pondělí 28. ledna 2008

We are the champions

We have won the National competition



We went to Prague, but we didn´t know about the prize. I took three students with me, Lenka, Veronika and Art as representatives of the class. We were welcomed in the Building of the Ministry of Education, in the mirror room. All the guests were very exited because we didn´t know about the placings.

First, we received two Quality Labels for the projects with Slovakia and with Lithuania. And then, our school was called to get the first prize, 15O,OOO Czech Crowns for visiting our partners in Greece. I couldn´t believe my ears and I was very touched to shake my hands with the representatives of the Ministry of Education and Czech NSS.

After lunch my students talked about the project, we showed a short presentation and the girls sang the Greek song.

The next day, all the students were very happy because they didn´t have to write the test from Maths. It was the reward of their maths teacher for our victory.

I am very glad that my students immediatelly started a new project called Let´s twin across the sea with an Irish school. We are very happy that we can go on with our projects.
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS and we know that SHOW MUST GO ON.

I would like to thank to our partner school Kavasila High School because without, you, our dear friends, we wouldn´t win. Special thanks goes to Eleni Kostopoulou, who was the heart of the project and as usual she worked very hard. I am very glad that we have won not only the first prize, but I have won my best friend for life.

neděle 20. ledna 2008

Tercie - and their illustrations of the Czech song



We think that we have studied this song very much and very deeply.
It was the reason why our friends have chosen this song from all of the other songs we sang during the project.

And once more the January Czech song



Students are practising reading both versions of the song.

Quality Label in English

Description

Name: Music helps us live
Schools: Gymnasium Ceska Lipa, The Czech Republic and Kavasila High School, Greece

Names of teachers and coordinators: Mgr. Hana Homolova { music}, Mgr. Eva Pazourkova{ Art}, Mgr. Nadezda Kadlecova{ English, coordinator of the project}, Katerina Mavroudi { music}, Eleni Kostopoulou/ English, coordinator,}, Art teachers in Kavasila High School.

web page of the school: www.gym-cl.cz
{ English section/ activities/ eTwinning programmes in our school.}

Age of the students: 16 students in basic pairs. Czech students- 12/13 years old
Greece students from 12 to 15.

Number of involved teachers: 8 all together in both sides.

Time of the project: one school year

Languages: English, Czech, Greek

Brief description:
It is a music project in which the students will introduce each other national folk songs. They will also speak about the importance of the National Anthems and they will listen to them. They will also write letters on other topics to get to know each other better. In Art lessons they will illustrate the songs and they will scan the pictures into the twinspace. In English lessons they will translate the songs into English. In Music lessons they will practice the songs and they will make a sound file.

Final product:
The song book, a film, a CD

Connections: http://twinspace.etwinning.net/launcher.cfm?lang=en&cid=9069
http:// http://et-friendship.blogspot.com/
www.gym-cl.cz


Using ICT during the project:

At the beginning, the children wrote introduction letters and they made pairs. Then I invited all the students into the twinspace. The first song was about rivers and so we also spoke about the importance of the river and about the national rivers. We prepared the sound file in MP3 and put it into the twinspace. We worked with the song about The River Vltava and the Greeks with the song Potame mu/ the same way. The illustrations were put into the project photogallery in the twinspace. The song was translated into English and the students learned how to work with a dictionary. They also worked with pictures and they learned how to put them into the photogallery. I created a music shared file, where the kids can upload their favourite music. We did the next songs the same way.
Later we also tried to make a short video clip in Quick time player.

Results and asset:
The students have improved their knowledge in using ICT tools, software in twinspace and they go on with the friendly relations which we have had with Kavasila High School for a long time. The teachers have also learned a lot about new software and new tools in the twinspace. We used a new digital camera we have won in the last year competition. Modern children have MP3 on their ears all the time, but they do not listen to folk songs. This project has shown them that folk songs are beautiful, still alive and we must protect them for our future generation. Some of the Greek songs even do not have written form. They are given to the future generation from mouth to mouth.

