The sixth
(6th) extra short-term joint staff training and learning activity in Athens,
Greece, was completed with great success. 17 teachers, coordinators and
participants in the “Artemotion Xpress in Europe” project from each partner
country met at the 1st Special Education Primary school of
Korydallos from 16th to 20th October 2017 to exchange good practices and improve
the quality of their teaching methods.
It was the last
of our wonderful short term joint Staff training and learning events.
Sunday 15.10.2017
was the day of the arrival of the partners to Athens. Each of the participants
from Germany, Romania, Slovenia, Spain and Poland had a chance to take a rest after the long
journey. In the evening all partners were welcomed by the main coordinator, Mrs
Stamoula Mourelatou, the principal of the school Mr Iraklis Palias and Greek
colleagues and we all enjoyed a delicious evening dinner with Greek cuisine.
On Monday 16.10.2017
early in the morning all partners arrived at school where we were welcomed by
all the students and staff. Pupils presented a short music kinetic show and we
all had a chance to taste a greek welcoming sweet in a traditional way.
Afterwards we were divided into two groups and had a tour around the premises. In spite of the tiny building, with the small classrooms and narrow spaces, we witnessed the huge soul of the school.
Later, we visited
the Town Hall of Korydallos, where the Mayor of Korydallos Mr Stavros Kasimatis
and members of the Municipality welcomed us. We were also officialy welcomed by
the main coordinator of the projece and the principal of the school. A short
discussion followed, presenting the partnerships countries.
Mrs Kelly Kotoula, phcycologist and Mrs Miha Mina, speech therapist, presented the Greek Special Education System and the history of the 1st Special Education Primary School of Korydallos.
Afterwards, we
returned to school and took part in a 2 hours’ workshop on Drama in
Education with Mr Amiropoulos Kostas (external associate). Mr Amiropoulos presented
how to conduct theatrical play with SEN students. He presented drama as a means
of self-expression, communication and confidence – building. It was an
interesting and helpful workshops that provided us with many ideas to apply in
our schools on the return. Certificates of attendance where given to all of us.
Later in the
afternoon, we visited the National Archeological Museum. We saw the ancient
Greek art in one of the most important museums of Greece. A walking tour
through Athens followed and we all admired the National Library, the Academy,
Syntagma Square and Monastiraki. We ended the day with dinner in a cosy Greek restaurant where we tasted delicious Greek
cuisine.
On Tuesday
17.10.2017
we arrived at school early in the morning and were divided into
three groups in order to participate in activities with pupils. These
activities aimed at getting to know the pupils of the 1st special
education primary school of Korydallos and having a chance to prove that there
are no language barriers when art and emotion is involved.
The workshops were: “Painting in
turns”. The workshop was presented by Mrs Kyra Gonia, Mrs Thalia Daskalaki and
Mrs Kelli Kotoula. Pupils and partners created common paintings while drawing
in turns and following the sound prompt (happy music, sad music, music in
different volume). The activity brought them close and they communicated
despite the 6 different languages. They created wonderful paintings and all felt satisfied and
happy.
“Cut me, Glue
me”. The workshop was held by Mrs Mina Miha, Mr Andreas Ferentinos and Mrs
Maria Petrelli. Pupils with partners’ help created a big collage using a
variety of materials, listening to different kinds of music. They created the “Happy Land” and really
enjoyed it!
“Look how i
drum”. The workshop was held by Mrs Theodora Oikonomou and Mr Tasos Anitopoulos.
Pupils and partners sat around a circle while using different instruments. We practiced the
attention, the active listening, the rhythm and the way of playing different
percussion instruments. We also played
the emotions’ train, a very funny game in which the pupils should make a train
that stopped in different stations. Every station was related to an emotion,
which was described with a picture on the computer. The pupils should match the
emotion with a specific music while dancing or making body movements.
Later, we had a 2
hours’ workshop on psychodrama with Mrs Smaroula Pantelis, a psychologist who
is an external associate.
Mrs Pantelis
presented techniques aiming to prevent the “burnout” of teachers. We
participated in various psychodrama activities (role playing, feelings
management etc). It was an amazing workshop not only because it was fun and
interactive but also because the participants could learn more of themselves
and the way they manage their emotions. Certificates of attendance where
distributed to all of us.
photos
At noon, the
coordinators' meeting was held in order to discuss about the so far progress of
the project and for further planning. The Slovenian coordinator Tanja
NiKolovski passed the muse and mascot of our project, Thalia, to the Greek
coordinator Stamoula Mourelatou. The muse returned to her homeland, with her
diary full of memories from every partner country she has been to so far and is
looking forward for more experiences.
