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The fourth meeting was held in Varaždin, Croatia, at Gospodarska škola Varaždin. Gospodarska škola is generally a school of economy and has about 1200 students and 100 teachers. It was visited by 2 headmasters (from Germany and Turkey), 13 teachers and 17 students.
The welcome
Partner school teachers and students were welcomed by the school principal after which the host students led the tour of the school for their Comenius guests showing them several classrooms, the staff room, the gym, the school art gallery, our Comenius corner and the library. In the afternoon all the participants were welcomed by the deputy prefect of Varaždin County?. After the official reception at the seat of the county of Varaždin the partners were given a guided tour of the historical parts of the town during which they could see the most important town sights like its numerous baroque palaces and churches, the theatre, the renaissance castle, the town hall and the Museum of angels.
The work
Teachers:
Teachers attended three meetings discussing the following topics: the minutes from the meeting in Kristiansand, the interim project evaluation, the organisation of the monthly chats (on Facebook), the final project evaluation, students’ project evaluation videos, the final results of the project, the plays in English with subtitles in the partners’ mother tongues, the final publication cover, the editing of the practical guidelines, the project diary, the evaluation of the selected class activities, the project leaflet, “ten commandments for foreign language learning” and the final project presentation and report.
Students:
Students participated in three workshops: 1) My ideal school – in which each country presented their school’s organisation and after that they worked in mixed nationality groups producing the poster with their suggestions for the ideal school; 2) Australia – they have seen a presentation of this English speaking country: its history, geography, culture, food, art, music, etc. and after that they participated in a quiz showing what they have learnt; 3) My footprint – students have attended a lecture (via Skype) given by Lisa Forlin, an expert in environment protection from Sweden on the importance of sustainable development. After the lecture the students have calculated their own footprint and discussed what each individual can do to help protect the planet.
Two sports activities were also organised: the students could participate in the bowling tournament as well as play football for one of the two international football teams.
All the students and teachers were shown a play in German prepared by the host students.
Learning more
In order to learn a little more about the Croatian history and culture a visit to the capital (Zagreb) was organised. During the guided tour of the upper town the participants visited the gothic cathedral, the open market, the Croatian parliament and government, the main square as well as the busiest shopping streets in the city centre.
Another trip was organised round the north-western region of Croatia called Hrvatsko Zagorje. The partners visited the baroque church in Lepoglava, a small town also known for hand-made lace protected by UNESCO, Trakošćan castle and finally Neanderthal museum in Krapina.
At the certificate ceremony the participants could hear and see some traditional songs and dances from the northern part of Croatia performed by a local folk group also showing the traditional folk costumes.
PROJECT VISIBILITY