We mustn’t forget about competences in the project. The first is the competence to learning. Then the competence to solving problems, communictaion, social and personal. The students have learned how to work in the team. They had to respect each other and to accept the fact that we are different. They worked with a text, translated it into a foreign language, they learned to be responsible.

Curriculum:
We follow the curriculum of the subjects in the project, such as Music, foreign language and Art. The project corresponds to the educational aims and it is included in the school programme. It is the part of the project teaching together with the cross-section themes such as Europe and the world interests us, multiculture, interpersonal relations, cultural differences, ethinc origin, selfcontrol, media education, presentation of our work.

We have included the project into Music, Art, ICT, English, Geography, History.

European dimension:
This project has given a unique opportunity to get to know our friends in Greece better. We have been working with Kavasila High School for a long time and we have had more than five projects during three years. Our children could compare Christmas in both countries which was ver interesting for them. They also made their own Christmas cards which they sent to each other by snail mail. Czech students could also learn that the techical equipment of the Czech school is better and that they can use the Internet any time they want. They had to accept the fact that the Greek children are not so lucky. They started tolerating the frequency of their letters.

Inovation and creativity:

This project can be used again. Music is not the most popular subject among the teenagers. They have voice changes, they are too shy to sing and so this project can give the opportunity to all the children. Some are better at computers, some can sing well. Everybody can realize in this project themselves.

Sustainability :

We have published the project in our school web page, there is a large notice board in the school corridor about eTwinning projects. We informed about this project also during the eTwinning week in September. We are going on with our weblog, where we are collecting other material which can be used during the project.

The quality of the project:
The biggest asset is that the students have been motivated to learn music seriously, they have improved their ICT ability and they have learned how to use the software which is given to us by the European Schoolnet. The relations between the teachers and the students have changed and we are friends now. They come with their problems and they are not shy to ask for help. The strict role of the traditional teacher has disappeared. I have given some of the students administration rights in the project and I think it must be based only on absolute trust between the both sides. And we have come to this trust thanks to the eTwinning projects.

Certifikát kvality - česky

Quality Label : MUSIC HELPS US LIVE


Popis:
Název projektu: Music helps us live
Školy a země v partnerství: gymnázium Česká Lípa / The Czech Republic/ a Kavasila High School / Řecko/

Jména učitelů a koordinátorů: Mgr. Hana Homolová / hudební výchova/, Mgr. Eva Pazourková / výtvarná výchova/, Mgr. Naděžda Kadlecová/ anglický jazyk- koordinátora projektu/, na řecké straně- Katerina Mavroudi / hudební výchova/, Eleni Kostopoulou / anglický jazyk a koordinátora projektu/, učitelé výtvarné výchovy v Kavasila High School./

Odkazy na web školy: www.gym-cl.cz/ anglická sekce- activities- eTwinning programmes in our school.

Věk a počet studentů na obou stranách : 16 studentů v základních dvojicích. Věk českých studentů je 12 let. Řečtí studenti jsou ve věku 12-15 let. Dále studenti malující – věk 14 let na české straně.

Počet zapojených učitelů na české straně – hudební výchova, angličtina, výtvarná výchova, ICT- celkem 4

Plánovaná doba trvání projektu: jeden školní rok
Jazyky: anglický, doprovodné český, slovenský, řečtina

Stručný obsah projektu: Jedná se o hudební projekt, ve kterém si budou děti vyměňovat folkové písně a budou se informovat o jejich vzniku a historii. Zároveň si budou psát na další témata, aby se lépe poznaly. V hodinách výtvarné výchovy budou další děti písně ilustrovat a v hodinách anglického jazyka je budou překládat do angličtiny.

Výstupy: Finální výstup by měl být zpěvník v několika podobách. V papírové, elektronické a filmové. Na závěr školního roku děti znovu zazpívají všechny písně a tyto budou nafilmovány.

