certificates of tolerance for our youngest friends

this week we presented all the 1st-3rd graders of Primary School with certificates of tolerance and sweets to thank them for attending tolerance activities. The most active classes also received games and books on European Union. We really enjoyed seeing the little happy faces!

comenius corner update

working visit in Bulgaria

The Polish T.I.M.E. Comenius team took part in a working visit in St. Sofrony Vrachansky Secondary School in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. There were also our friends from Mako, Hungary. From 6th to 12th May the participants worked to achieve the aims of the Tolerance In My Europe project by participating in joint artistic workshops and getting to know more about Bulgarian culture and customs. The main aim of the visit was to organize Art for Tolerance Festival and to instill tolerant attitudes and fight  prejudices in the context of cultural, religious and socioeconomic diversity.

First day, after the warm welcoming, the teams presented their towns, regions, schools and local  project products. The next day we saw The Museum of Aviation and the wonderful Monastery of Batschkovo as well as the city of Asenovgrad. The most important was the day three, when the groups took part in the celebrations of seeing off the graduates and later in the Art Festival. Joint groups painted and assembled a huge puzzle and then the teams created their murals. Then an exhibition was organized. Working together on artistic forms to express the idea of tolerance provided the opportunity to develop interpersonal and sociolinguistic skills. In the afternoon we were sightseeing the Old Town of Plovdiv which is rightly called “ancient and eternal”. The following day a trip to Sofia took place. Everybody was amazed by the wonderful monuments and buildings of the Bulgarian capital. We could also see and read the tolerance Edict which is 1700 years old. The last day of the visit the students could participate in town celebrations of St. Cyril and Methodius which was a perfect opportunity to disseminate the project products and spread its ideas. In the afternoon all participating teachers and students signed the declaration of tolerance which then was put into a decorative bottle and then buried in the school ground. After that two trees were planted in the earlier launched Alley of Tolerance. In the evening there was a great farewell party in a restaurant where the participants exchanged small gifts, ate delicious Bulgarian food and danced. On the 12^th at midday in front of the hotel, where Polish and Hungarian teams had stayed, there was a very moving farewell with a lot of warm words and tears.

Back in Poland we discussed the visit and came to the conclusion that the visit was just a great means of expressing the project ideas, work and get to know each other as well as meet new friends.

new comenius corner

that is the result of our youngest friends' work and we just adore it!

our youngest friends commitment

We have decided that the hand  (“łapka”) cutout that we used when taking a photo of the inhabitants of our town is a good symbol and it can be developed further in our project.

In the week from 11^th to 15^th April the youngest pupils of our school took part in tolerance lessons. The teachers had a brainstorm discussion with them and they enjoyed some drama and art activities.

The 1^st graders then could participate in a competition to decorate their hand cutouts according to their artistic vision. The 2^nd and 3^rd graders made colorful “Tolerance Trees” where they stuck slips with their ideas of tolerance.

They worked brilliantly and we are going to display their works in our Comenius Corner. Later we will give all the students and their teachers “Certificate of Tolerant Group” and award them with sweet treats. We are really happy to see our youngest friends being so eager to show their talents and share their precious knowledge.

our youngest friends commitment

evaluation report2

In the middle of March 2011 we conducted a second survey among 100 students and teachers in our school which consists of three levels – primary, lower secondary and upper secondary. The aim of the survey was to evaluate activities in our project done so far. We also wanted to know if our promotion actions are sufficient enough. We asked closed and some open questions this time.

Almost half of the surveyed students are aware of our project and they also know when it started. About the same number of the questionned have some knowledge of the ideas behind our actions as well as our partner schools abroad.

A lot of students in the lower secondary school did not know about the Tolerance Day which we organized or they did not associate it with our project. Therefore, we need to promote our actions more.

About 75% of the questionned know about our Comenius Corner.

To sum up, it is obvious that our project is very well known of among students that attend the upper secondary school as our team belongs there. Nevertheless, we are going to involve other students in Lipiany’s school even the youngest. Most of the questionned teachers had a very wide knowledge of our project but somehow they do not wish to encourage their students to take interest in it.