Autorius: Užupio gimnazija

After almost a three year period, the project The learning and improving fluent English was coming to the end.The final phase of the project was held in Croatia, May 23-27, by our partners from Varaždin Elementary School.

The intense week was started with an opening ceremony, introduction of the school and of course the ice breaking activities.

The guided tour around the city allowed us to experience the beauty of this tiny, but cozy and peaceful city, its architectural past and modern present.The students were interested in the exhibitions presented in Stari Grad museum and were taken aback by the World of insects , Entomological collection. 

The visit to Plitvice Lakes was a breathtaking experience, that is an absolute miracle of Croatia.

What is more, a guided trip to Croatia‘s capital city Zagreb was short but intense. The students got acquainted  with this splendid medieval city, tasted delicious ice cream and visited the Museum of Illusions.

However, the most thrilling were the students‘ performances that were well performed and thoroughly prepared. Each country had to act out a legend about the creation of the partner country‘s hometown. Not only did the students show their creativity, but their talent as well!

We left this beautiful country a bit sad, but optimistic to meet one day again: in other projects and other mutual activities.

The beginning of February turned to be intense at Vilnius Užupis gymnasium. 7^th to 11^th February it was hosting the international partners of Erasmus+ project LIFE from N. Macedonia, Croatia and Turkey. However, the corona virus pandemic changed the plans of our coordinators from Italy and they were forced to join us online. Thanks to the advanced technologies that allowed us to connect and be connected.

The opening ceremony was started with a welcoming speech given by our school principal Virginija Emilija Navickienė. Our partners’ presentations, videos about their countries and schools gave a closer look at their surroundings. Ice breaking activities together with folk songs and dances allowed our international partners to immerse into the multinational environment.

The topic of the mobility in Lithuania is related to teaching writing skills and creativity through stories and humour. The organized workshops not only did teach the students creative writing, but also gave a possibility to develop their sense of humour. Working in groups the students created short stories that had a common topic Travelling. The biggest challenge occurred when the students were asked to perform the created stories. They were amazing! The students, being helped by their teachers, incredibly well coped with the task.

International meetings cannot be imagined without a diverse cultural programme. Our partners being accompanied by a big number of Lithuanian students visited Trakai castle, had an educational kibinai baking programme that taught them how to make real karaim dish as well as introduced to their culture and traditions.

Winter pleasures were experienced in full, exploring the beauty of Anykščiai surroundings, visiting the tree top path, baking and tasting bread in Niūronys village, where in the hut from the 20th century, the whole process of making bread was disclosed- from a grain in the field up to the loaf made of their owns.

Exploring the beauty of Vilnius with its cozy old town, visiting the Grand Duke Palace and of course getting to know all the marvellous spots of our beloved Užupis and many more strengthened our friendship with project partners, built a better intercultural understanding and raised our personal awareness of the importance of Erasmus+ projects on a big scale.

Debar, N.Macedonia

This phase of the project had the reading tasks in order to improve the fluent english.

Activities, ice-breaking games, workshops and warming-up energizers helped a lot in realizing the goals of the project such as:

-Fostering creativity

-Enhancing english language skills

-Developing critical thinking

-Promoting European values and positive attitude towards cultural exchanges

-Promoting values of tolerance, understanding and peace

-Building bridges and stopping barriers through cultural exchanges

The mobility in Debar was full of duties and engagaments. We visited the most beautiful and cultural places, the official reception was fulfilled with a festival of music, dances and wedding improvisation.

The visit in Ohrid involved the castle, boat trip and the church of St. Naum.

The visit in Skopje involved the square, the archeological museum and the Memorial house of mother Teresa.

A lot of moments, a lot of memory.

Debar- a city of a culture and traditions!

December is the busiest month of the year, full of fairy tales, magic, intense preparation for Christmas and New Year celebrations. In that time expectations are high, wishes are made and dreams come true. One of those dreams fulfilled was the ERASMUS+ project LIFE international meeting in Italy held by I. S.I.S. “L. DE’ MEDICI” in a town of OTTAVIANO on 6-10 December, 2021. Developing Literary and Interpretative Skills through Stories was the title of the mobility.

The week filled with unforgettable experiences was opened with a welcoming ceremony held by Italian team in L. DE’ MEDICI school. The participants introduced themselves and their respective schools, enjoyed ice-breaking activities. It was followed by the tour round the school and the explanation of the educational system implemented at the school, which consists of several departments, such as cookery, bar tending, fashion, etc. The morning session was closed with the magnificent lunch cooked and served by the students of L. DE’ MEDICI school supervised by the teachers.

