05.11.2013 The arrival of the partners The Spanish group was the first group arriving. The second group was the English group. The third group was the Italian group. All groups and the host country had dinner in the hotel. They met and started to know each other.
06.11.2013 All the participants had a trip to Tarsus. Tarsus is a province of Mersin. There are lots of beautiful places in Tarsus. Here are some of the historical places and natural beauties the participants had the chance of seeing: 1. Antique Road 2. Kırkkasık Historical Bazaar 3. Tarsus Waterfall 4. Kleopatra Gate 5. St. Paul Well 6. Seven Sleepers 7. Old Tarsus Houses 8. Tarsus Museum 9. Historical Roman Bathroom During this trip, participants learnt much about the Turkish Culture. For example, they met a woman when we went to the Seven Sleepers’ Cave. The woman was giving a sugar cube to all people coming to visit the cave. All participants asked why she gave a sugar cube to everybody. I explained that she had wished something from God. While she was telling her wish to God, she had promised to give a sugar cube to all people. Her wish came true so she came to give a sugar cube to the people coming to the cave.
Each country performed a song and other participants tried to perform the song. The videos of the performances: http://youtu.be/ySBVQv5SWiI http://youtu.be/AdOCsB4YHiU http://youtu.be/JfQiklm0NWo
07.11.2013 On the third day in Turkey, we went to the school. The school was introduced to all participants. First, they saw the meeting room prepared for the first meeting. In this room, they saw the corner about their countries and culture. This corner was prepared in English by our students. So the students would be able to learn much about the partner countries.
Another corner about the partners was prepared by the students to give information about the partner countries to the local people.
These corners attracted the attention of all the participants. The participants also saw the nursery and primary classes in the school, met the teachers and shared their ideas and experiences about education.
Participants also met the women from the village coming to the school to preapare the local food “Sıkma” for the guests. They also tried to make “Sıkma” with the village women. The guests liked the taste of the food and wanted to learn the recipe to make it in their country.
After the participants had a tour in the school, the first meeting of the project started. The program of the first meeting was:
1. Performance of the national anthems 2. Making an opening speech 3. Giving some information about the project 4. The speech of The School Director 5. The speech of the Local Authority 6. Presentation of Bulgaria 7. Presentation of England 8. Presentation of Italy 9. Presentation of Spain 10. Presentation of Turkey
The Director
Chief of Branch from the Directorship of National Education
The Mayor of Fındıkpınarı ( a nearby village)
The District Governor of Mezitli
Everybody making a speech said “welcome” to the guests and stated that these international projects are very important in terms of developing brotherhood and coordination amongst the countries. After the speeches of the local authority, the participants made a presentation about their countries and the presentations were translated into Turkish to help the visitors from Turkey to understand the presentations.
After the presentations, the group had lunch all together with the local people and local authority. After the meal, Turkish students performed their songs, dances and theatres. The performances of the students: The nursery class performed their dance show with the song “Beans”
Students of the class 2 performed the nursery rhyme “Two Little Dicky Birds”
Students from the secondary school performed a sketch from Nasreddin Hodja (a Turkish philosopher)
Girls from the secondary school performed the song “One Way or Another.”
Students from the class 2 performed the song “Ali Baba.” Some of the students sang the song and some of the students acted the song.
Students from the secondary school performed another sketch from Nasreddin Hodja.
Students performed a shadow play called “Karagöz and Hacivat.”
Participants gave a present to each other. Each country had a present for the other.
After giving the presents, the group went to the centre of the village. The local singer of the village sang local songs and played the Turkish instrument “saz”. The guests also tried to play the saz. Therefore, they had an idea about the Turkish music.
The day at school and in the village ended. The guests were taken to the hotel. After they a rest for an hour, we went to a restaurant to have dinner. After dinner, we went to a Turkish Family’s house to drink Turkish tea. Thus, the participant had an idea about the Turkish houses and culture.
08.11.2013 The guests were taken from the hotel to go to school for the second meeting of the project. The second meeting of the project started with the words of Tzvetana from Bulgaria.
Topics and decisions of the meeting: 1) The distribution of tasks was discussed. All partners agreed to carry out the activities in all branches. In other words, all participants wanted to work with music, art, drama, etc. Because it is thought that the project should be carried out with all of its aspects. Every school should be responsible for making activities on all branches. 2) All participants are eager to create a corner about the country they visit. After each visit, each school is going to create a corner in the school; thus, the students are going to have an idea about the partner countries and they are going to have an idea about their culture. This year we will focus on Turkish and Italian cultures, since these two are the countries that host the meetings. These two countries can share some links with information about their main celebrations. 3) All partners agreed to carry out all the activities mentioned in the project. 4) All partners are going to make some preparations to introduce the celebrations special to their culture. They are going to give information about the festivals and celebrations held during the period of the project. These preparations are going to be added to the webpage of the project. 5) Lesson plans are going to be worked out and distributed by Bulgaria. 6) The webpage of the project is going to be launched by Turkish team. All participants agreed to use the blog “Wordpress” to make the webpage of the project. Because it is thought that it will be easier.
All participants are going to have the entrance and password of the blog, so all participants will be able to add their presentations, photos and videos about the project. 7) Children from all participating countries are going to correspond. The students are going to be added to the webpage “Edmodo”, so they are going to send e-mails and photos to the students of the partner country. 8) The second visit is going to be made to Italy. In the second meeting, participants will make a consensus about the place and date of the third and fourth mobility. 9) Participants elected the logo of the project. Logo made by Turkish team was chosen as the logo of the project. Logo:
After the meeting, we went to a villager’s house to have lunch. Thus, the guests had an idea about the life style in the village Tepeköy.
After lunch, we went to school and watched the performances of the students. The students performed a folkloric dance and sang Turkish song. They also performed some dances special to Turkish culture. The guests tried to learn the Turkish dance. The guest also performed some songs and dances special to their culture.
Some of the videos about the performances:
The Certificates were also given to the participants.
After the program at school, we went to the municipal building to meet the Mayor of Tepeköy. The mayor welcomed the guests and gave a gift to all guests.
The guests were taken to a village house. In that house, they watched a woman weaving a traditional rug, and then they tried to make a rug. They had more idea about the Turkish culture and learnt how to make a Turkish rug.
After this activity, the guests were taken to the hotel. In the hotel, our art teacher showed how to make “ebru” – a traditional Turkish art. While the art teacher making “ebru”, the guests were informed how to make it. They also tried to make it after they watched the activity for a while. They took their products to their country to show it to their colleagues and students.
09.11.2013 The guests were taken from the hotel to go the Directorate of National Education. We visited the Director of National Education. He welcomed the guests and stated that he was happy to see them in his office. He also emphasized the importance of such project in developing the brotherhood.
After the visit to directorate, we went to visit the Province on Mezitli. He welcomed the guest and stated that he was happy to see them in his office.
After the visits, we set off to see some natural beauties in Mersin.