| LIFELONG LEARNING PROGRAMME Comenius School Partnerships Project Intercultural Dialogue as a Means to Develop Creativity and Innovation 2009-2011 General Information: People willing to become active European citizens need knowledge, skills and the right attitudes concerning democratic structures and active participation. Intercultural dialogue is the basis for real and lasting understanding and respect, which can only be built up through the acquisition of knowledge about other cultures. In this way intercultural dialogue can combat ignorance, prejudice, racism and xenophobia. The main concepts of the project is the sensitization to the idea of “other people” and reflection on one's own intercultural identity. The concepts are expressed through the topic of festivities, such as, private (wedding), religious (Christmas) and political festivity (National Day). The final result of the project will be a newly invented “European Festivity” which will include the different aspects of the previous ones. The students involved in the project use languages, ICT, theatre, cinema, music, photo, arts, culture, local dances, sport, traditions and local customs, as vehicles for research and to communicate the results of their work. This transnational partnership developed between eleven schools from Greece, Germany, Cyprus, Italy, Romania, Poland, United Kingdom, Lithuania, Spain, Hungary and Estonia, allows students and teachers an opportunity for exchange, dialogue and exposure to culture in another country. At a more global level, this project offers a new perspective of culture and values, new approaches in traditional classes. It increases the contacts and exchanges with other schools in Europe allowing for the schools to have a new perspective of the outside world, enabling the acquisition of intercultural skills, which are essential for the development of European citizenship. Project Partners: 1. 8th Gymnasium of Kalamaria, Greece 2. Maedchengymnasium Essen-Borbeck (MGB), Germany (www.mbg.essen.de) 3. Acropolis Gymnasium, Cyprus (www.schools.ac.cy/gym-akr-nic/index_files/Page368.htm) 4. Istituto Statale D’istruzione Secondaria Superiore ‘Gian Vincenzo Gravina’, Italy, (www.istitutogravina.kr.it) 5. Industrial School Group “Nicolae Iorga” Negresti, Romania 6. Zespół Szkół im. Komisji Edukacji Narodowej, Poland (www.g_skoroszyce.wodip.opole.pl) 7. Oasis Academy: Lord’s Hill, England (http://www.oasisacademylordshill.org) 8. Alytus music school, Lithuania (http://www.ams.lt/muzikosmokykla/) 9. I.E.S Río Duero, Spain (www.iesrioduero.centros.educa.es) 10. Paikuse Basic School, Estonia (www.ppk.edu.ee) 11. Klapka György Szakközép-és Szakiskola, Hungary (http://klapkagy.sulinet.hu)
Project meetings: 1st meeting – Spain, November, 2009 Introductory project meeting took place in Valladolid, Spain. Project members presented educational systems in their countries. The students involved in the project exchanged experiences and emails for future contacts. 2nd meeting – Cyprus, January, 2010 Students: Luca Dimaiolo, Marissa Connelly The second project meeting was in Nicosia, Cyprus. Two students and two members of staff participated in the workshops and project meetings presenting English traditional dishes and wedding traditions. The students stayed with host families which offered them an excellent opportunity to learn about Cypriot way of life as well as school life. ‘The experience was amazing! I loved it!’ Luca Dimaiolo ‘The time we spent there was breath taking and I would definitely do it again!’ Marissa Connelly Click here and here to see presentations associated with this visit 3rd meeting – Romania, March, 2010 Students: Amy Webb, Emma Shergold Click here and here to see presentations associated with this visit 4th meeting – Estonia, May, 2010 Students: Aydan Powell, Liam May Two students and two teachers went to the 3rd project meeting in Estonia. In addition to ourselves, the Paikuse Pohikool (Basic School) in Parnu hosted visitors from Spain, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Romania, Greece, Cyprus, Poland and Lithuania (Hungary were not represented on this occasion). The weather was glorious and group visited the Police Academy, Tallinn (the Capital) and the local beach and forests. In school each country presented their work about their own National Holidays and Patron Saints and Paikuse Pohikool entertained us with traditional singing and dancing displays. Click here to see presentation associated with this visit 5th meeting – England, June, 2010 Oasis Academy: Lord’s Hill hosted the 5th project meeting in June. Click here to see the presentation associated with this visit 6th meeting – Poland, September, 2010 Students: Jordan Gilbert, Boston Sutton Click here to see presentation associated with this visit On Sunday 26 September we arrived at the village of Skoroszyce, near Nysa, Poland, where we met up again with Tomacz and Adam our Comenius exchange partners who stayed with us when they visited Southampton in May. On the first evening I went out with Adam and his parents to eat pizza, which was really good. Adam had to translate for me the polish menu and I picked a pepperoni and cheese pizza. All other meals we ate in their home and I tried some very unusual, but tasty, new foods like potato soup, chicken and pasta with onion gravy and lots of different sausages. Each morning I went with Adam to school, which started at 8am and from there we did school activities and went on excursions. We visited an old village museum where all the buildings were totally made of wood, a new modern shopping centre where we tried new computer games in a game shop and visited the city of Krakow and Auschwitz. It was a shock seeing piles and piles of children’s shoes and a room filled with human hair that was used to stuff mattresses and make blankets. I am now really looking forward to learning about the Holocaust in Citizenship and English lessons. At school we learned about Easter in all the Comenius countries. On the last evening we had a disco, which we all enjoyed. The trip was a great experience and I would really like to go on another exchange. By Boston Sutton 7th meeting – Germany, December, 2010 Students: Mumbe Miyanza, Savannah Jones Click here to see presentation associated with this visit 8th meeting – Hungary, February, 2011 9th meeting – Lithuania, March, 2011 Students: Kieron Yarnold, Bruna Ramos We left Gatwick Airport roughly midday after travelling from Southampton by minibus. It was about 2 hour’s flight to get to the airport in Kaunas in Lithuania. When we arrived it was cold and there was still snow