My Turkish Diary (by Giada)

On March, the 15th, a wonderful experience started for me: the trip to Turkey!
The Comenius project allowed Joara, Alessio, Maria, Davide, Davide , Edoardo, and me to take part in this cultural exchange for one week.
The trip started from the airport of Florence, we had to take the airplane, it was my first time that I took the airplane and I was really afraid! Really, while I was climbing the stairs, I would have liked to get away from that place! But I couldn’t…the hostess led me to my seat and later, after 10 minutes, finally we took off to Zurich.
During the departure I was seated between the teacher Girlanda and Joara, but I saw very well what was happening out of the airplane! We were going very fast, and when the plane stood up from the ground I took the hand of Joara; and, yes, I think she was hurting ‘cause I was grasping her very strong XD
Arrived in Zurich, I was the happiest person in the world ‘cause finally I got out from that terrific plane! Later we took the second flight to Istanbul, and that was terrific too!
Arrived in Istanbul I met the girl that had to host me during the week, her name was Cansu and she was 18, she was a very nice girl, it has been easy to meet her because I knew her by the Internet, on Messenger.
When I met Cansu’s family I understood that it was really a united family, they were very welcoming and nice, there was always a nice athmosphere in her house.
With the other guys of the project there was a good friendship too, because we got on well together.
It has been a beautiful experience because I learnt a lot of things about the Turkish culture and I saw a lot of mosques, very beautiful mosques, and the most important thing is that I improved my English!
My stay there taught me that people from all over the world can enjoy themselves together and spend time in a funny way.

Our Turkish Team

Alessio's Diary of his stay in Gelibolu

Last week we went to Turkey, in Gelibolu… It was a beautiful week. The departure was from Florence Airport at 7.40 to Zurich… At about 9.30 we left and when we arrived at Zurich Airport we took another flight. I enjoyed it, except for the food which wasn’t very good.
When we arrived at Istanbul, we took the bus to go to our Turkish friends’ houses…
Once we got there, I met the parents. They were very friendly!! After the dinner we went to sleep.
I had a good night! The following day we went to school, like the next days, at 7 am. We listened to the presentation of the results of our questionnaire. We showed the pizza recipe, and the presentation of our house and our family. We listened to the presentations of the students of the other countries too. There were 9 countries: Italy, Turkey, Czech Republic, Poland, Lithuania, Germany, Greece, Romania, Portugal. The guys from these countries were very friendly. I loved them, especially the Greek and Lithuanian girls, who the other Italian students liked too. The following days we visited some mosques, and on Thursday we went to Troy, to see the ruins and the horse. It was very beautiful! We visited Troy, we came back and we went, like the other evenings, to a pub. The following day, we went to Istanbul, at the hotel, and we slept all together, in the same room. On Saturday morning we went to visit some monuments, museums, and Constantine’s house. In the evening we visited a big bazaar, where I bought a nargile, a traditional Turkish water pipe, and on Sunday morning, we took the plane and finally we went back home!

What are we doing in Gelibolu?

15-22 March 2009

Sunday 15th

Transfer by bus from the İstanbul Atatürk Airport to Gelibolu (arrival at about 10 pm)

Monday 16th

At 09:00 school presentation and exhibition of photos that the students have brought. After lunch visit of Gelibolu (a visit to the education administration of Gelibolu and governor of Gelibolu- maybe a visit to the Major of Gelibolu, too). In the evening at the hotel there will be a welcome meal with live Turkish music.

Tuesday 17th

A visit to the 1st World War Battlefields around the Gallipoli peninsula.

Wednesday 18th

A full day visit to the ancient Troy and Çanakkale across the sea - in the Asian continent. Visit of the Çanakkale Province. According to the weather forecast, there will be a mountain visit (the mountain called IDA was the place where the first Best Model of the World competition was held in ancient times) with grilled salmon trout fish.

Thursday 19th

At school there will be some art activities arranged by teachers. The evaluation of the photo exhibition and the comparison of the results of the questionnaire. In the afternoon a visit to a 450-year old Mevlevihane (the temple of the whirling dervishes with sufi - divine - music)

Friday 20th

At school in the morning evaluation of the visit of Gelibolu and some activities like Ebru Art activity (a kind of painting with Turkish paper). After that visits to some villages and some bays around Gelibolu. Farewell ceremony with live music in the evening.

Saturday 21st

In the morning we are setting off for the visit of Istanbul and staying there for a night…..

Sunday 22nd

It's the day you can fly to your countries with nice smiles on your faces, we hope….

Levent, the coordinator of the project in the Turkish partner school, is doing a great job!

PHOTO COMPETITION: MY FAMILY

Before the next Comenius meeting, which is taking place in Turkey, from 15th to 22nd March 2009, all schools taking part in the project are holding a photo competition.

The topic of the competition is "MY FAMILY" or "CHRISTMAS TIME IN MY FAMILY".

