1. TOGETHER, IN HARMONY!
PROJECT FUNDED BY THE EUROPEAN UNION THROUGH THE ERASMUS + PROGRAM
SCHOOL EDUCATION FIELD, KEY ACTION 2 – COLLABORATION PARTNERSHIPS
REFERENCE NUMBER 2022-1-RO01-KA220- SCH-000085644
ACTIVITY REPORT
APRIL 2023
ALOVERA
(GUADALAJARA, SPAIN)
The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents
which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made
of the information contained therein.
Headmistress of IESO HARÉVOLAR,
LAURA FORTEA MANZANARES
School Erasmus+ coordinator,
LARA VILLARMEA IGLESIAS

2. TOGETHER, IN HARMONY!
ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT
Elvira Torralba, our math and chemistry teacher, organized and coordinated the next
local activity BLACK OR WHITE. We had to organize a tournament of an educational game,
so we chose CHESS because we have a lot of students that love this game in our school. Apart
from being a great strategy game, chess is also an excellent educational method to help students
socialize and foster their concentration, memory and critical thinking. Students who practise
chess learn to think logically and strategically, which also helps with problem solving and
decision making.
Participation was high in this activity: 34 students from all levels signed up voluntarily
to take part in the competition. During the games, students had the opportunity to play in a
respectful and friendly way, always accompanied by Elvira Torralba, which allowed them not
only to improve their skills in chess, but also interact with students from other classes and ages.
Taking part in a healthy and friendly competition fosters cooperation among youngsters
and teaches them how to work together to reach a common goal. All this has a great impact in
students’ well-being. When they practise and when they play, students learn how to control
their emotions and manage their sense of frustration, as well as pressure and nerves. All this is
essential to build their resilience and their capacity to face difficulties in life. All things
considered, the activity BLACK OR WHITE has fostered their self-esteem and confidence.
As regards the procedure to carry out this activity, the first step was to create some
posters to hang around the school and classrooms, to promote de activity and grab the students’
attention. It was quite a success, since 63 students were interested at the beginning (note that
we have around 300 students in our school). Elvira opened a virtual class in Moodle to include
all the instructions and rules that we were going to follow and added these 63 students as
participants. She also included tutorials for them to watch and learn strategies and epic games.
At the end, 34 students decided to take part in the official competition. We organised
some first rounds in groups, depending on the students’ levels. On the one hand, 7th and 8th
grades (10 students and 12 students respectively) and, on the other, 9th grade and 10th grade
(12 students in total). In our tournament, opponents were chosen by raffle and each game gave
3 points to the winner, 1 point to each player in case of a tie and 0 points to the loser. Besides,
an extra point was given to each participant who attended the tournament even when it was not
their time to play (this means, to attend the tournament as spectator to the rest of games). We
decided to do this because we think it was a way to motivate students to show active
participation in the activity, as well as to develop discipline and commitment.
Students could check their classification at any time during the games. We draw some
charts to register all the points involved. When this first round finished, we could easily check
the students who got the highest number of points. After this, they entered in a second round,
this time competing with students from any level. The system used to register the points was
the same. Lastly, the final round caused great excitement. We decided to pick the 8 students
with the highest number of points and hold a last round on the 19th of April 2023. Their
participation in the whole process has been impressive and they deserve special recognition.
Honourable mention to Iván Díez (9th grade) and Adrián P. Bleda (8th grade) for reaching the
final game and showing not only great chess skills, but also commitment and sportsmanship.

3. TOGETHER, IN HARMONY!
When the competition ended, Lara Villarmea (Erasmus+ coordinator at IESO
HARÉVOLAR) interviewed Elvira Torralba and wrote an article to share the development of
this local activity with the rest of the partner schools.
OBJECTIVES ACHIEVED
• Offer students a space and moment to feel confident and develop their unique
personalities and self-esteem
• Help students socialise, as well as compete, in a respectful and friendly way, thus
promoting student well-being as well as sense of cooperation and responsibility
• Foster students’ concentration, memory and strategy skills and critical thinking
• Help students manage their positive and negative emotions (such as frustration or
pressure) to build their resilience and capacity to face difficulties
RESULTS
• Posters to promote the activity and grab students’ attention
• Creation of a virtual class in Moodle to include the instructions of the activity as well
as rules of the game, tutorials and strategies
• Points registries to organise the classifications in the different rounds
• Interview with Elvira Torralba, coordinator of the activity, and written article to share
the development of this local activity