Languages, a vehicle for success

All partners agreed in a very positive feeling about the Project.
The main aim of our partnership was to increase communicative language competence among the European partners, especially our students, and to share resources and teaching methods in order to improve the quality of delivery in modern foreign language lessons.

This Comenius project was a unique and wonderful opportunity for students to learn about different cultures and social activities. One of the most important conclusions was that the students could feel they are in tune with other young people in other parts of Europe.

The project meetings and discussions face to face are the most effective way to facilitate cooperation, to give constructive feedback and to enhance motivation and cross-cultural communication.

According to the opinion of a student taking part in this Project: “I really recommend to everybody to participate in a European project of this kind or of another: you travel, you make new friends and you have experiences that you will never forget in your life. It’s a funny and cheap way to improve a language!

Hey everybody! I am Damla Altunok.I live in İstanbul. I go to Adnan Menderes Anatolian High School. I am 15 years old. It is my first year at this school so when I heard this project , I was upset because I thought that my teachers might not select me for the Comenius Project.
One day while I was listening to my teacher in class , someone knocked at the door. All the students looked at the door and we saw a girl. She said there would be a meeting at school for parents.

On Sunday all the parents went to the school. My English teacher asked who wanted to accommodate foreing students. Only my mom said she wanted to. I was shocked . Because if you don t speak English well , you can’t accommodate anyone. Anyway, I was looking forward to have a guest. When my teacher gave me my guest’s e-mail , I was nervous , again. After that we talked on.

At that time , I was excited! We were waiting for them at a hotel. I had planned everything! She would stay in my room. She would feel my home as her home. She could use all my things. I liked her! =) It was so interesthing.Imagine, you have never talked with a person face to face but you like her or him =) When it was time to go, I was sad… Because I loved them. I didn´t want them to leave.

Damla

The Comenius project was a very good opportunity to go abroad. The trip has given me a possibility to improve my language skills, meet different cultures and learn more about them.
At the same time it was a good chance to get new fellowships or even friendships.
For the journey you will need more than just your luggage. You have to take with you some courage, keenness and willingness to try and learn new things.

The trip to Gijón was a unique experience. Thanks to it I was able to see how the local people in Gijón lived their normal daily life and what life at school was like.
The journey lasted about a week, and for that time teachers had set us a timetable. The timetable included lessons in the local school, visits to different kinds of places and also free time. These arrangements enabled us to take as much as possible out of the journey, even the time was pretty short.

When we had lessons, every country in this project showed a PowerPoint presentation of their own land. We also tried to study some words in different languages.
The Spanish teachers had arranged us some visits. We went to the townhall and walked around the city where they showed us some historical places. We also made a little trip to the mountains and had a picnic there.

In the free time we spent time with our families and also carried out different activities with the whole project students.
I truly recommend that everybody that have even a little interest in travelling or getting new friends and experiences should sign up for these projects. It’s a fun and inexpensive way to improve English-language skills and meet other cultures!

Hanna-Maari

Ezogelin Soup

This is a very typical Turkish soup. Did you know that Turkish people were used to drink soup in breakfast? You need; Onion, butter, water, flour, tomato paste ,rice, red lentil, salt, red pepper, peppermint.

Keşkek is a special name of a traditional wedding dish. It is mostly made in Central Anatolia and Agean region of Turkey. Weddings in these places last a few days and during this time, various dishes are served in front of bride’s or groom’s home. The wedding traditions may differ in regions but food serving is a fixed part of the tradition.

Kısır is a traditional Turkish dish made from bulgur patties, parsley, and tomato paste. The main ingredient is bulgur, a cereal food generally made from wheat.

Manti

It’s a quite traditional dish around Kayseri. Small pieces of dough are boiled and yoghurt with garlic is poured on them.This dish is served with tomato paste sauce on it.It’s very delicious. . It is commonly served as a one-dish meal

Künefe

It’s a very traditional dessert around the southern of Turkey, especially Haty. It is also very popular. Ingredients: Dry dough, butter, cheese without salt and pistachio nut

Türk kahvesi (The Turkish coffee) – A symbol of lasting friendship

The English word ‘coffee’ is derived from the Turkish word ‘kahve’. In Turkey the public coffeehouse is also called ‘kahve’ or in old way; ‘kahvehane’ and it continues to be the meeting place of the traditionalist throughout the Eastern Mediterranean.

TEREZVAROSI COMMERCIAL SECONDARY SCHOOL is located in Budapest, where we held our fourth meeting since 18th to 24th of April 2009.
Four students and two teachers from Jimena Secondary School participated in this Comenius meeting

This school has three different buildings: General secondary technical education, Secondary vocational and post secondary vocational education and Practical commercial classes.
There are about 1100 students and 60 teachers in this school.
Currently 10 million people live within the borders of Hungary, while almost 25% live in the region of our capital city, Budapest.