Odkazy: http:// twinspace.etwinning.net/launcher.cfm?lang=en&cid=9069
http:// et-friendship.blogspot.com
http:// twins.ceskalipa.org
www.gym-cl.cz


Využití ICT při realizaci projektu:

Na začátku si děti vyměnily introduction letter, aby se lépe seznámily. Hned po uznání projektu jsme všechny děti přihlásili do Mého týmu v twinspace. První píseň se týkala řeky a na české straně se jednalo o píseň podle osnov zpěvníku pro sedmý ročník Hluboký široký. To nás vedlo k tomu, že jsme se zároveň zabývali zeměpisnými informacemi o řekách u nás a v Řecku. O jejich významu kladných ale i záporných stránkách. Píseň jsme nazpívali dvojím způsobem. Jedním z nich bylo použití diktafonu a následně byla píseň nahrána pomocí programu EVOCA. Kvalita nebyla příliš dobrá, ale na začátek to šlo. Píseň jsme přeložili do angličtiny a zároveň jsme ji přes EVOCU pomalu namluvili česky. Dále jsme do fotogalerie v twinspace přidali noty písně s textem. Řekové pracovali na své písni o řece Potame mu stejných způsobem. Jiná skupina dětí píseň poslouchala v hodině výtvarné výchovy a namalovala k ní ilustrace pastelkou. Řecké děti malovaly svou největší řeckou řeku a i ony naskenovaly své výkresy do fotogalerie projektu v twinspacu. Další písně probíhaly podobným způsobem. Zdokonalovali jsme se v nahrávkách a děti přišly na to, že nejjednodušší bude používat MP3 přehrávač, který si jedna z kolegyň okamžitě zakoupila. Též jsme použili video z fotoaparátu Kodak, které jsme použili jako takové v Quick time Player a konvertované do Windows Movie Maker Podařilo se nám natočit video menší než 5 Mb, které jsme mohli dát jako přílohu do twinspacu. Další písně byly Pásli ovce valaši a Darmo sa ty trápíš. Naučili jsme se též hledat verze MP3 na internetu a dávat je do projektu. Nezbytné bylo naučit se obsluhovat scanner a umět obrázky zmenšovat na patřičnou velikost. Koordinátora projektu Mgr. N. Kadlecová absolvovala další kurz počítačové gramotnosti, tentokrát Multimediální techniku,, což se výborně hodilo do našeho projektu.


Výsledky a přínos

Největší přínos z hlediska studentů je používání ICT nástrojů, softwaru v twinspacu a navázání přátelských vztahů s dětmi z Řecka. I pedagogové se museli naučit nové techniky, již výše zmíněné a zároveň museli přijmout fakt, že se mohou hodně naučit přímo od dětí, což se také stalo./ orientace na internetu v oblasti hudby, používání přehrávače MP3./

V oblasti kompetencí nesmíme zapomenout na Kompetenci k učení. Nabídli jsme žákům řadu aktivačních metod, které zvýšili jejich zájem o hudební výchovu a anglický jazyk. V kompetenci k řešení problémů jsme jim dali možnost vyřešit problém nahrávání písní a i další práce v twinspacu vyžaduje, aby překonávali různé obtíže a kriticky hodnotily svou práci. Někdy je třeba práci neúspěšnou předělat.
Kompetence komunikativní- zde se děti učily pracovat s textem českým a anglických, srozumitelně mluvit a zodpovědně píseň zazpívat.
V kompetenci sociální a personální se děti učily pracovat v týmu, uznávat jeden druhého, přijmout fakt, že ne každý může dělat vše. / např. Matěj hrál na housle a všichni jej povzbuzovali, i když se mu to třeba na po prve nepodařilo/ Pro mě jako koordinátoru má projekt veliký přínos zejména ve vzájemném vztahu s mými žáky.


