Comenius Trilateral Meeting in Garbsen - First Day

The First Day of the Trilateral Meeting in Garbsen has been exciting and amazing in many aspects.

At 8:30 a.m.the Headmaster of Geschwister Scholl-Gymnasium, Garbsen welcomed the students from the four different countries: France, Germany, Norway and Spain-The Basque Country at the cafeteria of the school.

At 09:00 the activities for the day started.  Over 100 students went to different rooms with international teachers in multinational teams, according to the activity they had previously chosen. They started with different enjoyable ice-breakings. After that, they answered the Quiz on European Landmarks.

Comenius Trilateral Meeting - 1st Day

Workshop I started the activities: National Evening, Press group, Photo story, Art, Comic group, Drama/Music group, European game and Euroean Youth Meeting. They were working for over three hours.

At one o'clock p.m.they went by S-Bahn to the city center of Hannover. They had some free time and lunch and made the field trip. They had a rally through Hannover in small groups. They started in the Opera House and the point after the rally was the entrance of Marktkirche (4:30 a.m.)

They had a free time evening.

On the other hand, all the Comenius teachers from the four countries attended an amazing profesional performance of the musical "Rent" directed by the teachers and performed by the students of the School GSG Berenbostel. Amazing, unique, fabulous are some of the adjetives to express the high level of performance. Congratulations!!!

Comenius Corners at IGS Garbsen updated

In today's project meeting, the students were given three tasks:

1. Create photo collages for the comenius corners (we actually have three at our school!).
Two collages were finished and put up, the third will follow next week.

 

2. Assess the evaluation questionnaires.
Even though the students were working hard, the graphic processing of the evaluation could not be completed. It will however soon be uploaded to the project's website.

3. Write a report for the school website.
This task was assigned to the absent students. Their deadline is Friday next week.

Comenius Corner in Getxo

Comenius students from IES Julio Caro Baroja,Getxo have prepared their first posters for the Comenius Corner at school. Did they enjoy their time while they were designing them? Click on the picture to discover it.

Comenius Corner

Comenius Meeting at IGS Garbsen

Today, the IGS students met for the third time. The meeting started with a group picture which now includes all 15 participants and the two teachers.
Next, we watched scenes from the film "L'auberge Espagnole" to introduce the topic of national identity to the students. This was followed by classroom discussions about national identity.

The students were then given the questionnaires. To understand what the questions mean and to be able to interview other people, they filled them out themselves.

Finally, the profiles of their Basque partners were handed out, which caused great excitement even though most of the students had already been contacted from Spain via social media.

It was a demanding work session for the Comenius group as all the other students have already left for their autumn holidays.

IGS Comenius Group Meeting 2014

First Comenius Meeting in Getxo - Year 2

Yesterday afternoon, our students held their First Comenius Meeting. 

This is the second year of the European Project "Our Identity: National and European?" The Principal handed out the Trinational Calendardesigned by last year's Comenius students. Later, the same students explained to the new ones what they had done and how they had lived the Comenius experience

After that, the new students went upstairs to the computer room to write theirprofiles for the matching with the Germans. In November they will host 15 German students from Garbsen, Germany, In March they will fly there to meet and work with students from France, Norway and Germany.

Comenius 1st Meeting - Sept 2014

Comenius Teachers' Meeting in Budapest -SEP-OCT 2014

Our meeting started on Monday, September 29. We were greeted by Viktor, the coordinator of the hosting school, in the conference room of our hotel.

On Tuesday, we met at the school, which is located in a beautiful building erected in 1914.

We managed to plan the second project year in great detail. The reward was a fantastic boat tour on the Danube around sunset followed by a tasty dinner at a very typical Hungarian restaurant.

The field trip took place on Wednesday, Oct 1st. We were guided by Gabor, who is a teacher at the host school; he used to be a professional guide. Among the many magnificent sights were Hero Square, Castle Hill and the President's palace.

As we are facing major changes in our project with the introduction of ERASMUS+, we needed

to come up with new ideas for the application for the new project starting from 2015, which were discussed on Thursday, Oct 2nd.

After a very exhausting day we all went to the city centre for the farewell dinner.

