know about the Galician language? Can you speak it fluently?

I know that it’s a mixture of Portuguese and Spanish, although the intonational patterns sound a lot like Italian to me. I understand most of it, but I’m far from being fluent. Occasionally I speak Galician with my friends just to have fun, but that’s pretty much it.

What places have you visited in Galicia?

I’ve been on several tours around Galicia, so I’ve seen almost all the parts. I’ve visited the most beautiful places on the Galician cost, starting with the Playa de los Catedrales in the North, and finishing with Muiños in the very South of the province of Pontevendra. I’ve been to La Coruña countless times, also to Ferrol, Pontevendra, Vigo and Lugo. I’m a big fan of Ourense and its pleasant climate. Also, Ribeira Sacra and Cañones do Sil are some of my favourite routes in Galicia.

What is your favourite Galician food? And your favourite place?

I cannot choose just one dish. I really like pulpo and pimientos de Padrón. I think cocido de Lalín is exceptional and any Lithuanian would love it. People say the Galician empanada is the best you can find in Spain and I totally agree with that – I love it!

My favourite place in Galicia is Plaza de Quintana in Santiago. I think it might be my favourite place in the whole wide world.


Do you like the typical music from Galicia?

I like to listen to it live. There are some places in Santiago where they have live performances, and there is a band called Tuna de Derechos de Santiago that sometimes plays in front of the Cathedral.

Would you like to live in Galicia?

I do live here, don’t I? J Sometimes I consider staying here for good, although I think that eventually I will go back to Lithuania. But for the time being I’m really happy here.

Have you ever been to other places in Spain? Which city? Did you like it?

Yes, I gave Madrid and Barcelona a short tour, visited Salamanca several times, and went on a tour along the Northern coast of Spain. I stopped in Bilbao, Santander, Gijon, and Oviedo. I also went to many little towns and villages in between those cities and to Los Picos de Europa. I liked all the places for different reasons, I could talk about it for hours…

Is Galicia similar to Lithuania?

I think the cuisine is similar in a way: Lithuanians eat a lot of pork. Interestingly enough, all body parts of a pig are edible in Lithuania so nothing goes to waste, just like in Galicia. The ways of preparing it are different, of course, but I think you wouldn’t die from starvation if you came to Lithuania some day. J

Other than that, Galicia and Lithuania are quite different.

Can you tell us what Lithuania is like?

Is that a trick question? J I told you all about it during the Lithuanian Week last year! I even showed you pictures and videos! Lithuania is like sugar and spice and all things nice! ;) Come and see it yourself!

Which is the best season to visit Lithuania?

My favourite season is summer, but Lithuania is really beautiful in spring (end of April, beginning of May) when everything as green and all the flowers are blooming. Autumn can be good too – I really like the bright scenery with the trees changing colours.

What places do you recommend us to visit in Lithuania?

First and foremost, Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. Especially this year because it is the cultural capital of Europe, so there is going to be a lot of concerts and other cultural events all year round. Then, Kaunas, which is the second biggest city of Lithuania. You also have to go to Klaipėda, which is the main Lithuanian port, and to the Curonian Spit where you will find some of the most beautiful beaches on the Baltic coast. You must stop at the Hill of Crosses on the way to Klaipėda. It’s the only one of its kind in the world!

What are Lithuanian people like? Are they similar to Galician people?

People say that Lithuanian women are really beautiful and men are very talented basketball players. Although generally speaking Lithuanians are kind, friendly and hospitable. We like learning foreign languages and discover new things about different cultures. My best friends are Lithuanians, and I think they are some of the most trustworthy and sincere people I know. They are a lot of fun too!

What do you think about our project? Do you think it is interesting? Why or why not?

I can only say good things about this project. I always tell people that seeing is believing. The things you will discover if you really get to go to Lithuania will be more valuable than any information you can find in books or on the Internet. You can ask me thousands of questions about Lithuania, its people and its culture, but it takes one to really go there and see it for himself. The project you’re taking part in is giving you the possibility that most teenagers in Spain or in any other country don’t have. And most importantly, you will make new friends and that’s one of the best things anyone could expect from a school project! Good luck to you all!

Welcome to our school

Our high school, IES MELIDE, is quite big but not much. It is around ten years old more or less so it’s not old. It is placed in a town of around 8000 inhabitants, in a rural area, 50 km. From Santiago. We are on the famous St. James’s Way, the old pligrimage route leading to Santiago. If you can come here you will see how nice it is, and maybe we can walk a stage.

The building: there are three floors and there is one gymnasium, one football field and a basketball field too.

We have a very big library with around 14000 books in Spanish, Galician, English, French… and others. It’s organised in such a way that every term we work on a theme. This term’s one is the Medieval Ages. You can see it on the picture: we decorate the place, select books that deal with the topic, and teachers will invite some writers who have written some books about Medieval times.

There is a canteen where we can buy food and drinks in the morning when we are in the playtime and we can chat with our friends too.

We also have vocational studies in our school, so there is a woodcraft workshop, where students study to become carpenters. Have a look at the picture, and see how big it is!

The high school has got a radio station and the students can broadcast programmes on it. It’s beautiful because many people listen to you! If you click here you can hear us speaking, and it may be interesting for you to hear our own language, Galician (did you know that in Spain there are more languages than Spanish???)

There are a lot of classrooms because there are many students! In our high school the teenagers are between twelve and eighteen years old or more so there are a lot of us!

An important prize!!