Začlenění do učebního plánu:

Při tvorbě projektu jsme vycházeli z učebného plánu hudební výchovy pro sedmý ročník. Výtvarná část projektu též vychází z osnov pro základní školu, které lze modifikovat podle potřeby. V anglickém jazyce jsme se drželi plánu konverzace a překlady písní jsme brali jako práci s textem a překlad, což je nedílnou součástí každého ročníku.
Projekt koresponduje se vzdělávacími cíli, jak už bylo řečeno a též se vzdělávacím programem školy, do něhož je začleněno projektové vyučování v průřezových tématech školy. Například Evropa a svět nás zajímá, multikulturalita, sebekontrola a mezilidské vztahy, kulturní diference a etnický původ, sebepoznání a seberegulace a mediální výchova- presentace našich výsledků a práce ve fóru twinspacu.

Projekt se nám podařilo začlenit do hudební výchovy, výtvarné výchovy, angličtiny, výpočetní techniky a do zeměpisu a dějepisu.

Evropské dimenze:
Projekt je už od své podstaty jedinečnou příležitostí, jak dětem přiblížit jižní Evropu a řecký národ, který mnozí znají jen z turistických míst, když v létě s rodiči navštíví Řecko. Protože s řeckou školou Kavasila High school spolupracujeme od úplného počátku eTwinningu a již několikrát jsme byli úspěšní, i starší projekty nám slouží k tomu, abychom dětem Řecko přiblížili. Jako příklad vysvětlení multikulturality nám posloužily vánoční svátky, které jsou tak rozdílné v Řecku, že se děti nestačily divit. Využili jsme těchto svátků k tomu, že jsme si vyměnili vánoční videa a přání do nového roku.
Co se týká evropské problematiky, naše děti si uvědomily, že technické vybavení naší školy je na špičkové úrovni a že jejich možnost účastnit se různých projektů po internetu je daleko jednodušší než pro jejich řecké kamarády. Musely přijmout tento fakt a tolerovat frekvenci dopisů z řecké strany.


Inovace a kreativita

Myslím si, že tento projekt je v každém případě znovu použitelný a bylo by velice zajímavé pokusit se jej příští rok realizovat s jinou zemí. Projekt považuji za inovativní z toho důvodu, že hudební výchova v sedmé třídě nepatří mezi nejoblíbenější předměty. Mnoho dětí se stydí zpívat, lidové písně neuznávají, objektem jejich zájmu jsou zcela jiné skladby, které poslouchají ze svých MP3 celé hodiny. Studenti, kteří se účastní tohoto projektu získali zcela jiný vztah k vybraným písním. Velice zodpovědně přistupovali k jejich nácviku a prožili spoustu legrace při jejich překladu do angličtiny. Též natočené video vzbudilo jejich zájem a tak danou píseň slyšeli mnohem častěji, než při tradiční výuce. Mohli se též uplatnit žáci, kteří hrají na hudební nástroj. V našem případě to byla zobcová flétna a housle.


Udržitelnost

Do projektu byli zapojeni žáci tercie B, kteří ilustrují naše vybrané písně a samozřejmě je projekt zajímá, takže jsou průběžně informováni. Další učitelé- výtvarná výchova a ICT.
Projektu jsme zajistili publicitu na školním webu, na hlavní chodbě školy je umístěna nástěnka, která průběžně informuje o všech projektech, které ve škole běží. V září, během eTwinningového týdne, byli všichni ve škole informování o probíhajících projektech. Další publicita probíhá na stránkách blogu, který píšeme společně s dalšími učiteli, kteří spolupracují na projektech.


Celková kvalita

Za největší přínos projektu považuji motivaci žáků, jejich zdokonalení v používání softwaru twinspacu. Vzájemný vztah mezi žáky a pedagogy, kteří na projektu pracují. To, že děti nezneužívají přátelského vztahu, ale na druhé straně se nebojí svěřit se svými problémy a mezi námi vznikly velice komunikativní demokratické vztahy. Došlo k velice pevné důvěře, která se projevila tím, že jsem musela dětem změnit práva používání twinspacu z uživatele na administrátory. Došlo k tomu po té, co jim bylo znemožněno přidávat příspěvky do fotogalerie a do hudební složky. Děti se zavázaly, že svých nových práv nezneužijí aže budou pracovat pouze na dohodnutých tématech.