On Friday we visited the Parliament, shared documents and pictures and most of us went back home.

Comenius Teachers' Meeting, Budapest 2014

Comenius Teachers' Meeting in Budapest

Teachers from seven countries -Germany, Greece, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Spain-The Basque Country and Turkey- are holding a meeting from the 28th of September to the 3rd of October in Budapest, Hungary. 

Our European teachers are going to prepare the second part of the Comenius project "Our Identity: National and European? A Research of National and European Landmarks."

Their aims includes the Evaluation of the first year project, making agreements about the countries taking part in the Bilateral and Trilateral Meetings and defining the work to do before, during and after the meetings.

We wish them the best to make their students do their most with the project.

Greetings from Izmir

Greetings from Izmir

We are always happy to participate and to contribute to a multilateral Comenius project “Our Identity National And European?”. I can bravely say that in Germany, meeting was one of the greatest experiences of my life. Our German friends did their best; they did an incredible job. They managed to make and accomplish a really rich programme, and meanwhile, above all, the atmosphere was unique for teachers and our students.

On the first day, the schools programme was amazingly full of love and hospitality. Then, on the first and second day, in Hannover trip, we had a really great time indeed. But my favourite day was the third one, when we visited Berlin, which was so beautiful that I cannot really find words to tell it. We were lucky to see Berlin city. On the fourth day, "National Days" presentation  we spent some valuable minutes.

We enjoyed the whole week very much and thanks to our German, Greece, Norway and France friends we could experience the greatest level of hospitality. That was the most important thing!!! Wishes, excitement, travel, happiness and surprises.

Our team cannot be satisfied more.

News from the Trilateral Meeting in Getxo, by Dóra Bakos and Emese Szakály

On the 22^nd of March in 2014 we were on our way in the hope of meeting our exchange partners. Arriving at La Paloma Airport in Bilbao, everyone hugged their partners and started recollecting memories of the previous visit. What is more, we got the chance again to get to know another culture because, as required by the rules of the Comenius Project, we had to spend this week with Polish students, too.

During this week, our main task was to create two calendars (an online Timeline, and a paper one), in which all of the Spanish, Polish and Hungarian feasts are included with short summaries. Generally in the mornings we worked on our projects (calendars, presentations, role-play, drama play, debate, reports, sports, competitions). Our afternoons were usually free, but of course we spent it together at various places, some of us even went surfing or laser fighting.

We also went sightseeing in the Basque capital, where we visited the famous Guggenheim Museum. We also went on day trips to Guernica, the town which was destroyed in the Spanish civil war; to the surfing paradise, Mundaka; and to a port called Bermeo, known for its fishing industry. In the National Evening, we had the opportunity to experience a real Spanish atmosphere; beginning with the collective singing, dancing, to delicious national dishes.

On the 29^th of March full of experiences we got on our plane waving goodbye to our true international friends. 

In the hope of seeing each other later, we locked these incredibly wonderful two weeks and our friendship in our heart.

News from the Trilateral Meeting in Getxo

Welcome home, to Europe -the new song for our Comenius students

Time passes, but not work and friends.
We are quite sure that all the teams from the eight countries have been working hard after the Bilateral Meeting last November.
We have been searching to get the answers to the second part of our project. We have shared them with our trilateral European friends. This could be our image diary.

Preparing the Trilateral Meeting

During the last week of February, we have been rehearsing the song to be sung at the Trilateral Meeting during the National Evening. We encourage you all to learn it and sing it together.

 WELCOME HOME, TO EUROPE

Warm greetings from Getxo and have a nice Carnival!

Best of Hungary (by students from IES Julio Caro Baroja - GETXO)

Trip to Budapest:

The student exchange to Budapest was really exciting, surprising and educational. We learnt a lot about Hungarian culture and about the city of Budapest.

We first saw our partners in the airport, where they were waiting for us with their families. They took us home, and after dinner we went sightseeing.

On Sunday morning we went bowling together. Afterwards we went into the city centre to discover the most important landmarks in Budapest. The Hungarian students had prepared information for us about each landmark. We walked across the Széchenyi Chain Bridge, and then visited the Castle District, in Buda. The view was amazing because we could see the other half of the city (Pest). Whilst we were in the Castle District we had a treasure hunt. We also had the opportunity to see the Danube by night.