The seminars, given by Mrs. Carola Flauto, a teacher of the school-cum-professional writer, were the main highlight of the week. During the seminars the teams from the participating countries: Italy, North Macedonia, Turkey, Lithuania and Croatia learned about the variety of types of short stories (action, adventure,  comedy, crime, detective, drama, mystery) came to realization that any human feeling, idea, situation can be illustrated by and pictured in a story. During the second seminar Mrs. Flauto presented basic story related notions, such as plot, character, setting, and theme. The seminars were followed by hands-on classroom activities. The participants were developing their literary and interpretative skills through story-telling activities, acting out stories and games. All the activities were connected to the belief that there is a story behind everything and every person as well as every object has a story to tell.

Once again the idea came to life visiting the historical ruins of Pompeii, where every stone, every street and every building has centuries of stories to tell: stories of people, who lived, dreamed and died in the town. The participants developed their creativity and built cultural competence trying to imagine who the residents were, their daily activities, and the tragic end of the town.

The visits to other historical sites followed. The participants had a chance to visit a winery on the slopes of Vesuvius learning about deep wine yard growing traditions of the region, Naples with its thousands of years’ long history, Amalfi included in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The participants listened to the stories those places have to share, enriching their understanding of European traditions and values, understanding the historical context of present day developments.

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On the last day the participating teachers discussed learning materials relevant to the topic of story-telling, shared their experience of using stories for teaching English as a foreign language,  developing students’ creativity, literary and interpretative skills, creative thinking, comprehension of their own culture in European context. The plans for the upcoming mobilities were discussed and the dates for the further mobilities in ERASMUS+ LIFE project were decided on.

Italy, we have learned from the stories you told us, and now we are looking forward to seeing the participants of ERASMUS+ LIFE project in Lithuania!

EDUCATION SYSTEM

•In our school we have got 3 levels. These are;  kindergarten, primary school and secondary school

•Children can start kindergarten between 2-5 ages, in primary school they start between 6-9 ages and later they pass secondary school at the age of 10 to 14. In Turkey, students must study 4 + 4 years  for  compulsory education system. And then they pass high school without exam.

•Every levels of schools start at 9.15 a.m. and finish at 6 p.m. o’clock  except for Fridays. They study from 9.15 a.m. to  at 2.30 p.m. on Fridays. On Monday to Thursday they have got 10 lessons but on Fridays they have 7 lessons. We have got 50 minutes for lunch time. They eat their lunch in our mess hall.

•In kindergarten they have these lessons such as English, P.E, Gymnastics, Art, Music, Drama and Agriculture. They learn English with Prosodic techniques

•In Primary school we have got 1-2-3 and 4 grades.

•They study Turkish, English, German, Maths, Music, Agriculture, Robotics, Social Studies and Philosophy.

•In Secondary school we have got 5-6-7 and 8 grades. They study Math, Science, English, Art, P.E, Agriculture, Robotics, Philosophy, Revolution and Religion lessons.

•In Turkey, 8 grades enter an exam once a year to begin a high school with their exam results. This exam is compulsory for every secondary school students.Our schools focus on our students academic success.

•We do a Placement Exam in every two months. We clasify our students according to their success. They change their classes with their Placement Exam results in each lessons.

•As the exam approaches all of our 8 grades students enter a pilot test twice a week all of the lessons. 

•On Saturdays we have got V.I.P lessons and clubs such as Scrabble,Conversation,Black cat reading clubs, Folk dance club, Art club, Music club, Sport clubs, Robotic club, English Maths club or we study our students one by one lessons who has a problem about the subject .We support our students by heart.

•On Sundays our school has got monastery our students go there and solve tests (9 a.m.-8 p.m.) but it is not compulsory. If the students want 🙂

MenuThe Project Coordinator I.S.I.S- ISTITUTO STATALE ISTRUZIONE SUPERIORE „LUIGI DE‘ MEDICI“, Italy     About the project        Reports           Activities C1-C5

LEARNING AND IMPROVING FLUENT ENGLISH

The project Execution group 

Project coordinator in Lithuania  the school Principal Virginija Emilija Navickienė

English teacher/contact person  Margarita Auruškevičė

English teachers  Jūratė Šipkutė Daminaitienė, Ana Jankūnienė

Physical Education teacher Augustas Četkauskas