The Greek students are singing in Czech

Czech children are singing in Greek

The Greek song for us

Fourteen nightingales

FOURTEEN NIGHTINGALES
Fourteen nightingales ,I will send to your yard
To sing, to sing every morning ,
so your enemies will be green with jealousy .
Oh my honey, my sweetheart
Made from honey .
You poisoned me, you gave me venom.

ΑΗΔΟΝΙΑ ΔΕΚΑΤΕΣΣΕΡΑ
Αηδόνια , αηδόνια δεκατέσσερα
Αηδόνια δεκατέσσερα
Θα στείλω στην αυλή σου
Να κελαηδούν, να κελαηδούν κάθε πρωϊ
Να κελαηδούν κάθε πρωϊ
Να σκάσουν οι εχθροί σου
Ζαχαροζυμωμένη μου,
Ζαχαροζυμωμένη μου με μέλι, με γλυκάδα
Φαρμάκι με, φαρμάκι με επότισες
Φαρμάκι με επότισες
Αυτή την εβδομάδα

AIDONIA DEKATESSERA
Aidonia de-, aidonia dekatessera
Aidonia dekatessera
Tha stilo stin avli sou
Na kelaidoun, na kelaidoun kathe proi
Na kelaidoun kathe proi
Na skasoun e exthri sou
Zacharo, zacharozimomeni mou
Zacharozimomeni mou
Me meli, me glikada
Farmaki me, farmaki me epotises
Farmaki me epotises
Afti tin evdomada

Singing the song for our friends

Learning the song Darmo se ty trápíš

Darmo sa ty trápíš- Čechomor

You are vainly worried


1. You are vainly worried
My dear little son
I am not carrying your name in my heart.

I will not be yours
Not only for one hour.

2. What do you think about yourself ?
You are my dear lovely heart.

You must be mine
because you have been given to me by the Lord.

3. I will become a little squirrel
And I will jump from an oak to a fir.

I will not be yours
Not only for one hour.


4. And I have a special axe at home
I will chop down the oak and the fir.


You must be mine
because you have been given to me by the Lord.

5. I will become a little fish
And I will swim away from you on the River Danube.

I will not be yours
Not only for one hour.

6. And I am keeping a special fishing rod at home
And I can catch any fish.


You must be mine
because you have been given to me by the Lord.

7. And I will become a crow
And I will fly away from you to The Hungarian side.

I will not be yours
Not only for one hour.


8. And I am keeping a special crossbow at home
Which will shoot away a soul from all the crows.

You must be mine
because you have been given to me by the Lord.



9. And I will become a little star in the sky
And I will shine for the people in the sky.

I will not be yours
Not only for one hour


10. And there are such astronomers in our home
Who can count all the stars in the sky.


You must be mine
because you have been given to me by the Lord.




All the odd parts are sang by a girl { 1, 3, 5, 7, 9}
All the even parts are sung by a young man. { 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 }

It is a dialogue between two lovers. It is quite popular in many for the Czech, Moravian or Slovak folk songs.

Christmas song from The Czech students

Povalasky od země Folk song from Moravia

In Valachians from the ground
Who will chase away my goats.
I would have chased them away
But I was afraid of a wolf.
Oh, Lord, my shepherd
You’ll get skin and I’ll get fat.
The skin is for your bagpipes. The fat is for my teeth.
Oh, goat, goat
Give us cheese, farmer’s wife
If you don’t give us cheese
You will bring up Weak boys.

The Greek River song Potame

Greek River song


The river song ( by the greek students )

It is a greek traditional song , typical of the Drama prefecture. Drama is a city in eastern Macedonia
The lyrics of the river song ( by greek students)

( English version)

Oh my river , my river ,
Oh my lovely river when you overflow and become wild,

Carry me away, my sweet river,
travel me away on your waves , on your windings!

( greek version )

Ποταμέ, τζάνε, ποταμέ μου,
Ποταμέ, ποταμέ μου όταν γεμίζεις και βαρείς και κυματίζεις

Πάρε με τζάνε ποταμέ μου
Πάρε με ,πάρε με στα κύματά σου , στα βεργο-γυρίσματά σου.