Monday was our first day at the school. The Hungarian students showed us a video they had prepared about the city, and afterwards we went to a few lessons (Spanish, English and Chemistry). These lessons were really interesting because we were able to take part in some Chemistry experiments, as well as exchange information about our country (Basque Country). In the evening we had a concert with a Hungarian folk band. They played some traditional Hungarian music and taught us how to dance. We had dinner at the school. Each family had prepared some traditional Hungarian food, which was very delicious and also very different from the cuisine in Spain.

On Tuesday we visited Eger, a town over two hours away from Budapest. It is an old town that has a lot of history. We visited the castle and learnt about the invasion of the Turks. We also visited a college to take part in some Physics experiments and to use the camera obscura.

Best of Hungary 

On Wednesday morning we met outside the Opera House and then went to Heroes’ Square. In addition, we saw the Turkish baths and visited the Millennium Castle. We had the opportunity to try some typical Hungarian food such as Langos and Salted Pretzels. In the afternoon we returned to school to work on our projects.

On Thursday morning we visited the House of Terror Museum. It turned out to be a very educational and shocking experience. It was hard for us to learn about how Hungary has suffered in recent times (Nazi occupation and Communist dictatorship). Thursday was also presentation day. We invited students from English classes in the school to see our presentations. They were very interested in learning about our culture. In the evening we went to Aquaworld, a water park on the outskirts of Budapest. We all had a really good time together.

On Friday we were taken to the Parliament building. We were given a guided tour and learnt lots about the history of Hungary (monarchy and transition to a republic). The interior was incredible because of its Neo-Gothic style. In the evening we had a farewell party, where we played games and danced together. Our host families prepared some more food for us to try – especially traditional Hungarian desserts! After the party we spent some time together (without teachers!) before we had to leave on the Saturday.

Saying goodbye to our host families was very difficult. We were very emotional when we parted ways at the airport. However, we are really looking forward to seeing our partners again in March!

News from Johannes-Kepler-Gymnasium (Garbsen - Germany)

For many people  a  picture has only got a cultural or artistic value; for the students of the Student Exchange to Izmir (Turkey) or to Bergen (Norway), every picture is a deep feeling of the days lived together with new European friends from European Schools.

Europe starts at schools. Europe starts where young people meet and forget nationalities, and share the best of them.
Below, we can enjoy part of the life of students from Johannes-Kepler-Gymnasium during their Exchange in Izmir and Bergen.

Bilateral Meeting in Bergen (Norway)

Comenius Bilateral Meeting in Izmir (Turkey)

News from Budapest in the Bilateral meeting, by Dóra Bakos and Emese Szakály

Thanks to the Comenius Project we could participate in a Spanish student exchange program. Its first round started on the 22^ndof November in 2013, when the Spanish group arrived at Liszt Ferenc Airport. We took them home, had dinner, and then we did something with our family, such as walking on the bank of the Danube in the lights or going to the circus.

On Saturday in the morning we went bowling together and afterwards we walked in the city to see our unique sights. We stopped at each attraction, where one of the Hungarian students shared with the rest of us some information about it. After crossing the Danube on the Chain Bridge, we visited the Castle District.

On Monday we spent our day at the school. We prepared a worksheet with questions about our secondary school and showed a video about Budapest. Subsequently the Spanish students visited an English or a Spanish lesson, and we saw some spectacular experiments in the Chemistry laboratory. For dinner we had goulash soup. During the evening a folk dance group joined us and taught us some easier steps. For dinner every Hungarian student brought some kind of salad or cake. Besides this we prepared for the evening with some games and taught them a Hungarian folk song, called ‘Márminálunkbabám’. At the end of the evening we had some more time to dance, as well.

On Tuesday we visited the city of Eger, where we saw the castle, the camera obscura and the Dobó square, too. It was a long day; we arrived at the school only late in the evening.

On Wednesday we met in front of the Opera, from where we walked to Heroes’ Square. Íon the way there we saw the Zoo and Vajdahunyad Castle. Having arrived at the school, the boys went to play football and the girls played volleyball. Afterwards we went upstairs to work on our projects.