Hungary is a small country in the heart of Europe. Also known as Magyarország, the country of the Magyar. They are a proud people with a rich cultural and linguistic heritage.

Migrating from the Ural Mountains 1,100 years ago under the leadership of King Arpad, they settled in the fertile farmland at the base of the Carpathian Mountains. This small country is one of the great survivors of history: states and empires emerged, expanded or disintegrated and disappeared around it. A stormy history?

The capital and the largest Hungarian city is Budapest; it is the heart, soul and memory of Hungary. Budapest, called ” the pearl of the Danube ” is crossed by the second river of Europe after the Volga which separates the historical city from Buda, right bank, to the more modern city of Pest, left bank.

Buda and Pest face on both sides the majestic Danube, which crosses several countries and follows a course of 2820 km between the Black Forest and the Black Sea. In Budapest the Danube is approximately in a little less than half of its course.

Budapest is a beautiful, vibrant city which has numerous fine buildings many of which were restored after the Second World War.

Tarja Halonen was born in December of 1943 and her president career started in March of 2000. She has a beautiful daughter and handsome husband Pentti Arajärvi. Tarja is very nice and bright person and she likes to live a full life.

Kimi Räikkönen was born in October of 1979 in Espoo. Kimi won the world championship in 2007 and became so famous all over the world. In 2005 Räikkönen won the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Aleksis Kivi was born in 1834 in Nurmijärvi. He wrote many plays, novels and poems. The most well-known novel is Seitsemän veljestä (The Seven Brothers) (1870). Kivi died in 1872 when he was living in his brother’s house.

Jean Sibelius was born in 1865 in Hämeenlinna. Sibelius made many symphonies and other compositions to orchestras. The most famous composition is Finlandia hymn which is our national anthem.

Santa Claus is the legendary and mythical figure who, in many Western cultures, brings gifts to the homes of the good children during the late evening and overnight hours of Christmas Eve, December 24 or on his Feast Day, December 6. Santa lives in Finland, Korvatunturi. And we all believe in Santa Claus of course!!

In the opinion of many people, Istanbul is one of the most fascinating cities in the history of the world, the city of two continents or the city of Mosques,……or the hearth of Turkey.
We held our third meeting in Istanbul since 1st to 7th of March 2009. Three students and two teachers from Jimena Secondary School participated in this Comenius meeting

ADNAN MENDERES ANATOLIAN HIGH SCHOOL is located in a very important socio-economical area. It has 44 teachers and 592 students. They say that all their students get a standard high school education in terms of the Turkish National Education Policy. Students get this school after an exam in all Turkey.

The students made Power point presentations about “High School rules” and “Holidays” which were shown in the second and the third days of the meeting. They were very interesting sessions for everybody. The Comenius teachers made a Presentation about “School System”, after we were exchanging information and analyzing the professional teachers activities from multiple aspects.
We could visit other vocational schools in the same district. All students wear school uniform, consisting of white shirt with a black polo.

Istanbul is situated on two continents. The east part of the city is in Asia, and the west part in Europe. On the South it is bounded by the Sea of Marmora, on the North – by Black Sea. The sea route from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea requires passing through the Bosporus and Istanbul.

Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, which combines continents and cultures. Its population is 15 million people and the city is one of the biggest industrial and cultural centres in Turkey. Beautiful mosques, Christian sanctuaries, palaces, modern buildings, it is no chance that Istanbul is famous as the Cradle of Civilizations.

All together, students and teachers visited this great city. At first Istanbul seems too crowded with cars and people everywhere, but perhaps that is one of its charms. Turkish people were wonderful and pleasant guides and they got to show us what Istanbul is like. We could visit the great palace of Topkapi;

….. the Hagia Sofia, the “church of holy wisdom”, the most important Byzantine architecture found in Istanbul; the Blue Mosque and surroundings; the Dolmabahce Palace, how lucky to see the Bosporus from this place, how lucky the Sultans were to own such property! ….and the Grand Bazaar, a labyrinth of small shops of Turkish souvenirs, lamps, carpets, potteries, jewelleries, chessboards (very pretty), ….

Istanbul is a living museum with its historical sites in open air!

Budapest is the capital city of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it serves as the country’s principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation center and is considered an important hub in Central Europe. Budapest became a single city occupying both banks of the river Danube with the unification on 17 November 1873, of right-bank (west) Buda and Óbuda (Old Buda) together with Pest on the left (east) bank.

Debrecen is home to a large university, University of Debrecen, whose main building is a widely recognized work of architecture. The university has many departments and is a major research facility in Europe.

Pécs is the fifth largest city of Hungary, located in the south-west of the country, close to its border with Croatia. Pécs is also the seat of Roman Catholic Diocese of Pécs.