( greeklish )

potame, tzane, potame mou
potame, potame mou otan gemizeis kai vareis kai kymatizeis

pare me tzane potame mou
pare me sta kymata sou, sta vergo-girismata sou.

Here is the meaning of some words:

Potame=river, tzane=sweet , lovely, mou=my
Kymata =waves, vergo-girismata=windings

Siroky hluboky

Students are singing the song. It was quite difficult for them but the result was rewarding. We used podcast web page Podomatic.com. Here is the link

http://twinner.podomatic.com/

The River song- Siroky hluboky-translation



Wide and deep Wide and deep,
the Vltava pools
I had a maiden, I had a maiden
Now my heart is ill
I had a maiden I had her for two years
They took her away, they took her away
My love has finished.

The voice of the first song- lyrics

Greek children in the library




These are the Greek children from our project who often meet in the library where they can use computers and it is the centre of education in their school.

25March 1821,The Independence Day of Greece



March 25, the Independence Day in Greece
March 25 is celebrated brilliantly,all over Greece. For Greeks it is a very important holiday. It is both a national (revolution against the Turks) and religious holiday (Annunciation).On this day in the Orthodox calendar , the archangel Gabriel appeared to the maiden Mary and announced the news:she was pregnant with the divine child.
There are school flag parades in every village, town, and armed forces parades in all cities. On 24 March celebrations are held at all schools .The students sing songs about freedom, dance greek dances wearing traditional costumes.The schools are decorated with greek flags and the posters of the heroes, that fought during that independence war, are hung on the walls.
The Byzantine Empire fell to the Turks in 1453 and the Greeks remained under the Ottoman rule for nearly 400 years. During this time their language, their religion and their sense of identity remained strong.
On March 25, 1821 the bishop Germanos of Patras raised the Greek flag at the Monastery of Agia Lavra in Peloponnese and one more revolution started against the Turks.He chose this day to deliver a different but not unrealed message: a new spirit was about to be born in Greek History of Greek Independence Day. The people of Greece shouted "Freedom or Death"and they fought the War of Independence for 9 years (1821-1829) until a small part of modern Greece was finally liberated and it was declared an independent nation.
The struggle for the liberation of all the lands, inhabited by Greeks, continued. In 1864, the Ionian islands were added to Greece; in 1881 parts of Epirus and Thessaly. Crete, the islands of the Eastern Aegean and Macedonia were added in 1913 and Western Thrace in 1919. After World War II the Dodecanese islands were also returned to Greece.

posted by Kostopoulou Eleni at 20.3.06

Masopust

Carnival time


It is the end of the Carnival time in Greece and we can only envy our friends that they are able to enjoy the time together , they are able to follow old traditions. In our country only in some villages people put on some funny clothes and they go carroling. We call this time Masopust, it is the time when people used to have feast, ate a lot of meat, sweets and other things and then the time of fast came. Now the people in the Czech Republic have no time to celebrate this festival in towns. So you can see the masks still only in villages . In South Bohemia they wear tall hats with roses. There are three hundred and sixty-five roses as the number of the days in one year. There is also a wreath on the top as the wreath on Jesus's head. There are ribbons, red and blue, as the blood in our body and there are five big roses as five wounds on Jesus' s body. I like this idea and I am glad that some people find time to introduce old traditions to the young generation. We have to wait for Easter.
We are lucky that we celebrate Easter not only in villages but everywhere in the country and it is the time when people meet relatives and stop their hectic life for a while.

