IN THE PERIOD 2011-2013 OUR SCHOOL WORKS OVER PROJECT OF LIFELONG LEARNING PROGRAMME “COMENIUS”– MULTILATERAL SCHOOL PARTNERSHIPS:

PROJECT 1 “Euro Town”

Participants: Turkey, Poland, Italy, United Kingdom, Bulgaria, France
This project consists of the works of students from seven countries across Europe in order to learn about each others' cultures and historical and architectural aspects of countries. The students' aim is to create a town in which all partner countries' important and historical monuments and buildings are included. Students will prepare materials by themselves and that's why the other countries' students will be able to get the chance of designing 3D Models of the buildings and places each country has. Mother tongue and foreign language will be used by sharing and comparing those historical buildings, by preparing voice recordings and creating the EuroTown. In the beginning of the first year, students will send a cultural box to all partners, which contains traditional, informational or typical things representing their own local and cultural styles of life. By doing so, the students and partner schools will know each other well. In each school, these boxes are presented to the students by making a Comenius day. As a second activity, students decide on which monuments and buildings will be used and find information and photos about those buildings. Later, they make a Brochure for each partner school and send them to each other. In this way, the partner schools' students will know about the historical buildings of other countries. Third activity is about making recordings about those buildings with students' voices. In the second year students will be taken a tour to prepare a working material for partner schools. They'll send the photos and video recordings as the fourth activity. Fifth activity is to create the 3D Models of the partner schools' buildings. At the end of the project an exhibition of all the project work will be got together and there'll come out EuroTown.

RATIONALE
The schools' aim is to improve the European dimension in education by cooperative work between European countries, to give students the chance of making creative works as well as knowing other cultures and especially working on other cultures. We would like to raise the consciousness of internationalism and awareness for global sharing through contacts with other countries. By the means of cooperative working style with the schools abroad, the students will have a new perspective about life as well as their own sense of cultural identity. By studying on the historical and important monuments and architectures of human made, they are going to get the opportunity for seeing the similarities and differences between European countries in the past and today. Besides, by realizing the architectural values in the European environment, students will develop a sense of willingness to protect European cultural environment. The project becomes the starting point to raise the interest and the curiosity about history and monuments of all the rest of Europe. Students gain an insight of artistic look on the structures by dealing with those brilliant architectures as well as improving their competence in science and technology and mathematics since it is needed to make some calculations for modeling. Students will get a global way of thinking through inter-cultural dialogue and works.

EUROPEAN ADDED VALUE We aim for students to develop a perception of European cultures from a different perspective. Children and adults will achieve an awareness of their own cultural identity and they will recognize the dimensions of other European civilizations by studying on their historical and valuable buildings and monuments that they once established. That effective cooperation will reveal cultural differences, or maybe similarities, between European countries by learning their life conditions by the means of the architectures that they have lived in.

PROJECT ACTIVITIES: http://www.euro-town.com

IN THE PERIOD 2009-2011 OUR SCHOOL WORKS OVER FOUR PROJECTS OF LIFELONG LEARNING PROGRAMME “COMENIUS”– MULTILATERAL SCHOOL PARTNERSHIPS:

PROJECT 2: The art - way of communication
NUMBER:
COUNTRIES: BULGARIA, TURKEY, ROMANIA

Overall aims of the Project:
1. To support and develop the artistic and other forms of children’s creativity;
2. To create an environment in which young people acquire basic skills for self-expression in life;
3. To promote international cultural diversity as a tool for creativity and innovation;
4. To promote the use of information and communication technologies as a means of creative expression;
5. To establish an international collaboration and exchange of experience between cultures of different European countries;

Specific aims of the project:
1. To create connections with one’s home country, national identity and others countries;
2. To maintain and spread regional and national traditions and through them to establish connection with traditions of different European countries;
3. To educate on the history, culture, advantages of natural environment and industrial development;
4. To encourage participation in traditions, which strengthens international ties of friendship; to give the opportunity to participate in cultural events;
5. To offer the opportunity to get to know other nationalities through trips, performances and concerts in collaboration with schools of participating countries. This could be a real benefit to under-privileged children in village schools;
6. To get students interested in their community environment;
7. To get to know a variety of countries and areas; to learn about local, national and international customs and traditions, especially the culture of the places where pupils live in order to reinforce their knowledge and to exchange it between the partners;
8. To make students proud of their national traditions and tolerant to the other nationalities regardless of ethnicity and religion, to learn to distinguish and interpret custom’s characteristic to all countries;
9. To stimulate students’ creativity and innovation by looking for and gathering material and organizing some artistic events by themselves;
10. To increase the motivation to learn foreign languages; to improve teachers’ and students’ language skills;
11. To establish cooperation, relationships and friendships between pupils and teachers of cooperating schools; to develop pro-European and intercultural points of view;
12. To improve ICT (Information and Communication Technology) skills of pupils and teachers; to put European standards into practice in everyday school life.

