1st visit summary

COMENIUS 1st MEETING SUMMARY France – Aquitaine – Lot & Garonne - Lavardac 8-15 OCTOBER 2011

We had our partners in several waves, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Adults, were accommodated in cottage (very cheap but a little bit far, and linked to our project) while the students enjoyed hosting families. For the other visits, it asked to participants, as much as possible, to arrive same day and same place, so as to facilitate the work of the hosting country.

After a presentation of the partners institutions and regions by students, we began to discuss about the calendar of our project.

In the evening, in the town hall, in presence of local newspapers, various elected representatives, the association of parents and students participating in the project, the Wealth of health, taste and culture was officially launched for 2 years.

During meetings, we’ve agreed on a schedule and decided on dates for future visits :

2nd meeting, Spain, from 19 to 25 February 2012 3rd meeting, Poland, from 22 to 28 April 2012 4th meeting, Lithuania, from 7 to 14 October 2012 5th meeting, Romania, from 3 to 9 March 2013 6th meeting, Turkey, from 12 to 19 May 2013.

During the week we worked mainly on the first year cooperation. Nevertheless we agreed on several points.

Each country is responsible for the work in its school and has to organize it. In order to achieve our objectives, adults will remain in contact by mail weekly to see the progress, difficulties and other problems which could occur.

Till november, France has to create a common website in English, which will be supplied monthly (but more if possible), so as to see the progression of all of us. Each country coordinator will receive a password in order to update the website on its own. It’s up to each country to translate or not in its own language.

Turkey has to create a blog.

In October, a survey upon lifestyles which was created by students and adults during this meeting will be displayed in all the participating countries. The results will be shared on the web and we will adapt some actions, according to this survey, in february.

From now on, morning gymnastics or sport acitivities will be organized once a week for students (and adults willing to participate) in each school ; pictures or choregraphies will be uploaded on the web.

Till 10 December, 5 greeting cards (maximun size A4) about Christmas or New Eve made by students have to be sent to each countries. Doing so, 30 cards will be displayed in each participating school before Xmas holidays.

Till 10 December also, a Power Point presentation which will be sent to Spain (for arrangements) and France (to be posted) has to be realized : recipes of a healthy Christmas meals (starter, main course, dessert). Number of calories has to appear under the recipes. Some music has to be sent in the same time so as to be integrated in the film.

We will decide in Spain about other deadlines for sending recipes at each chosen period.

Till 13 January 2012, students will create a logo for the project. Each country will select the 5 best to be posted on the internet, and people will be able to vote for their favourite one. The selected one will be known during the meeting in Spain. The winner will receive a little surprise.

The acronym chosen during the meeting is : W@TCH. W for wealth, @ for ICT, T for taste, C for culture, H for health. It has to appear somehow in the logo.

Some posters about eating habits will be realised. In each school, some specific operations could be organised, they will be known thanks to the website.

Between January and April, some cultural visits will be organised in each school. The pictures will be shared thanks to the ICT.

The result of the 2-year-cooperation will be a book/DVD upon recipes and cultural heritage. One part will be devoted to the essential expressions of all the countries.

For the next visit, in Spain, a tree will be created. The trunk will be blue for Europe and some stars or pictures will be placed on it ; each country has to realize and bring 10 leaves linked to poestry, famous sentences, famous people… in English and own language. (The leaf is only one side because it will be stuck on a wall).

Some remarks :

We had to adjust our schedule due to duration of working time or questions or chatterings… It’s hard to fix horaries and respect them, even though, it is all the same suitable if everybody does the same thing, work, discussion or visit, it’s easier for the organiser. Yet this week with representatives of 6 countries was very rich.

In addition of increasing our vocabulary in English, we have learnt words and idioms from each country, and some cultural habits or food…

Beyond the work done, some of us (adults and teenagers) have tightened friendly ties.

It also seems important to note that each student has been able to speak about the choices made during this meeting (survey, logo, …) and they will continue to do so, all along the project.