European Label 2010 for Eminescu College

Mihai Eminescu National College from Baia Mare, Romania, has been awarded the European Language Label 2010.
It is for the second time that the school receives this certificate. This time for this project.

What is the European Language Label?
"The European Label is an award that encourages new initiatives in the field of teaching and learning languages, rewarding new techniques in language teaching, spreading the knowledge of their existence and thereby promoting good practice (see European Label Projects of the Month). The Label is open to all aspects of education and training, regardless of age or methods used, with its main focus being to promote innovation in language teaching. By supporting innovative projects, at a local and national level, the Label seeks to raise the standards of language teaching across Europe. Each year, the Label is awarded to the most innovative language learning projects in each country participating in the scheme. It is co-ordinated by the European Commission, but managed by the individual Member States, with national juries deciding on detailed criteria." ( The European Commission, Multilingualism)

End of the Project

Dear Friends,
Here we are at the end of our fruitful partnership.
All started 3 years ago when Alasdair invited us to work for and in this inspiring project.
It meant a lot of hard work but also much satisfaction.
We managed to involve hundreds of students, teachers , parents,authorities, who benefited of or supported our work.
While working on the final report I realized once again how wonderful and at the same time how complex our work was.
I want to thank Alasdair, our international coordinator and promotor of the project, for his work.
I also want to thank all the teachers I cooperated with from France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Turkey and Romania.
I want to thank all the students for their dedication and for the wonderful products they managed to make.
The films, the interviews, the PowerPoint presentations, the materials for the project reunions, the materials for the Conference volume, all of them are valuable products.
I met wonderful people and I visited wonderful countries with very hospitable hosts.
Let's hope this is the end of the project but not the end of our cooperation.

I am looking forward to meeting you again in new European events.

Warmest regards to all,

Mariana
Romania

Feedback Janina

Wow- I just can say wow to our trip to Bursa. I’m sure, that we all will never forget this time there. We just met so many nice people in Turkey and in my eyes the nice Turkish students and teachers really tried to make our trip wonderful . I really liked the Turkish hospitality. They all were so outgoing and they wanted us to feel comfortable and happy. So our part, to make them happy was just to eat and say that the meal is pretty good ;). But I’ve to say, that during our trip, I was almost annoyed of the typical Turkish tea, but when I came home, I really missed the students who were saying- “Tea Time”.
So until now, I just talked about the good things there, but there is also one fact, which I don’t like: The rules for the girls. On the one hand I understand, we have to respect the other culture and conventions, but on the other hand, these things made it hard for the girls to talk to the male students beyond the program.
Anyhow, Bursa and the Turkish culture were really interesting for me. It wasn’t my first time in Turkey, but it was the first time I wasn’t in the typical touristic cities. So it was all the more interesting to see and experience Turkish life at close quarters. Especially the Turkish mentality impressed me. Everybody was singing and nobody was ashamed, even if he has a bad voice :D.
So, all in all, I made a great experience with all the other students from the different countries. I think we had a lot of fun together. So, at last, thanks to everyone.


Janina Babst
(Germany)