On Thursday in the morning we visited the House of Terror to see a historical series of exhibitions. It was really shocking for all of us. Subsequently we went to the school to give presentations to some English groups about Basque and Hungarian festivals. During the night we went to the Aquaworld to everybody’s satisfaction.

On Friday we started at the Parliament, where a tour guide talked about the building and its history. At the school we showed the rest of the presentations to our schoolmates. In the afternoon we went to the city to buy some souvenirs. In the evening there was a farewell party with games, music, and dancing.

On Saturday we gave a lift to our exchange partners and saw them off.

News from Norway: Bilateral meeting

From Olsvikåsen Upper Secondary School with love

On Saturday 16th November 17 German students and teachers arrived at Flesland airport in Bergen. The Norwegian students and their families were waiting impatiently. Saturday evening and Sunday were spent in the various host families. The host families were eager to show the guests our beautiful city. 

On Monday morning, our new friends were greeted by our headmistress, Mrs.Inger-LiseThorstensen. We started off with some ice-breaking games and a guided tour around our school. Before lunch, the students were introduced to the project. After lunch the students continued working in the suggested groups. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday followed pretty much the same pattern. In the morning the students had either breakfast at home or at school. Olsvikåsen offers breakfast for all our students during the school year. The German students and their Norwegian host students were also offered free lunch every day that week. 

A Research of National and European Landmarks.

During the week, the students were working on the first stage of our project which was to compare holidays in Germany and in Norway. This is what the groups were working on:

1.       Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.

2.       May 1^st and Midsummer.

3.       Remembrance Day and Easter.

4.       Holocaust and New Year’s Eve.

5.       Reformation Day, Fastelaven and Halloween.

6.       Christmas and St Nicholas’ Day.

7.       Unification Day and17th of May

Wednesday was our excursion day and a day off from the project and school and allowed our students to relax a bit. We had planned to walk up the mountain to Fløyen, but the weather can be unpredictable this time of year (actually all year). We therefore decided to go to Bergen Science Center,VilVite, where we tried out the different activities and exhibitions.

 After enjoying our packed lunch, we continued to Bergen Aquarium where we watched the penguins and sea lions being fed outside. Indoors there are numerous exhibitions of spiders, snakes, lizards, crocodiles, life at sea in the North and the shark tunnel.

We knew that it was going to be quite busy the following day. The groups presented their work in the English classes at school. Both the German and Norwegian students were a bit nervous, but they all agreed that it was good training for them to speak in public. It was also important to make the project more visible to the rest of the school. After lunch it was time to present the projects and the results of their findings to the rest of the Comenius group. For the German and Norwegian teachers involved, it was interesting to see how they had managed to solve the tasks. All in all, the presentations were good. We see, however, that especially the Norwegian students have a challenge concerning presentations without a script. In the future, we would also like to see more in-depth project work. 

We think we can safely say that the highlight of the week was National Eve on Thursday. The evening started with an exquisite platter of typical Norwegian food carefully prepared by a chef that came exclusively for this event. Some of the delicious food that was on the menu: fish soup, smoked salmon and reindeer. After the lovely dinner, our German guests entertained us with a quiz. Olsvikåsen has got a house band of teachers that had agreed to play a selection of songs.
Towards the end of the evening, the Norwegian students had a quiz and presented a Norwegian Folk dance. Some of the girls wore their national costume, bunad, and also explained the history and tradition attached to their costumes.

Norway - Germany Bilateral Meeting. 2013

On Friday, it was time to say good bye. The German students brought their suitcases to school and were driven to the airport. In March it is our turn to visit our German friends in Garbsen, and we are looking forward to itJ.

Here is a direct link to the Olsvikåsen’s web page: http://olv.hfk.no/templates/SchoolSubsite.aspx?id=42886

News from Turkey

Diary: 

Wednesday, 20.11.2013 – Ephesus, Virgin Mary and trip to Sirience

On Wednesday at 8.00 am, we meet at school. We were all very excited because we wanted to go on a field trip.

