1st partners’ meeting in Estonia
The first meeting for the Erasmus+ project “Nature as a Story” took place in Võru, Estonia from 20th to 22nd October in 2016. Visitors were the teachers from partnering schools in Italy and Spain. Unfortunately, the partners from Turkey could not attend the meeting because of the difficult political situation in their country.
The aim of the meeting was to, first of all, get to know the partners and the educational systems in all the partnering countries; second of all, to find out about the culture and traditions of the countries; and, third of all, to go over all the details concerning the project and to put down the detailed plan of action for the upcoming project activities.
On the first day of the project, Võru Kreutzwald School was introduced to the visitors by two ninth-formers, Agate Tillmann and Laura Eimre. The visitors were impressed by the peace and quiet of the school house during the lessons as well as the breaks. Next up, there were very captivating presentations about the educational systems, culture and traditions of the partnering countries. It turned out, the partners have quite similar approaches to education: active study methods are used for enlivening the studies, partners take part in projects and use actively ICT devices. A lot of emphasis is put on supporting the pupils with special educational needs. We were impressed by the study arrangements where older pupils teach the younger ones and by how well the schools collaborate with the local communities. In both the Italian and Spanish schools, the transport to and from school as well as the after school activities until late evenings are very well organized. The problematic areas that were mentioned were the questions related to teaching the pupils with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and the teachers’ unsatisfactory level of foreign languages which complicates the teaching of immigrant pupils.
In the afternoon, the partners payed a visit to Võru Town Government. The presentation to introduce Võru town, made by deputy mayor Sixten Sild, was very memorable. After the visit, the partners returned to school to continue with the meeting. Later, there was a seminar by two Võru Kreutzwaldi School’s IT teachers Evi Tarro and Ene Moppel to teach the partners how to use CideWeek for programming.
The day ended with a national dinner in the school house, where every country offered some national food they had taken with them.
The guests were very excited about the second day, which involved a trip to the Meenikunno bog where they could see and meet the Estonian nature. The objective of this trip was to show the guests how here, in Estonia, theory and practical things work in the learning process. The afternoon time was arranged with work related meeting and discussions. On the last day of the project, the partners were shown the opportunities available for informal learning in our area. The guests were demonstrated how it’s possible to diversify teaching sciences and arrange classes in open learning environments out of school rooms. All the participants of the meeting headed on a trip to University if Tartu’s Nature Museum and visited the AHHAA Science Centre. The guests were very impressed with the science centre, where they got to put their courage and knowledge of natural sciences to the test.
From the University of Tartu’s Nature Museum’s geology fund the guests found rocks that can also be found in their countries. We were very interested in our guests’ feedback and experience, because their countries don’t have similar opportunities available to diversify the learning experience.
At the end of the project the guests had a chance to look around Estonia’s university town Tartu, which left the guests with an unforgettable first impression. At the guests’ request, the partners visited the gothic-style St. John’s church in the heart of the city.
The three project days went by fast. Presentations and study trips took only a little time compared to the long work meetings and discussions sessions. According to the guests’ feedback, they were very pleased with the reception, work meetings and with the experience gained from the study trips. They expressed the wish to definitely visit Estonia, especially Võru, again.
Everybody got a positive memory from the first project meeting, enjoyed the good time spent on sharing experiences and are looking forward to the two very productive project years of collaboration ahead. The next project meeting will take place in Italy in May 2017.
The meeting’s agenda is available here.
Some photos are available here.
The aim of the meeting was to, first of all, get to know the partners and the educational systems in all the partnering countries; second of all, to find out about the culture and traditions of the countries; and, third of all, to go over all the details concerning the project and to put down the detailed plan of action for the upcoming project activities.
On the first day of the project, Võru Kreutzwald School was introduced to the visitors by two ninth-formers, Agate Tillmann and Laura Eimre. The visitors were impressed by the peace and quiet of the school house during the lessons as well as the breaks. Next up, there were very captivating presentations about the educational systems, culture and traditions of the partnering countries. It turned out, the partners have quite similar approaches to education: active study methods are used for enlivening the studies, partners take part in projects and use actively ICT devices. A lot of emphasis is put on supporting the pupils with special educational needs. We were impressed by the study arrangements where older pupils teach the younger ones and by how well the schools collaborate with the local communities. In both the Italian and Spanish schools, the transport to and from school as well as the after school activities until late evenings are very well organized. The problematic areas that were mentioned were the questions related to teaching the pupils with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and the teachers’ unsatisfactory level of foreign languages which complicates the teaching of immigrant pupils.
In the afternoon, the partners payed a visit to Võru Town Government. The presentation to introduce Võru town, made by deputy mayor Sixten Sild, was very memorable. After the visit, the partners returned to school to continue with the meeting. Later, there was a seminar by two Võru Kreutzwaldi School’s IT teachers Evi Tarro and Ene Moppel to teach the partners how to use CideWeek for programming.
The day ended with a national dinner in the school house, where every country offered some national food they had taken with them.
The guests were very excited about the second day, which involved a trip to the Meenikunno bog where they could see and meet the Estonian nature. The objective of this trip was to show the guests how here, in Estonia, theory and practical things work in the learning process. The afternoon time was arranged with work related meeting and discussions. On the last day of the project, the partners were shown the opportunities available for informal learning in our area. The guests were demonstrated how it’s possible to diversify teaching sciences and arrange classes in open learning environments out of school rooms. All the participants of the meeting headed on a trip to University if Tartu’s Nature Museum and visited the AHHAA Science Centre. The guests were very impressed with the science centre, where they got to put their courage and knowledge of natural sciences to the test.
From the University of Tartu’s Nature Museum’s geology fund the guests found rocks that can also be found in their countries. We were very interested in our guests’ feedback and experience, because their countries don’t have similar opportunities available to diversify the learning experience.
At the end of the project the guests had a chance to look around Estonia’s university town Tartu, which left the guests with an unforgettable first impression. At the guests’ request, the partners visited the gothic-style St. John’s church in the heart of the city.
The three project days went by fast. Presentations and study trips took only a little time compared to the long work meetings and discussions sessions. According to the guests’ feedback, they were very pleased with the reception, work meetings and with the experience gained from the study trips. They expressed the wish to definitely visit Estonia, especially Võru, again.
Everybody got a positive memory from the first project meeting, enjoyed the good time spent on sharing experiences and are looking forward to the two very productive project years of collaboration ahead. The next project meeting will take place in Italy in May 2017.
The meeting’s agenda is available here.
Some photos are available here.