Hello, dear Lithuanian friends. We are having some problems with the pictures we want to send you, but tomorrow everything will be solved. In the meantime, we want to share something very, very important with you: our Education ministry has chosen our school as an example for the work we have carried out with Jolanta Karaliute last year. And we've been the only ones in the whole country to be selected! We are very happy, and very proud, because so much work has finally had good results. We just wanted to share it with you. And tomorrow Friday...more pictures of our school.

On this picture you can see the conference in Madrid (600 km. away from Melide) where we have been this week, showing our experience to other schools.

Tomás (English teacher)

Hello from Lithuania

Hello! This is the group from Utena Adolfas Sapoka Gimnasium, Lithuania. Our names are (from left to write): Ignas, Greta, Justas, Dovile, Edvinas, Rokas, Agne, Gailė, Justinas, and we are 15-16 years old. We are keen on this project and we would like to make it successful. It is really nice that you are interested in our country and culture because Lithuania is not as famous as Spain is.
We are really eager to present our country and our home town, we will also introduce ourselves and later on we will write about typical Lithuanian families, home, food and routine, maybe. Furthermore, we expect that it will be interesting to see and feel those differences that exist, or, maybe, we will even be able to find some similarities.

Ispaniška savaitė - Spanish Week

We had a Spanish week in spring. We were doing projects about your country and culture. We found out a lot of stunning facts about that! In our English lessons we were working in groups. Each group chose a different topic and we were working on the topic chosen. Some of them were about traditional food, dances and songs, leisure time activities, mother tongue, nature and landscapes, and other things. After that all the members of different groups were presenting projects. The presentations were really interesting and attractive because some of us had even learnt useful Spanish phrases, some were reciting funny and easy poems in Spanish and one boy was wearing a sombrero hat. Thus, that is all about our projects in our English lessons!
We also had some other subjects involved in the Spanish week. Spanish culture, the way of life were discussed during geography, Spanish (we have Spanish at school as an optional subject), music and dancing, lessons. We were dancing such dances as Flamenco and Pasadoble, doing and presenting projects (again) and discussing the differences in geography; we were introducing ourselves in Spanish and singing Spanish songs. We filmed everything and produced a CD of the Spanish week in Adolfas Sapoka Gimnasium.
It was a really interesting and exciting week!!! :)

Hello from Melide

Hi, this is the group from Melide (Galicia - Spain). We are very excited to speak to you (well, to write to you). We are 14 and 15 years old, and we attend Melide Highschool. Why are we here?
Because we are very interested in meeting new people, new cultures, new places, new.........
And because we also like travelling and opening our minds. On the picture you can see above we are a small group (although there are more of us, usually). Our names are (from left to write):
Patri, Cris, Fanny, Eva, Ana and Mr Fran.
We hope this will be the beginning of a good friendship, and that we will meet personally some day. We want a picture of you all.
Cheers!

Welcome back

The new school year has already started, and from Melide we want to say HELLO to our Lithuanian friends. We hope this year will be very interesting, and we will know a lot of things about each other.

Semana de Lituania - Lithuanian Week - Lietuviška savaitė

The Lithuanian Week in the high-school of Melide was inspired by the lifelong learning programme Comenius, the main objectives of which are not only to encourage linguistic exchange among member states of the European Union, but also to create a necessary environment for cultural interchange.

During this event, students, teachers and members of the local community of Melide had a possibility of getting acquainted with this faraway little country. Here are some pictures from the event. Let them speak for themselves!

21st - 25th of April, 2008

Lithuanian Week coincided with an arrival of some students of another exchange. A group of teenagers from the high-school of Mugardos also had a chance of taking part in the activities of the Lithuanian Week. The first one was a radio interview with Jolanta, the teaching assistant from Lithuania.


Second activity was a PowerPoint presentation about Lithuania. The speech was delivered by Jolanta and based on common stereotypes that foreigners normally have about Lithuania. During the presentation the imaginary myths about its geographical facts, language and culture have been denied and the true facts introduced. This topic has only be addressed to the 9th and 10th graders and the guests from Mugardos.


This is the area of school where the information stand with books, leaflets, booklets and brochures about Lithuania was installed. It also had a Spanish-Lithuanian dictionary, some books in Lithuanian so that visitors could familiarize themselves with the Lithuanian language. Short words and useful Lithuanian phrases translated into Galician were displayed on the walls for volunteers to learn.


3 screens with different presentations about the country (video and/or PowerPoint) were some of the most important informative means throughout the Lithuanian Week.

1o different departments (English, Galician, History, Economy, Arts, Music, Biology, Geography, Physical Education, and Woodcraft) with the help of students compiled 8 posters with the information about respective aspects of Lithuania.


Students had to complete a mini quiz with the data from the posters.


For the presentation with the 8th graders, the school's hallway was transformed into a classroom. The passers-by could also join the group.


11th and 12th graders listened to a presentation about the collapse of the Soviet Union. Due to its complex content, the speech was delivered to each class individually and took place during History classes.


History of the Soviet Union is an important part of the History course in Spain. Having a visitor who witnessed the times of the communist regime was an interesting and useful experience for the students.


One more goal of the Lithuanian Week was to record a CD with the Lithuanian folk tales. With the help of teachers students translated the tales from English into Galician and recorded a bilingual version of them. During the Lithuanian Week students, teachers and guests could order a copy of the CD for themselves.

For the information in Galician click this link: http://www.lavozdegalicia.es/santiago/2008/04/22/0003_6755520.htm