From the school we drove one and a half hour to the House of the Virgin Mary. On the way, we had a stop to have breakfast. After one and a half hour, we arrived at the House of the Virgin Mary. There we visited her house and drank from the sacred spring. Subsequently, we drove to Ephesus. This is a four-thousand-year-old city, with two amphitheaters, a big library and many houses. It was very interesting and we had a lot of fun exploring the ancient streets, houses and sites. Later we saw one of the seven world wonders, the Temple of Artemis. After that we made a trip to Sirience. That is a little village in the mountains, where we went for shopping or ate some traditional Turkish food.

Finally, we drove back to school by bus. It was a funny bus drive that was shorter than we thought. He listened to Turkish music and danced on way back to Izmir. After arriving at school, we drove back home. It was a very good day.

- Rebecca

News from Turkey

Diary (2)

Sunday, November 17^th 2013

Sunday was the best day of the whole week. My mum and I came to school early in the morning to pick up my beauty partner. I was so excited. I met my partner after having only conversation via Internet. Jacki was very excited, too. We talked all the way home.

After having breakfast, we walked to the beach. We went to Karsiyaka and then we met Öykü and Wencke. We sat in the café for a coffee. We went home together and slept after having a shower at 19.30. 

I don’t want her to go back to Germany . All the time they are saying nice words to us. I think they are pleased to meet us. Jacki wants to become a member of our family. She is my sister from now on. I hope Jacki is happy being my exchange partner. We had a very good time together and I hope to have good time… 

Germans are really excellent people for me.

- Duygu sema ince 

Views and Experiences in Poland with Comenius

Poland Thoughts, by Sherry Wilson

Traveling from Spain to Poland was a journey, and I could sense the students’ excitement growing as we switched from bus, plane, plane, and then finally our last bus. We were almost in Poland, on the verge of crossing the German border, and then I began to hear whispers from the students. Their excitement was turning into nervousness, and they began to worry about the details of their week in Poland. Earlier they were clapping every thirty minutes to celebrate their traveling, but now they whispered questions to each other, ”How should I greet them? A hug? Two kisses?” I told the students not to be nervous, but deep down I was nervous for them. While the students may only see me as their teacher, I am not too far removed from their roles. I’m a native New Yorker, and I’ve been living in Spain for the last two months. Six months ago I was a student just like them, and two months ago I made the dramatic change of moving to Spain. While the students worried about speaking English in Poland with their Polish families and partners, I was also worried for them. This was a complete immersion in the English language for a full week, and communicating in a foreign language is HARD. I am only a few years older than my students and I struggle with the language barrier in Spain. I had never been to Poland, I don’t know anybody who had ever been to Poland, nor did I know any words in Polish, but I was excited for a new adventure courtesy of my time in Spain.

While I was excited to spend a week in Poland, I was more interested in seeing my students utilize their English skills. As I listened to my students voice their worries out loud, I thought about how proud of them I was. The students worried about their English skills, but I was merely happy that they were so willing to step outside of their comfort zones. To be honest, I was almost in awe of these young teenagers so willing to adapt to new changes. I wish I had taken an opportunity like this when I was their age. Americans like me aren't often given opportunities to travel to other countries in order to learn about different cultures and their traditions. As a teacher, it made me quite proud to see my students adapting to Polish culture, but also making the effort to work with other students in English. While there are many differences between Basque and Polish culture, the Comenius project is an great method of bringing cultures and countries closer, especially for young students.

Views and Experiences in Września (Poland) with Comenius

My favorite part of my trip to Poland were the people I met. I was able to work closely with all of the students -Polish and Basque- and I was proud to see them adjusting so well to new changes and a new environment. Spending a week in Poland showed me how much we can learn from each other´s cultures, but also what we can learn from our students and their open mindedness to change and new cultures.

Comenius 2013-2014: Bilateral Meeting

Our eight participant countries in the current Comenius Project -France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Turkey, Spain-The Basque Country- are having the Bilateral Meetings  in Greece, Hungary, Norway, Poland and Turkey from November 18th to November 22nd.

They all have previously worked hard in their schools sharing information among binational teams. At present all the students are looking forward to the date that will let them meet and share not only their sense of being Europeans but also a life experience.

In the following Power Point we can see the students from these countries posing for the picture or preparing activities.

Comenius Binational Meetings 2013