Student exchange in Lithuania - Day 3

Student exchange in Lithuania - 2nd day

The second day of our visit was full of exciting and interesting activities.
Firstly, all students participated in two lessons together with their hosts. They visited lessons such as Arts,  English,  Physics, etc.
Meanwhile,  teachers also observed two lessons, one Lithuanian lesson and an Arts class.  In the Lithuanian lesson the topic students were working on was what it means to be Lithuanian. It was really interesting to see how students presented what it means to them to be Lithuanian.  They worked in groups and even took part in a creative writing task. It was a great lesson. In the Arts class students focused on
drawing faces.

 After the lessons students presented their visits to their local or regional newspapers and they also introduced a contemporary author based on an interview they had conducted using the same set of questions. All the teams were well-prepared and they used a wide range of tools for presenting their findings, such as Powerpoint, Prezi, films, etc. It was really interesting to see how different authors answered the same set of questions and also to compare the different type of newspapers students visited.

The Hungarian team

The Croatian team

The Italian team

The Spanish team

The Turkish team

The Lithuanian team

After a hard working morning we set out to explore the region of Skuodas. We visited a farmer museum where we could see many kinds of tools and equipment dating back to old times, and we could also look at the type of dwelling people had in the past.

We visited the largest rock of Lithuania which students could climb easily and even could surround it holding hands:

The final activity of the day was a pottery workshop, where students learned some information about black ceramics and also ventured to create a piece of pottery of their own:

It was a really eventful and enyojable day for everyone!

Student exchange in Lithuania - Day 1

It is 7.30 pm local time in Lithuania and we are having dinner in a restaurant of some peculiar name (oh, those Baltic languages – so beautiful, fairylike, but unpronunceable). We are sitting at a table and Mila, Erinc, Gunay and I are waiting for our fish. Asta says it is a sea fish, they need to go to the Baltic to catch it; we are laughing while Zsuzsanna, Agnes, Andrea and Anna are enjoying their salads, Gema and Ana Maria as well.

In a nice camaraderie we are sharing experiences with our students, duties and schedules, literature, languages and dialects. Asta is describing life in Skuodas and I am asking her where the bars are. Where do Skuodas people drink and dance? We would like to see their hostelries, but Asta says they intoxicate at home...

Earlier in the afternoon I was taking a walk with Mila, Erinc and Gunay and we were looking for a place to have a cup of coffee.  We walked through the town and found a river, a beautiful river. I adore the beauty of rivers, especially in autumn. We walked the wide, straight, clean streets surrounded by high trees. It was very silent, peaceful, tame, good and friendly. We came across a small coffee bar and snuggled in. Erinc loves to talk about our Vesna, calling her a Viking queen. The coffee is extraordinary and the chocolate cake is delicious. All the food in Skuodas is very tasty -  pastry, vegetables, fish and meet, everything is authentic and natural just like people, they are authentic, genuine and very beautiful.

We spent the morning from 9 am to 2 pm at Skuodas high school. The gymnasium is named after Pranciškaus Žadeikio, a renowned philosopher and humanist from the 19^th century. There are 350 students in 11 classes. We are fascinated by its grandness, long halls, high ceilings and walls with nicely framed photos of all school-leavers back to 1975. Classrooms are specialized and well-equipped, the school is dignified and it indicates long tradition and solemnity. Our students are with their peers, attending classes of Biology, Chemistry, Russian language, Latin and other. We are attending Lithuanian language class held by the students who are teaching us the history of language, dialects, sounds, they are teaching us to count and they are giving us Lithuanian names. Later we are invited to the teacher’s room to enjoy our coffee, juice and cakes. The headmistress Gražina is with us, cheerful and genuine she gives confidence. We are back in the classroom, attending an English lesson. Students are wearing uniforms, dark blazers and they are very neat, modern and communicative. Their communication with the teacher is perfect. During the break we meet our Magdalena, Romano, Jelena, Tonina, Antonia and Vanna. They are in a good mood, always in a merry company, laughing, cheerful and curious, full of impressions. They are showing off their new Lithuanian, Italian, Turkish, Spanish and Hungarian friends. It is a small world and we get along so well. Lunch is in the school canteen and the food is delicious.

Then we are honoured to meet the mayor in the Town hall. We are watching a presentation about the beautiful Skuodas and its sites. We take a group photo and we part in good atmosphere.

The four of us go looking for the coffee bar,  I mean the Turks, Mila and me. And the students...we meet them in the park, by the river, in the streets, they are in groups, happy and smiling. Who says it is cold in Skuodas? It is a sunny day, there is no wind, it is calm and peaceful.

Frankica Peronja

European Day of Languages

On 26th September we celebrated the European Day of Languages with our project partners.

Students made some great videos introducing themselves in their partners' languages:
The students have also collected some interesting facts about their mother tongues and shared them with their partners on a Padlet wall:

Created with Padlet

2nd transnational project meeting in Hvar, Croatia

The second transnational project meeting took place in Hvar, Croatia. It was organised from 5-7 September, 2016 and each partner institution was represented by two or three project team members. 

During the meeting we launched the 2nd project year by summing up the project activities we had completed so far and we checked and rearranged the activities of the 2nd project year. We agreed on the exact dates of the project activities and discussed the relocation of the 6th student exchange mobility.

We also elaborated on the rules for the creative writing competition and distributed tasks among project team members.

We have also selected activity types for the common measurement tool that we will use for evaluating students’ knowledge of writing skills and vocabulary and grammar related to journalism.

We shared useful practices for teaching and evaluating writing skills.

Besides project management tasks, we took part in a great workshop with Renato Baretic, a Croatian author and journalist, who gave as some tips and ideas on teaching creative writing skills.

We also took part in some great cultural activities and we went on some trips exploring the breathtaking Hvar island. We had an opportunity to see this spectacular place through the eyes of an insider visiting the ’hidden gems’ of this scenic island.

It was a really good meeting with great project partners, so all of us have arrived home enthusiastic about the second year of our cooperation!

Our first project year

Reading in English for Amusement and Dialogue in Europe - Our webpage

 We have launched our webpage, where you can find more information about our project activities.

Reading in English for Amusement and Dialogue in Europe - Home: http://readineurope.weebly.com/