In the meeting took part 8 participants from Poland,9 from Romania and 13 from Turkey. Each team prepared presentations about their schools and their system of education.This enabled new participants to get to know each other better.The Bulgarian team also prepared a presentation of their country and region.Instead of school presentation,they gave guests a tour of their school.Participants brought their photo stories on the topic “My Europe”.They attended workshops on photo editing and weree assigned tasks in multicultural teams.
The host school included in the agenda sightseeing tours,cultural events and social events that boosted the socio-cultural characteristic of the meeting.Many tudents stayed in host families and were encouraged to spend their time with hosts,getting to know each other better.On one of the week’s days,host and guest students attended regular classes,so that the guests got a feel of the way in which the educational process occurs on a normal basis in their host country.
Teachers attended meetings after classes and during students’ workshops, so as to discuss the progress of the project,analyse the activities and provide feedback to the host school members.They also attended a meeting with local authorities to discuss the project, aspects related to education in Bulgaria,
ACTIVITIES:
1st Day–opening ceremony; tour of host school, presentations of country and region, presentations of partner schools and systems of education and; meeting with participants to communicate the week’s schedule and objectives.
2nd Day-guest students attended classes with their hosts; teachers also visited some classes; team building workshop; presentation of students’ photo stories
3rd Day–Photography workshop 1;Application of workshop;evaluation of the products;
4th Day–Photography workshop 2;Application of workshop;evaluation of the products teachers' meeting
5th Day-Cultural visits, Kahoot games and social events
6th Day–Evaluation and certification.International Photo Contest;Participants answered questionnaires and gave feedback;teachers drew conclusions of the event.Social event in the evening.
RESULTS:presentations,photo stories,students’ multicultural team photos,workshop materials,personalised stationery,teachers’ meeting minutes,evaluation instruments,feedback forms,certificates, Europasses.Other results refer to students’ and teachers’ acquisitions and improved skills,intercultural awareness, increased self-confidence etc.
Activities took place during regular working hours in the school.They didn’t exceed the maximum time that students normally spend at school.
Cultural events,sightseeing tours etc.were held after the school finished.Workshops and project-related presentations and meetings were combined with regular class attendance.
This meeting was integrated with the normal activities with:
* including opportunities for student reflection
* learning from experimentations
We combined the physical activities with activities on the eTwinning platform as follows:
- all the school presentations were uploaded on the platform and displayed during the meeting;
- the activity on Creating an International Photo Album "My Europe" started on the eTwinning platform; all participants and members of the project team from each school logged in platform and accessed a special folder where they added some photos; the final version of an album was attached on eTwinning;
- after all activities, all students (both attending the meeting and from partner schools) logedg in and participated in a competition on the topic –“Editing photos”; there was a special file with questions and each student had to give answers; the winning students received a special prize;
- the results created during the meeting (presentations, photo stories, students’ multicultural team photos, workshop materials) are uploaded on a special file on the eTwinning platform; also, participants wrote few sentences about the mobility on the special "guestbook" section, emphasizing
on what they enjoyed the most and what could be improved for future meetings.
In terms of benefits, we achieved:
- the creation of an attractive learning environment;
• the promotion of interdisciplinarity;
• the diversification of learning methods by using ICT;
• the development of tolerance and intercultural communication;
• the development of respect, creativity and flexibility;
• the development of the ability to solve problems;
As a result of their participation, students became more motivated and enthusiastic about the project and the partnership. They are more aware of their own identity and the cultural characteristics of Bulgaria. Since they spoke mainly in English, they also improved conversational skills, became more communicative and sociable.
