First Comenius meeting in Duisburg,Germany

(3 to 7 December 2005)

The first international Comenius meeting took place in Duisburg, Germany between the 3rd and 7th December. There were two representatives from each country who were accompanied by the Mascots. During the visit we exchanged Diaries of the mascots that show how the children spend their day at school. We also exchanged children's work in arts, craft and free writing.  Each school had prepared matching games so the children learn to associate mascot and country.

The mascots accompanied us in the classes and the children interacted with them. We also took them with us on all excursions. Their passports were symbolically stamped by Ms Ursula Swultke, head of the school. A PowerPoint presentation of Finu and his friends in Germany was prepared by the Project coordinator and sent to all partner schools. Our children were enthusiastic because through Finu they shared the experience virtually.

From Germany each mascot did not return home but was taken to another country to stay there till the end of January. The mascots were sent back home by snail mail to their respective schools. Through digital pictures and PowerPoint Presentations the children could share the experience oftheir mascot in another country.

Together at the Concert

Second Comenius Meeting in Sibiu Romania

25 - 29 March 2006

The second International meeting took place in Sibiu, Romania, between 25th and 30th March.

The host school Gradinita nr 5 is a Kindergarten catering for 3 to 7 year olds who attend school from 6.30am to 5.30pm.Teachers work on a shift basis and the school provides the necessary personnel, including a medical team, for its smooth running. . The children are served a warm healthy meat daily. The spacious classrooms become dormitories for the afternoon nap

The children are taught in their home language but parents choose a second language, English or German, for their children. The children are then streamed according to the language chosen and are known as the English and the German Classes. There are language teachers who take the children for lessons twice a week.

The host country prepared an interesting schedule for us. The six mascots accompanied us in the classrooms and on all the excursions. The differences and similarities are passed on to our pupils through the many digital pictures of Finu with his friends and through the PowerPoint Presentation of Finu’s Adventure in Romania. From Romania. The Mascots again visited a second country where they stayed till the end of May. 

Next year the theme of the project will be Celebrations. We will share common celebrations like Christmas and the different customs of each country. We will also deal with traditional feasts.

During our first year of the project the children have interacted so well with the mascots and   they speak abouttheir mascots as their ‘friends’. The mascots make the project very child friendly and have helped us reach our objective of making our children aware of the life of their peers in different countries.

 

The Kindergarten Gradinita Nr 5, Sibiu, Romania

Third Comenius Meeting in Malta.

8th - 13th December 2006

It was the turn of Fgura Primary School to host the third International Comenius Meeting. Three partners from Germany, five from Romania, two from Poland and two from England, accompanied by their mascots attended the meeting. Our partners from the Canary Islands could not make it and so they were represented by Canario, their mascot.

The visitors were given a very warm welcome by the staff, parents and children of Fgura Primary A school. This is quite a big school with 15 primary Classes, 11 Kindergarten classes and a school population of about 500 pupils. The partners and macots visited all the classes and also had the opportunity to see lessons using eBooks and the Phonics methodology. They exchanged views of learning and teaching practices in their respective schools.

During a lively concert organised by the school the partners had the opportunity to meet all the staff, pupils, school council and representatives of parents. There were loud cheers by the children as the mascots with their teachers went upon the stage. It was here that the children got to know to which country each mascot was going from Malta.

After school and during the weekend everybody visited many beautiful places in Malta. We visited Valletta, the capital city of Malta and Imdina the old capital city of Malta. We visited historical places and also sandy and rocky beaches. On Sunday we went by ferry boat to Gozo. It was such a beautiful and sunny day!  

During the meeting we exchanged many presents and also the diaries and PowerPoint Presentations of the mascots'adventures. We also got a beautiul Calendar which has pictures done by children from each school.

We also held a video conference withour friend Rosi from the Canary Islands as she could not come to Malta. We were  very happy to see her using the webcam.

We evaluated the work done up to now and discussed what activities we intend to do next.

We will be meeting again in England in April.

         Comenius meeting in Forest of Teesdale,

                        21 to 26 April

The partners of the Comenius Project â€ŢSo different yet so similar” were the guests of Forest of Teesdale Primary School in the last week of April.

Forest of Teesdale Primary school is the smallest partner school. It is just a small white cottage surrounded by beautiful scenery and scattered farmhouses. It caters for only fourteen children aged 5 to 10, who come from the surrounding farms.

All the staff, parents and children gave the guests a warm welcome. In a special assembly, the children sang many action songs. The children were then grouped so that they could meet the visitors of each country separately. They put us many questions about our school, children and countries.

We showed the children PowerPoint Presentations on the way we celebrate The Blessing of the animals on the feast of St Anthony Abbot, Carnival, Good Friday and Easter. The children were presented with charts, drawings, cards and other crafts which children from our school had done for their English friends. We also took "figolli' and 'Kwarezimal'. A DVD on Carnival celebrated at school and on national level was also given to each partner school. On the other hand we brought back DVDs, CDs and other crafts, drawings and write ups from each partner school with information on how they celebrate these feasts intheir country.

Although Forest of Teesdale Primary school is such a small one, it is participating in several International projects. In fact presently, together with a number of schools in the area, it is participating in a project with Schools from Africa. Ms Stacey, a teacher in the school, has already visited Kenya and in the school there is an exhibition of Zulu Art. During our stay we had the opportunity to attend a performance in Woodland Primary School given by The Lions of Zululand who come from Africa. After the performance the children participated in workshops for singing, dancing, drawing and Zulu language.

As Forest of Teesdale is such a small school and all the partners at one go would have outnumbered the children, Ms Claire Baldacchino and Ms Mary Vassallo, teachers from Malta visited Forest of Teesdale in March. They had a good experience of seeing how such a small school is run effectively. They took with them work, write ups and drawings that children in their classes had prepared for their English peers. Finu, our mascot, had been in Teesdale since December and so they brought him back to Malta with them.

The second year of our project has dealt with the same festivities celebrated with different traditions in the six partner schools. Through the adventures of the mascots, the children have shared and gained knowledge with their peers in the five partner schools.

Meeting in Poland
1 to 5 Decmber 2007
The first meeting for this year was in Pawlowice, Poland. We exchanged resources, evaluated the project and planned for the meeting to take place in Malta in the beginning of June.
The Polish children, staff and authorities gave us a big welcome and organised a very interesting programme fo us. Miner's day celebration was an activity we really enjoyed.   Just have a look at: Our Visit to Pawlowice

Last Meeting in Malta

31 May to 4 June 2008

We meet in Malta for the last time. The meeting was a successful one. The coordinators exchanged all the videos and the diaries they had prepared for the last meeting.

Although the project came to an end we all have all decided to keep in contact because we have become a very good team. The sharing of ideas and experiences has enriched us personally and professionally.

We have given our chidren the opportunity to get to know friends from different countries.This was done in a very child friendly way through PowerPoint presentations, videos, our mascots' diaries and other activities done together.

Just have a look at some pictures that show us together in Malta.

Memories of our visit

Last modified - 2008-07-15 05:57:27