on the ground. The terminal was much smaller than I expected but it was quite modern. After about an hour drive we arrived in Alytus where we met our host families. They took us home and we had dinner at the house and I found the food quite unusual because it wasn’t like any English food. The next day we went to the music school and met up with the other countries we were told a little about Lithuania and what was going to happen over the next few days. In the afternoon the countries had to teach a traditional game that has a song to it, we taught London Bridge is falling down. Even though English was the main language for communication each countries song was in their home language which proved difficult. Then we went to a building where we met the mayor. On Tuesday we had a guided tour around Trakai which is the former capital of Lithuania we got to go inside the largest castle in the city. The city is surrounded by many lakes which were all frozen over which allowed us to walk and see the people fishing on the lake through a hole in the ice. In the afternoon there was a bus tour in Vilnius which is the current capital of Lithuania. Then we had our free time to shop for souvenirs and food .I thought prices were the same as England, luckily for us most of the locals spoke English. On Wednesday we went to the host family’s school and walked to a museum and made some clay pots. Then we had a concert at the city hall in the city centre which was put on by the music school with orchestras and a wide variety of music. In the evening there was a farewell dinner at the city hall. At the end of the day some of the countries went home. On Thursday we said goodbye to our families and went on our way home. I enjoyed my time in Lithuania and would be happy to visit again and learn more about the country. Kieron Yarnold 10th meeting – Italy, May, 2011 Students: Lucy Park, Kayleigh Tongs We had an amazing experience in Italy and we would definitely go there again if we had the opportunity. In fact we had invitations to visit our families next summer as their guests. We went to a secondary school in the town of Crotone which specialises in languages. There were lots of teachers who could speak English and made us feel very welcome and even though not everyone could speak English at least they spoke more English than we could speak Italian! While we were there we learned about the Italian culture, their religion and their social life. The Italians are very family orientated and like to do things together and often take their children with them to restaurants and other places even though it might mean staying up late. For instance we were part of a religious festival of the Virgin Mary where a sacred picture of her was taken in a procession from the church to another old church 17kms away, carried by priests on their shoulders. She was returned by boat the next night and when she arrived at the harbour there was a fireworks display which lasted for twenty minutes and it was a spectacular sight. Everyone from the town and other areas joined in and so there were about 50 thousand people on the streets until the early hours of the morning. The school we visited is like ours, in that they are waiting for a new building which they are waiting for. There is little employment in the area because five big chemical factories closed down and the main hope for the young people of the town is to get their qualifications to go to university in the north of Italy. Tourism is the only other form of employment but the roads and rail communications are not good on the whole. We learned so much about their stunning castles, their churches and their delicious pizzas and pasta dishes and we have tried lots of different foods which we would not normally eat at home. We are so happy that we were chosen to go – it was truly a worthwhile and unforgettable experience and wish we could go on another one! Kayleigh Tongs and Lucy Park Click here and here to see presentations associated with this visit 11th meeting – Greece, June 2011 Students: Gabriela Trynka, Hannah Piggott Our final trip in the project this year was to Thessalonika, Greece. We were invited to stay five nights instead of the usual four, in order to make the most of the cultural sites and events which were taking place. Two members of staff accompanied two Y8 students, Hannah Piggott and Gabriela Trynka, to the warm shores of Greece’s second largest town and sea-port. This beautiful area of Halkidiki, with its islands and historical sites was delightful and the weather was just right for us – not too hot! We visited Mount Olympos (where the Greek gods were supposed to have lived), Aristotle’s seat of learning and the tombs of Alexander the Great’s father and son. The gold treasures, statues and artefacts which were stunningly displayed in the museums filled our Greek hosts with pride and made a long lasting impression on us, the visitors. We were certainly assured of the impact on ancient history of these heroes, scholars and legendary figures. Our hosts’ hospitality was second to none, with their attention to detail in organising our trips out, the variety of venues we visited, the officials we met and the opportunities to sample the local delicious food. All this satisfied the criteria of ‘intercultural diversity and creativity’ which we have had to work towards in the Comenius Project. Hannah and Gabriela had to present something which they had created which embodied being part of the Project; a poem entitled ‘We are Comenius’ was shared with and distributed to the other partners, a poster collage put together by them on the future Olympics venue and a summary of the benefits of participating in the Project were also distributed. Other partners also made their own presentations and many gifts such as tee-shirts, flags, books etc were exchanged and as a result we have many wonderful souvenirs for display to remind us and inform others of our truly educational trip. In conclusion, all the students and staff who have been involved in the Project since Autumn 2009, have enjoyed the benefits of meeting such interesting people, visiting countries they may not have thought of going to, learned about the historical, cultural, social backgrounds and come to understand and appreciate our European neighbours, in a real life situation. We very much look forward to participating in further Projects of this kind and we are grateful we have had the opportunity of doing so this time. Ayla Lambert Click here to see presentation associated with this visit |
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