posted by Naďa Kadlecová at 9.3.06 |

Apokries

3.08.2006
APOKRIES-----a greek festival

CARNIVAL TIME IN GREECE OR “APOKRIES”
Apokries or carnival is a period of fun ,dancing and singing for greeks. Apokries means stop eating meat , as the word carnival means.It is one of the most popular feasts in our country.It is connected with good time and fancy dressing.
The roots of this feast can be found in ancient Greece,in god Dionyssos’ worship.
Dionyssos was one of the twelve ancient greek gods.He was considered as the god of fetility.The ancient greeks honoured him in spring with float parades.Dancers and singers followed the floats,singing satyric songs. The dressing up was done to take in the bad winter spirits that keep the earth dead and let her blossom.
The same parades take place nowadays all over Greece, the last Sunday before Fast begins. They mean the start of spring.
There are a lot of traditions and customs all over Greece.On the last Sunday of Apokries people put on fires in open places ,dance and sing traditional songs around it.This has the meaning of purification and catharsis before Fast.During the last week of Apokries (just before Fast)people eat mainly dairy products and eggs.The second week before Fast they eat mainly meat.On Thursday of this “ meat week”, everybody goes out to have fun( lots of them are fancy dressed) and eat at restaurants .It is a special day for us.
The big day is Sunday before Fast.In the evening we visit parents ,grandparents,relatives to ask for forgiveness and apologise if we had a row with any of them.We have to kiss the hands of the elderly .In this way we show respect.The children get money that night. Also, in the villages grandma has a hard boiled egg and when her grandchildren visit her she does the following custom.She ties the egg with a thread on the edge of a stick.The children have their hands behind their back.They are on a line. She touches their mouths with egg once each round.The one who will bite The egg will get money to buy sweets I t is very funny and the adults want to do it with their parents.Biting the egg symbolizes the close of the mouth that will open again At Easter.
At school parties are held the last three hours of Friday before the carnival holidays.

The first day of Fast is also a holiday for us.We go to the countryside and we fly the kite.Even the Prime minister does the flying in Athens.This custom symbolizes the coming of th e spring.The kites are the herald of spring. These are some of the customs and traditions we have durimg carnival time in our area.

posted by Kostopoulou Eleni at 8.3.06

Precious eTwinning collaboration and friendship


In November 2004, I met Nada Kadlecova on the European schoolnet.We started exchanging letters and agreed to begin an etwinning project,which was a completely new and ambitious European programme.

Very soon ,our headmasters ,our students and some colleagues got involved in it, very successfully.The results of this etwinning collaboration are many and various.Not only for us personally, but for the whole school community ,as well.

My students were very curious ,in the beginning, to correspond with the Czech students.So far, they have learnt a lot about the other European country and go on learning about it and about the life there.They realized that there are diffrerences but similarities, as well, between the two countries.The etwinning programme gave them the opportunity to come in contact with other ways of thinking and other habits.They have been motivated, on a high level, to study English,so to write and speak English well.Also,they started using computers more often and became more aware of these tools.Recently ,we have usedforum as ameans of expressing their ideas on topics set by my partner.They got enthusiastic with the whole idea and they would like to use it more often,although there are technical problems at school,a lot of times.

I,myself,took up computing lessons to be able to use ICT tools better than I could do.Definitely ,I got improved a lot and still, I do.Communicating with my etwin sister,Nada, through ICT tools,I became familiar with Czech culture, educational system and everyday life.

We have, so far, sent each other photographs of us ,of the students,of the etwinned colleagues and of the school building ,too. So ,all this etwin dream has got a part of reality.The persons of the partner school,Gymnasium of Ceska Lipa, have got flesh and bones.The eagerness, to go on cooperating with them, became a desire to continue and to meet them one day!!!!!!at our school or at theirs!!!!!!!!!
Absolutely, I consider myself very lucky being involved in the etwinning project with my skillful czech partner.As the time goes on my students ask more and more ,to come in contact with their Czech schoolmates and this is the biggest reward for me. Their happy smiling faces when they read the letters. The greek colleagues are getting and getting more curious to know how things are in the etwin partner school.

I strongly believe that it is worthwhile going on it,as long as it depends on us.
Etwinning was and still is a challenge to me.It led me to new educational paths and it keeps on leading me, with the continuous help of my partner, to a personal and professional development

posted by Kostopoulou Eleni at 7.3.06 |