Comenius News 6 My World, Your World, Our World!
March 2012
Hog vagy from Hungary The Ney Ferenc Kindergarten had the great privilege to host the delegations of the ’My world, your world, our world’ Mobility 5 Comenius Schools Partnership Project from England, France, Spain and Sweden from 18th March to 21st March 2012. On Monday, we invited the participants to the ’Nyitnikék’ Folk Dance and Folk Songs Festival at the Ney Ferenc Kindergarten. The guests listened to the songs, watched the children’s dancing, and learnt about the Hungarian national costumes. After the morning programme, we sat down and discussed why teaching music, singing and national traditions at an early age is such an important task in our kindergarten education. On Tuesday morning, the guests were involved in the regular program of the kindergarten. They could work together with the children in their groups, could take part in games, could teach and learn songs and nursery rhymes. Afterwards, we exchanged the albums, we gave presents to each other in the garden where the children were also present. This meeting was a really good opportunity for the teachers’ professional development, as all the colleagues could get some good ideas about the different educational styles in other countries and institutions, the guests could also learn about our curriculum and daily programs.
Thank you to Ibolya, Judit and the Hungarian team for a wonderfully organised trip to Hungary! The itinerary enabled the team, Mrs Barrass, Mrs Brailsford, Mrs Pitman and Mrs Wood to learn lots about Hungarian culture, for example dance music and food. The Hungarians are a proud nation and this was demonstrated through the children' dancing at the spring folk festival where individuals sang Solos, played instruments and danced in front of their friends and teachers. The children at the nursery school are taught in mixed age groups from three to seven years and it was interesting to witness the older ones supporting the younger ones. Children are able to listen and engage in lessons and then leave to join another activity when they feel they have had enough. There are no end of year or phase academic expectations and this means that the school can focus purely on teaching personal and social skills - children don' t encounter any teaching of reading or writing until the age of seven when teaching then becomes very formal. Thank you once again for a trip which gave the team plenty of time to interact with our partners from Spain, France, Sweden and Hungary and providing the much needed translation that helped to make this trip so successful. We have lots of food for thought and some very interesting photos to share!!!!!!
Learn, enjoy, achieve, discover, Together!
Thank you for the wonderful days we had together with the other participants in the project. Thanks also to the children, staff and parents. Special thanks to Ibolya and Judit who were hostesses during our stay. We were allowed to participate to Eger’s preschools great song and dance competition, which was very entertaining. It was very nice to see all the children in their national costumes. We feel that the children showed courage and great joy when they appeared in the competition. For us, in Sweden, it was interesting to see the children’s learning environment and the similarities and differences between our Preschool and the nursery. The deputy Mayor of Eger shared with us Eger’s fascinating history and we got to see the beautiful hall. We took part in Hungarian culture in many pleasant ways, such as the good food, dancing (which we also participated in) and the bath in their hot spring water.
http://comeniusprojectapresaschool.blogspot.c om/ http://mwywow.blogspot.com Children doing their exercises in class - can you pick up a tissue with your toes?
Thank you and BRAVO to the Hungarian team! The welcome was wonderful and we shared unforgettable moments. We were very impressed with the children's motivation and level of concentration. We became the jury of a folk music and dance festival; it showed us how important the music is in Hungary, especially in early education. It encourages learning and makes children more confident.On Tuesday, delegations split into three groups and went in different classes, so that we could see young children learning. In each class, there were mixed ages and abilities. Children worked together in groups, and they could choose their own activities; we found them very quiet and friendly. We spent wonderful days with lovely people; with Hungarian people, and with our Comenius friends. We talked a lot, laughed a lot, and ate a lot. We spent plenty of good time and we enjoyed meeting so many different kinds of people. On Tuesday evening, we met students' families for an enjoyable evening! THANK YOU VERY MUCH!We admired the Hungarian welcome and organisation. Even the sun was there! We found a lot of things to learn from each Comenius team, and from the Comenius' experience.
Hola from Spain! The meeting in Hungary was quite a surprise for all of us from beginning to end; such beautiful cities, landscapes and weather. Eger is an enchanting town where we had a “magical” stay. Thank you so much to the Hungarian team for the effort they made welcoming all of us in such a beautiful place and at school. The experience for Spanish teachers was awesome, such different schools (ours is huge compared to the Kindergarten in Eger). We loved the building, the classrooms, the playground, they way children are organised to enjoy all lessons, the timetable, the materials, the relationship with families…etc. It’s been a great time to learn while sharing the experience with all partner schools’ teachers. We had the opportunity to attend a Folk festival at school where other kindergartens participated. Our students now can learn about costumes, songs and dances from Hungary and Hungarian children will be the best teachers for them (we took lots of pictures and recorded some of the groups).Thank you Ibolya and Judit, for taking care of us all the time.
What next? For the final piece of the jig-saw, pupils will research/collate information/materials about national religious/cultural festivals in their country – photos of this work in progress will be added to the album.Pupils will select one National festival and produce posters to advertise the festival – photos of these posters will be added to the book. A DVD will be produced of children singing a National song, e.g. the anthem, a popular song, a festival song/s - the DVD will be added to the album and brought to the final meeting in England on May 2nd!