The GamifyEU Youth Exchange started in mid-November. The first phase of the exchange consisted of the five local groups from Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, Italy and Portugal getting to know each other and developing some activities inside their local groups.
You will be wondering what they have been doing so far. Firstly, they had their first encounter with their colleagues inside their local groups. During this phase, they played games such as ice-breakers to get to know each other and team building activities to prepare them for the next phases of the exchange. All this has been done online. The pictures some local groups sent to us look like they had a lot of fun.
After this, teams went through the EU universe. What is this part about? The main topic is the European Union. The activities are based on the history, milestones and principles of the EU. The participants created presentations and took part in discussions about the EU’s history, significant events and milestones.
The participants have also learnt to recognise the different EU institutions and their roles. In addition, they have discovered the foundations of the EU, its principles and values by which it stands.
After taking in all this knowledge about the EU, it was time for the fun and creative part of the exchange where participants created memes and videos. They recorded themselves talking about their dreams and expectations about the EU, and made lots of memes on a variety of topics such as the history of the EU, human rights, what would happen if the EU didn’t exist and more! We will be sharing them through our Facebook and Instagram pages, so stay tuned!
All these activities aimed to prepare the participants for the second part of the Youth Exchange, where the five local groups met in two Zoom meetings and were finally able to share their experiences together.
The first Zoom meeting took place on Saturday the 28th of November. More than 50 participants from more than five different countries enjoyed their time together. It was the beautiful moment in which the local groups met for the first time. They shared the activities they did during the lockdown, commented which was their favourite TV series, and taught each other different words in their native language, so by the end of the session they knew many new words.
During the second Zoom meeting which took place on Saturday the 5th of December, the participants learnt about the 11 youth goals developed by the European Commission and took part in creative group work which resulted in the creation of poems, speeches, memes and more.
This adventure has not finished yet though! Soon, participants will get the opportunity to test out the new Engage, Connect and Empower game and further learn about the EU in an interactive way!