Bursa meeting - Feedback of the German students

Comenius Meeting Mai 2010- Feedback of the German students

1. Cem Yada

Before the last meeting of the Comenius Project in Mai 2010 I felt excited as well as nervous, for that there are several reasons: I visited Turkey often before this meeting, but always as usual Tourist and I have only visited my relatives, so I had never got the chance to live in a real Turkish family on my own. This project gave me the chance for that and I feel very thankful to my host family, because they were very friendly to me at all times and it was an honour for me to be Saffets guest for 4 days. All in all the students of the Bursa Polis College were very friendly to us as German delegation. I did not have any problems with any of them. It was really a very interesting stay and I especially enjoyed the talks at the evenings, when students from 5 nations were talking about different themes, their everyday lives as well as about political and economic questions. Of course there were also a few things I did not like very much, but the reason for that is that the life in Turkey is much different than the life I have here in Germany. One thing was for example that it was extremely hot sometimes, especially at the midday it was no pleasure to be on the bus, because it was so much warmer than in Europe. Another point I want to criticize is that I think that at the first day the program was maybe a little bit too much, a little bit too busy as to say but it was great that Mr. Öztürk gave us more free time the following day. The stay in Bursa was all in all very good and I enjoyed it very much, the only real bad thing was that it was so short- maybe it would be better if we had one whole week, because making real friendships takes usually longer than just a few days. The next part took place in Istanbul. This was also real impressive, because the imperial glory of the city with her great mosques and bazaars, her palaces and the Bosporus itself was really a proof for the old Greatness of the Ottoman Empire as well as for the targets the different people can reach if they are working together. As you probably know, at the Ottoman period of the city there were living ethnic groups of different origin in peace and harmony with each other, working and fighting for the Sultan and creating an unbelievable place between two continents, between two worlds. One of my personal highlights also took place in Istanbul, at the Blue Mosque: On Sunday I used the chance to pray there, which was really great and inspiring. In my opinion the Comenius project was one of the best projects I have ever worked for and I would feel honoured if I got the chance to continue working for it, because I see Comenius projects as the first step to a new future of this continent: To a future where the peoples of Europe and Turkey are working hand in hand to create peace for all.

2. Jale Yasan

Yeşil Beyaz- Yeşil Beyaz , Şampion- Bursa, Şampion-Bursa !! Well, I think, this is something we will never foget. The wonderful and proud students who are singing ore better screaming out these words. And there are a lot of other things and memories we will never forget too. It was an awesome and great time which we all spent in Bursa together, and I was and still am very happy to have been able to be a part of this project.
I met so many amazing people and saw so much of Bursa’s culture. It wasn’t my first time there , but I have never seen so many beautiful things. On top, I have never seen so many students who were always saying one phrase aganin and again- Oh no, not again dinner! I’m not hungry ! So, I think the Turkish hosts completely succeeded in trying to make us a “group”- we even had the same thoughts when we heard the words: “ Time for dinner”. But I think the most important aspect ist the turkish hospitality, which I really enjoyed. Their bids for us, to make us feel comfortable really impressed me. But I had the impression that it weren’t really the teachers, more the students who tried this. They always talked to everyone , and tried to make this short time an unforgettable sojourn.
Unfortunately there were some “rules“ for the girls which made it really hard, actually impossible to spend a bit more time with the others and get to know them better after the program. But there was one action which disappointed me most. I was really really happy and glad about the “ Final Meal” in the hotel. I thought it would be a wonderful ending after these days, to eat together with all the other groups. Sadly I was wrong. The turkish students were missing during our meal and so we were really shocked and disappointed about this fact.
Apart from these negative experiences, I really enjoyed our trip to Bursa. With all the police stuff, like driving in the car with the flashing blue light, dalling around with policemen or almost policemen, crossing the streets after someone had stopped the traffic- I really felt like Paris Hilton after some days . But unfortunately there is no one in Germany who stops the the traffic for me ;).
So all in all I really enjoyed our trip to Bursa. It was an instructional and interesting week, with so many fanstastic people.
At the end, I would really like to thank all the involved persons who worked on this project, the teachers, the families and of course the students.
But especially I want to thank all the students of our countries. I really enjoyed our time, and I’ll never forget this trip, where we all made some great expreiences together. You all are very sympathetic and kind persons so that it was impossible not to like you.

Greatings and Kisses from Germany to everyone,
Jale Yasan



3. Vanessa Seifert
My expectations and my cognition

I went to Bursa with mixed feelings.
I already knew some of the Turkish pupils which made me feel more confident.
Of course I was also very much delighted to meet my old friends again.
Because I had already taken part in a meeting here in Germany, I think I knew what would expect me.
I assumed from this that it would be only slightly different from the meeting in Germany, but very soon I had to find out that this was very different. In Bursa we were cordially received and surprised with many program points.
There was so much to see and to find out that you could hardly see everything.
Luckily there were cameras around to take photos of these moments.
Some of the days were very exhausting, so that at the end of these days everyone was very tired and only wanted to go to bed.
All in all, the stay in Bursa was something special and wonderful, because the Turkish hosts have given us an insight into another culture.
This week has helped me to learn something about the culture and to understand some things better, because I have spoken a lot with my host family. My host mother could explain many things to me which perplexed me, because here in Germany you hear many prejudices.
I can say that especially the meeting in Turkey has shown that the different culture cannot be the reason for a lack of integration in e.g. Germany.
All results of the groups and the workshops show to me that the problem is ignorance and lacking clarification what every land should work on. The Comenius project is a very good beginning!