PROJECT ACTIVITIES: click here

PROJECT 3: Local and national symbols foster European friendship
NUMBER:
COUNTRIES: POLAND, SPAIN, TURKEY, ITALY, BULGARIA, GREECE, UNITED KIGDOM-WALES, ROMANIA

Overall aims of the Project:
1. To create patriotic attitudes that help one to discover national and cultural identity
2. To learn to live in society; influence on connections between people and their home country;
3. To instruct the younger generation on how to get along, behave and live in a developing society. This phenomenon (creating patriotic attitudes) is a universal value. It can be developed step by step through educational activities. The fact is that no one is born a patriot.

Specific aims of the project:
1. To offer the opportunity to get to know other nationalities through trips and performances. This could be a real benefit to under-privileged children in village schools;
2. To get students interested in their community environment;
3. To get to know a variety of countries and areas;
4. To learn about local and national symbols, customs and traditions, especially the culture of the places where pupils live in order to reinforce their knowledge;
5. To make students proud of their national traditions;
6. To learn about the local and national symbols, customs, traditions and culture of collaborating/participating countries;
7. To learn to distinguish and interpret symbols characteristic to all countries;
8. To promote tolerance and respect for other nationalities;
9. To stimulate students’ creativity by looking for and gathering material and organizing some artistic events by themselves;
10. To increase the motivation to learn foreign languages;
11. To improve teachers’ and students’ language skills;
12. To establish cooperation, relationships and friendships between pupils and teachers of cooperating schools;
13. To promote cooperation and friendship between schools in different countries;
14. To develop pro-European and intercultural points of view;
15. To improve ICT (Information and Communication Technology) skills of pupils and teachers;
16. To put European standards into practice in everyday school life.

PROJECT 4: Rhythm of life
NUMBER:
COUNTRIES: HUNGARY, ROMANIA, BULGARIA, POLAND

Аims of the project:
1. Pupils will know live situation (home, school …) of others partners and compare it with their own environment so that will initiate understanding for other people;
2. Pupils of partners’ schools will learn, how festivals are for them common and different, and how partners celebrate them, in order to recognize and respect cultural differences;
3. Pupils will deepen the knowledge of their own cultural heritage.
4. Pupils will get to know and compare with partners what every household adapts according to the four seasons;
5. Pupils will know climate of the partner countries;
6. Pupils will get to know ecological source of energy in households;
7. Pupils will find out and compare their information about what clothes are used in each country during the four seasons;
8. Pupils will learn about nutrition in daily life and traditional dishes;
9. Pupils will get to know a folklore of each partner;
10. Pupils will analyse and supply documentary evidence objectively through assignments and activities.

PROJECT 5: Improving key competence through stories and legends
NUMBER:
COUNTRIES: SPAIN, ITALY, BULGARIA, POLAND, UNITED KINGDOM-ENGLAND, WALES, SCOTLAND, TURKEY, ROMANIA

AIMS OF THE PROJECT:
1. Develop basic skills in our students to improve key competence, such as: language, social competence and citizenship, digital competence, learning to learn, cultural and artistic independence and personal initiative. Knowledge and interaction with the physical world (through telling stories and legends)
2. Through stories and activities children will appreciate their strengths and weacknesses. Approach the Language in a practical way through stories and legends.
3. Use information technology to present our own culture (power point presentations) Develop different attitudes to work and so increase their responsibility, initiative and confidence, teaching them to be more independent.
4. Carrying out activities, taking advantage of the available opportunities to enrich our future life.
5. Develop social skills of tolerance and respect towards other cultures . Competence in the cultural and artistic fields.
6. Development of artistic expression and meaning through gesture and expression through representation or repetition of dialogue or through the foreign language communication in the classroom.
7. Develop the competence to learn from mistakes, recognize achievements, mark targets, be aware of the strategies used. Encourage the children to express in the foreign language accepting their mistakes as a positive aspect of their learning process.

Learning another language not only involves acquiring linguistic content but also serves as a tool to approach other aspects of life and knowledg. Using different themes as points of interest as in our case (stories and legends) which help the children to learn and to improve their key competence in a ludic way.
• Create playful activities for children based on the stories worked in the classroom.
• Develop the self confidence by acting out and role plays related to the stories practised in the classroom

PROJECT ACTIVITIES: click here