Győr is the most important city of northwest Hungary, the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron county and lies on one of the important roads of Central Europe, halfway between Budapest and Vienna. The city is the sixth largest in Hungary and one of the seven main regional centers of the country.

Every spring, the town hosts the annual Busójárás carnival.
The Busójárás (Hungarian, meaning “Busó-walking”) is an annual celebration of the Šokci (Croatians) living in the town of Mohács, Hungary, held at the end of the Carnival season (”Farsang”), ending the day before Ash Wednesday.
The celebration features Busós includes folk music, masquerading, parades and dancing.The celebration features Busós Busójárás lasts six days, usually during February.

Balaton, located in Hungary, is the largest lake in Central Europe, and one of the foremost regional tourist destinations. Due to Hungary being landlocked, it is often affectionately called the “Hungarian Sea”.

We held our second meeting in Mikkeli (Finland) since 11th to 17th of October 2008.

Helsinki, the capital of Finland, is know as “the daughter of the Baltic Sea”. What’s a nice name!
The Market Square or Kauppatori (in Finish) is one of the most famous market places in Europe. Fishers, fruits and vegetables, people of Helsinki, tourists, ….. all mixed in this open-air Market. You can eat some really tasty smoked fish!

From here you can walk to Senate Square where you should visit the white Lutheran Cathedral, and take a stroll in Esplanade park. Don’t miss the Orthodox Church (Upenski Cathedral) not far from there. All this is walking distance from the Market Square. It’s really an unforgettable city!

South Savo Vocational College (ESEDU) is located in Mikkeli, which is a multidisciplinary college with over 6,000 students annually. It takes three hours to drive by bus from Helsinki to Mikkeli. Saimaa and Puula are large lakes in Mikkeli. Besides them there are about 700 lakes and ponds in the area. Near the lakes, conifer forests dominate the landscape.

The school has seven different buildings, in two of them the general subjects are studied, whereas the other five are the workshops in which the pupils can put into practice what they have learnt in theory. They organize diverse training and development services for youth, adults, companies, and organizations. They offer their students unique versatile learning paths and international learning experiences customized to fit different life situations.

Their activities are based on values: Community-oriented and open minded, valuing know-how, result-oriented and dependability, customer appreciation, …… and their study fields are: Culture, Natural Sciences, Natural Resources and the Environment, Tourism, Catering and Domestic Services, Social Services, Health and Sports, Technology, Communications and Transport, Social Sciences, Business and Administration.
We spent four days sharing our experiences together in perfect harmony with the other colleges from Turkey, Hungary and Finland.

The students were working in a small dictionary with the most basic words in all the languages. It was very interesting the short videos about school and family-life in the different countries.
After having visited the different buildings of this school we got really impressed about the installations and equipments in all the different workshops with very modern machines in each professional branch, and …….. the quietness and peaceful atmosphere all around.

This was our first meeting in which the students were involved. In this case two teachers travelled with three students.
It was, without doubt, an enriching experience!

El segundo encuentro internacional de este Proyecto Comenius se realizó en nuestro Centro (23 – 27 Abril 2008). En general, ha sido una experiencia muy interesante y enriquecedora, y nuestra valoración fue positiva, teniendo en cuenta, además, que ha sido nuestro primer Comenius con participación de alumnos.

En total participaron 24 alumnos y 10 profesores pertenecientes a las siguientes localidades y paises:
MIKKELI (FINLANDIA) – 3 alumnos y 1 profesora
ANKARA (TURQUIA) – 2 alumnos y 1 profesor
ISTANBUL (TURQUÍA) – 3 profesores y 3 alumnos
BUDAPEST (HUNGRÍA) - 2 profesoras y 4 alumnos
GIJÓN (ESPAÑA) – 3 profesores y 12 alumnos

Durante los 4 días en nuestra localidad y nuestro Centro se realizaron diversas actividades, algunas ya planificadas en el encuentro anterior:
Presentación de las distintas instituciones participantes.
Bienvenida oficial de la Directora de nuestro Centro Dña. Leontina Alonso
Power Point Presentations de todos los centros participantes.
Visita a las distintas instalaciones de nuestro Instituto
Recepción oficial en el Ayuntamiento de Gijón
Recorrido y visita a nuestra ciudad
Revisión de los objetivos previstos. Planificación de nuevas actividades
Evaluación - valoración de alumnos, padres y profesores de este encuentro internacional
Fiesta – intercambio cultural
Recorrido en autobús por nuestra región alternando zona costera y montaña.

El próximo encuentro se realizará en la localidad finlandesa de Mikkeli, con la aportación de las siguientes actividades:
Preparación de un pequeño diccionario multilinguístico (inglés, finlandés, turco, húngaro y español), con unas 50 palabras y expresiones básicas en todas las lenguas (pronunciación incluida).
Grabación de un pequeño vídeo acerca del centro educativo (unos 5 minutos) y de la vida familiar habitual (unos 10 minutos).