4. Markus Baumeister

It's time for dinner!

Bursa- two million people live in this city, located about 150 km south of Istanbul.
You can recognize these two million people, the city-center is just overcrowded. Bursa is one big traffic jam. Especially on hot days it is difficult to breathe there as a consequence of all the smog.
But that is not the point. It does not matter whether the air is a little bit dirty. What does matter are the people living there and how their mentality is. I really liked the Turkish people. They are communicative and impulsive.
Furthermore, I had the chance to enjoy the Turkish hospitality, for which they are famous all over the world. For instance, we, as guests, received a lot of presents.
Particularly, the food was very, very, very good, but it was too much for my “German-stomach”.
During the stay in Turkey, I learned one important sentence, referring to the meal: “yok, sal”, which means “no, thanks”.
The guys from Bursa Polis Koleji (our partner school) were very interested in telling us something about their culture and their life in Turkey. They even succeeded in bringing the whole group together to sing the hymn of BURSASPOR, the Turkish football champion of 2010.
I really enjoyed spending time together with the whole group (from: Poland, France, Italy, Romania, Turkey and Germany) although there were some language-barriers.
But from my point of view, we had not enough private time with the group of students, because the program was very busy.
We met each other in some restaurants, but every time without the girls. Till today I can't understand why.
There was one point that really irritated me: on the last evening we had dinner together at the hotel where the teachers stayed. It was very nice, with excellent food and excellent furnishings. But where were the Turkish students??? They did not eat together with us. We talked about integration between young people in Europe all the time and then the Turkish group was separated from us. This is not integration!

All in all, I enjoyed the stay in Turkey. It was fantastic to see how real Turkish families live, because I had just known Turkish life from Alanya (in a holiday region). Although there were some problems, we had a nice time together.
At last I wanted to thank my exchange student (Hüseyin Karagöz) and my exchange parents for accomodating me warmly.

With greetings to all Comenius students and teachers,
Markus Baumeister (Germany)

Feedback from French students

Feedback from French students

1/ Quiterie Landèche-1ES3

I had an opportunity to spend one wonderful week in Turkey. Thanks to the Comenius project I met students from Poland, Romania, Germany, Italy and of course Turkey. I am convinced that these meetings are the best way to get to know each other, to discover new cultures and to eliminate sterile stereotypes. For me, Turkey was, for sure, one of the countries I knew the least about. What I did know about Turkey was what is broadcast by the media, what is said by politicians and teachers. I knew that Turkey had problems joining the European Union, I also knew that Turkey had a very rich history with the Ottoman Empire and that, once, Turkey had been the cultural center of the world. This was what I had heard about, so I realized that I actually really knew very little.
After spending six days in Turkey, after visiting Bursa and Istanbul, after meeting Turkish families, Turkish students and teachers I now have a completely different idea. Since coming back to France I keep sharing with others what I discovered in only six days. What I will always remember is the way we were welcomed and hosted. I do not have enough English vocabulary to describe how amazing and how extraordinary Turkish people were. They showed us a different image of Turkey; a country with an impressive culture, a country where dancing and singing is part of every day life, a country where History is in every street, bazaar and mosque… Visiting Bursa with our Turkish hosts was very important for me because they told us their story, a story we had sometimes never heard about. All Turkish people were very kind and friendly toward us, we were received by the Governor and the Mayor and we actually felt important for a few hours! I really want to finish this very short report by saying that these meetings and projects do change mentalities. Thanks to the internet we continue to keep in touch with other students who were in Turkey with us, and the words that we exchange help us understand different cultures than ours and I am sure these relations will last !
I really want to thank each person who contributed to and participated in this project.
‘Immigrants Past and Present - Towards Greater Integration?’ This project was a step in the right direction, towards a change in mentalities. Today I hope that I will be able to go back once to Turkey and I also hope that other students will have the chance to participate in this kind of project.
çok teşekkür ederim