After lunch, we
visited the Emotions Museum in the center of Athens. It is a unique interactive
museum about emotions! It uses interactive exhibitions, play and fairytales, in
order to encourage children and teenagers to discover their emotional world, to
learn more about themselves and others. Moreover, it sensitizes adults, parents
and teachers on subjects which deal with the children’s emotional development
and socialization.
We had a workshop
dedicated to the emotion of anger. Like children we entered the Anger Palace
where we were introduced to different techniques through play, in order to
manage anger. The aim of this exhibition was to offer stimuli in our
environment, to process, explore and know more about the emotion of anger.
Wednesday
18.10.2017
was a day dedicated to our acquaintance with one part of
marwellous Greece. Thus, we visited Osios Loukas monastery, Delphi and Galaxidi.
It
was a wonderful day trip that helped us understand the culture of Greece and
gave us beautiful historical information about the past and the present.
Deaparture
was early in the morning from the hotel. Morning good mood was already visible
on the bus. First destination of Wednesday Artemotion xpress excursion was Osios Loukas Monastery, a historic walled monastery, one of the most important monuments of Middle Byzantine Archicteture and Art.
The second destination was Delphi. At the foot of Mount Parnassos, within the angle by the twin rocks of the Phaedriades, lies the Pan Hellenic santcuary of delphi, which had the most famous oracle of ancient Greece. Delphi was regarded as the centre of the world.
According to mythology, it is here that the two eagles sent out by Zeus from the ends of the universe to find the navel of the world met. The sanctuary of delphi, set within a most spectacular landscape, was for many centuries the cultural and religious centre and symbol of unty for the Hellenic world.
Our evening dinner was in a traditional Greek restaurant in Galaxidi. Again, as every day before, we ate delicious Greel food. There were traditional Greek salad, olives, feta, squid, fish, spread from eggplant and cod and a lot more.
We also surprised Martina from Poland with
a delecious birthday cake and celebrated all together her birthday!
After dinner, a few brave partners enjoyed
a swim in the sea, which as they said it was pleasantly warm, while the rest of us preferred to enjoy a cup of coffee at shore.
We have spent a wonderful educational and
entertaining day. We were touched by the Greek history and returned to the
hotel late in the evening pleasantly tired.
On Thursday
19.10.2017
we arrived at school and were divided in two groups to participate
in the classroom activities and share moments with the pupils.
The first
group did the “Jungle game” where we matched with one pupil each, threw the
dice and played on a huge, colourful gameboard in the schoolyard. According to
the colour of the field we ended up on, we had to answer questions together
about feelings or knowledge. The game was highly interactive and we had a lot
of fun together with the pupils beyond the language barrier. The game was led by
Mrs. Mina Miha, Mrs Oikonomou Theodora and Mr Ferentinos Andreas.
After this we
changed to the activity “Be my mirror, be like me” which was held by Mrs Gianna
Giota, Mrs Oikonomou Theodora and Mr Ferentinos Andreas. The pairs stayed the same and we went to
“bake a cake” with our bodies. Different ingredients were assigned to the pairs
and we baked a cake altogether by imitating body postures and face expressions.
The activity allowed a lot of movement arranged in a story and it was great to be
able to interact and make bonds with the pupils. In the end we were surprised
by a real cake baked by Mr Andreas Ferentinos. Adults and children happily
enjoyed the treat together.
The
activities of the second group were led by Mrs Kelly Kotoula, Mrs Kira Gonia
and Mrs Thalia Daskalaki. We started with “My turn to draw” which meant that
the whole group created different paintings, each participant starting on a
white sheet of paper, passing them on at the same time and continuing drawing
the neighbour´s painting. The results were many different, creative paintings
originated by an interactive, creative effort of the whole group of teachers
and students. This activity was followed by the task of finding as quick as
possible hidden objects in paintings of well-known artists and then piecing
together puzzles of the paintings. In the activity “Fun maths” we tried to find
certain amounts of squares, triangles, circles, together in pairs with the
pupils. To finalize the interactive and inspiring activities and the wonderful
time together with the students we performed a dance led by pictograms.
Afterwards we
left for the municipal gym where the whole group shared moments with the pupils
in psycho-kinetics education by the school´s physical education teacher Gianna
Giota. In a big circle and in changing pairs we learned a lot about psycho-
kinetics using many different materials and “wrapping up” exercises in funny,
challenging, inspiring ways accompanied by music, bringing together the group
as a whole.