You can send the photos, in digital format (jpg or other), to my personal e-mail address. If you have printed photos, you can bring them at school.

You can submit more than one photo. Each photo must be accompanied by a caption in English, explaining the content of the picture.

You should also write 10-12 sentences in English, under the topic "What my family means to me".

The prize for the winners is a trip to Turkey!

Comenius Questionnaire Part One: Family Life in Italy

As our multilateral Comenius project is about family life in 9 different European countries, each school taking part in the project is going to conduct a survey among the students.

To answer the questions, click on the link below:

Click Here to take survey

Comenius Questionnaire Part Two: Family Life in Italy

This is the link to the second part of the questionnaire:

Click Here to take survey

What did we do in Kato Achaia?

We had a great time there.








Our students, Erika and Annalisa, presented our region, town and school to our partners.

They worked with the students from the other nine participating countries to prepare a questionnaire about family life, school and free time.

We went to ancient Olympia and Athens and we enjoyed the warm climate and the capital's nightlife.

What are we doing in Kato Achaia?

The program of the week seems really interesting:
we are going to present our schools and our towns, we are going to work together on a questionnaire about family life, , and we are going to do some sight seeing as well.
A visit to ancient Olympia and two days in Athens!

This is the program of the week:
Sunday 09/11/2008
Arrival to Kato Achaia. Teacher go to the hotel. Students to host
families

Monday 10/11/2008
09:00 - 09:30 Welcome and presentation.
09:30 - 10:45 Presentation of schools (3-4 schools)
10:45 - 11:15 Break
11:15 - 12:30 School presentation and group work
12:30 - 13:30 Visit Townhall

Tuesday 11/11/2008
08:30 - 09:30 School presentation
09:30 - 09:45 Break
09:45 - 11:30 Presentation of the activities of The Central Consulting Bureau and Consulting Bureau for young people
11:30 - 13;30 Short visit

Wednesday 12/11/2008
08:30 - 10:00 Group work
10:00 - 13:30 Visit Scientific Park of Patras

Thursday 13/11/2008
08:30 - 10:00 Group work
10:00 - 12:00 Presentation of Achaia Development Enterprise
12:00 - 13:30 Short visit to an Olive Oil Factory

Friday 14/11/2008
08:30 - 10:00 Results presentation
10:00 - 17:00 Visit Ancient Olympia

Saturday and Sunday
Athens

Panagiotis, the coordinator of the project in the Greek partner school, is doing a great job!

Meeting in Greece

Teachers and students from participating schools will meet in Kato Achaia / Greece from 9th to 16th November 2008. The meeting is aimed at planning our future work and developing a questionnaire on family life in the communities of the participating countries.
Kato Achaia is the most important commercial and intellectual centre of Western Achaia, 20 km from Patras.
Two teachers, Luisella Mori and Mariliana Salvini, and two students, Erika Meini and Annalisa Peroni, will go to the meeting.

What is the project about?

Nine schools from nine different European countries agreed to work together for a period of two years. We would like to get to know and understand each other. We will therefore compare the way young people live in our communities.

The official topic is "The influence of cultural environment on the development of a young person - a citizen of a native country and the EU".

We will first look at the family environment of our students - structure of families, traditions, celebrations, the way young people spend their free time. In April 2009 we will have photo exhibitions and reports on this topic by all schools and available to all schools.

The schools are very diverse in their locations and the situation of their students. They range from schools in disadvantaged areas of their countries to grammar school environment with students from a better than national average background. It will be an interesting experiment to see how we can all co-operate and learn from each other.

The students of the ITCG Fermi come mostly from a peaceful and well organized small town and village background. They are mainly of Italian origin. However we have students of foreign origin in most classes. Students, however, do not normally notice the difference of ethnic background and there are no ethnic conflicts at school. We are, however, concerned about the issue of racism in general.

Our project is aimed at helping students to understand the situation of young people in other European countries and therefore overcome stereotypes and cultural barriers.

Project outline

Content
- students get to know the structure of a family and its traditions in different European countries; its influence on a young person´s character and the system of values of a young person
- improvement of the students´ and local community´s knowledge on the youth´s everyday life in other European countries, ways of spending free time, celebrations, activities of sports clubs and culture centres
- students know the influence of the local and European culture on the development of a young person
- students know the opportunities of education in other countries and learn how to meet the demands of the job market in EU
- students suggest a programme for the local policy concerning the youth
- students know the tradition , culture and history of other countries
- students learn how to be tolerant and open to other cultures
- students learn multicultural approach through work in international groups
- students and teachers make friends with the staff from other countries
- students improve their knowledge of foreign languages and increase their vocabulary
- students improve their practical knowledge of foreign languages
- students improve their knowledge of IT ( e. g. preparing presentations, using the Internet for communication)
- students learn how to carry out statistical research and evaluate the results using mathematical methods