After the
school day had ended for the pupils, all the partners had the special pleasure
of learning Greek dances with the dancing teacher Elektra who taught us with a
lot of enthusiasm and patience. We had a lot of fun and learned many new things
we can practise with our students at home.
In the
afternoon we visited “Stavros Niarchos Foundational Cultural Centre”, a complex
in the bay of Phaliron in Athens which was opened in 2016. It includes the
National Library of Greece and the National Opera and was donated by the
Stavros Niarchos Foundation to the Greek State. We enjoyed the amazing modern
architecture, the view from the terrace and had a stroll in the park.
Back in
school we had the pleasure of participating in a performance of the “Playback
Nuevo” Theatre group. Playback Nuevo was founded by the psychologist Dr. Smaroula
Pandelis in 2009. They perform Playback theatre aiming to energize the
audiences to move from the passive state of being just a spectator to the
active position of the co- creator. We had the possibility of telling little
stories about our lives, feelings or states of mind and they performed these
stories. It was absolutely amazing how the group managed to portray ourselves
and our stories. We shared many funny, sad, nervous and anxious moments
together with the Theatre Group based on our different stories about our
Erasmus+ Project. It was a unique
experience and at the same time a review of our soon ending project.
To end this
wonderful day we had a delicious dinner together at “Vassilis” tavern in
Korydallos kindly offered from the Municipality of Korydallos and the Mayor Mr
Stavros Kasimatis. Our special and deepest thanks for everything the
Municipality did for us during our stay.
All activities and workshops during the five days of
training were completed with a show.
On Friday 20.10.2017, in the
morning, we participated in a public celebration for the farewell of the
partners. The pupil’s parents, guests, family members
and City Hall officials were invited. The
event was held in
“Melina Merkouri”, cultural center of the Municipality of Koyrdallos.
It was a 2 hour program where pupils together with
their teachers performed, showing us different forms of
art, like sculpture, traditional dances from the six partner countries, cinema, music, photography,
painting. The show was absolutely spectacular and all
school pupils and teachers were involved.
After the pupils’
performance, we
watched a video about all the mobilities, the countries we visited, the school
moments we shared and the cultural activities that bonded us all so much. The
video was created by the main coordinator, Mourelatou Stamoula. It was
a touching moment for all of us, remembering all the beautiful moments, the
times we shared, the experiences, the friendships, the bond.
At the end of the event,
the mayor, Mr. Stavros Kasimatis, gifted to each partner team a farewell
present from the Municipality and the main coordinator proudly distributed the
certificates of attendance to each partner.
This wonderful show ended
with a European song, composed from the Greek psychologist Mrs Kelli Kotoula, to
remind us all the good things that happened in our project. All together sang
the song and enjoyed a big cycle of hugs capable of fitting all the mixed
feelings of joy and sorrow we
experienced.
The use of different forms of art proves that there are no limits in communication between people, regardless of the particularities of each of us.
After the celebration all the partners came back to school for the conclusion of the 6th extra short term joint staff training and learning activity. We all filled in the questionnaires, and participated in one last activity where we had to write our impressions on wooden hearts about the mobility and about Greece. Each participant hung the heart to the ”Tree of Emotions” and spoke of farewell words and impresions.
This wonderful last day
ended with the farewell dinner which was special. The party that followed was
full of fun, dance, joy, excitement and thrill as one more successful mobility
had come to an end. A big birthday cake marked the successful two years of
implementation and hard work. We shared together a wonderful week highly
educational and fun.
Our partners from Greece, set an example for all of us
and gave us the opportunity to feel and learn how to express through Art, to
communicate and socialize and to get to know about wonderful Greece.
All the teams from the partners schools, from Romania, Germany, Poland, Slovenia,
Spain, were pleasantly impressed by the organization, the quality of the
activities and the involvement of all the teachers and pupils in the host
country.
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| Polish teaam |
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| Romanian team |
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| Slovenian team |
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| Spanish team |
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| Germany team |
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| Greek team |
We have taken over the methods and techniques presented
at the host school and will try to adapt to the possibilities of our pupils
with special needs. Participation in this type of Erasmus+, European-funded
partnerships between schools allows the exchange of good practices and experiences
between the participants involved in the educational process and moreover,
promotes the European cultural knowledge.
We whole heartedly thank our hosts for this unique,
unforgetable experience and looking forward on keeping on the good work for the
remaining 5 months and beyond.
Mariana Hertoiu, Heike Eichbauer, Patrycja Pytlik,
Rodrigo Fafian, Tanja Nikolovski - Coordinators of the Erasmus+ project ”Artemotion Xpress
in Europe” 2015 - 2018
1 comment:
Amazing time, amazing people, amazing experience.
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