2/ Ines Fresko 1ES3

Thanks to the Comenius project, we had the opportunity to spend six wonderful days in Turkey, that we’ll never forget.
Before going to Turkey, we had worked on the issue of immigration: we met a French ‘pied noir’, an immigrant who moved to mainland France from Algeria in 1961 during the war of independence. We made a film about her story and her integration into French society. This preparation helped us to understand some interesting things about immigration and integration in France, before going to Turkey. Then, after presenting our film and by listening to the other students, I realised that immigration was a very important topic in our society, and that migrants had lots of things to teach us. It opened my mind and made me more tolerant.
I had never been to Turkey before and in my mind, the Muslim religion was very important there. In reality, it wasn’t what I thought: lots of Turkish women don’t wear a veil, Turkish people don’t pray as much as I had imagined …
But finally, I changed my mind : I saw a country which looks like mine in some respects and I discovered a new language, new customs (such as having tea ten times a day… !) : a new culture.
But especially, I discovered Turkish people, and I think I will never forget that. Turkish people are very friendly, they always take care of you, they always smile, they always joke ! We were treated like Very Important People : we were impressed but also very happy to be there and to meet students from the Police College.
That’s why I would thank all the Turkish people for this wonderful week. It was such a fantastic experience, and be sure I will never forget that!


3/ Louison Muller

I was very happy to spend one week with you in Turkey. This comenius project was a great success. It was very pleasant to present our movie and our project to all the other students from all the other European countries. During the Comenius project we had learned a lot of things about immigration and integration. We also discovered Turkey which is a fabulous country.
For me Turkey was a new country I had never visited it before. Before visiting this country I thought Turkey was a country where the religion was very important and that Turks were more radical on this issue, especially on the womens’ rights issue. Thanks to this project visit I have changed my mind, I see Turkey as a very modern country where some cities look like some Western European cities.
I was very impressed by the way Turkish people welcomed us; they really are very friendly and kind. Thanks to them we had the opportunity to visit amazing places and to understand a different but a wonderful culture. Students of “Polis Koleji” were extraordinary and they hosted us in a way I had never experienced before. I will always remember the show they prepared; I just loved their performances. This evening was awesome!
The meetings with students from different countries helped me to improve my English, it made me realize some things about immigration and integration.

I’d like to thank everyone for everything! I spent amazing moments in Turkey!









-

The Fourth Project Meeting in Bursa

The fourth project meeting took place in Turkey and was hosted by the Polis Koleji in Bursa

Participants
The Romanian team (Mariana Hudrea and Florian Nechit plus their pupils) arrived on Monday 24 May followed by the remaining teams the following day;
Alasdair Watts and Isabelle Roy from France, Wolfgang Mertens , Till Winkler and Rolf Albrecht from Germany, Monica Meneghelli and Patrizia Tommasi from Italy, Jola Prodanowska and Dorata Boryczko from Poland. Altogether 15 foreign pupils attended the project meeting from these five countries.

Accommodation
All staff were accommodated at the Bursa Kent Hotel in the centre of Bursa and pupils by host families. Teachers all expressed satisfaction regarding the choice of the hotel which was ideally situated in the heart of Bursa and offered an unrivalled view of the City. Staff had very positive feedback from pupils concerning host families.

Wednesday
The official meeting began on Wednesday 26 May. We were first received by the Governor who greeted us warmly in the Governor’s Palace on behalf of the regional authorities. The Governor stressed the importance Turkey in general and Bursa in particular attaches to such European projects as ours. After the reception the group visited the Bursa Kent Museum and was introduced to the local Bursa history, architecture, economy and civil society. We then made our way to the Town Hall where the Mayor of Bursa received us in his office. The Mayor provided us with invaluable information about the city, notably its rapid expansion, the growing importance of manufacturing industry etc. A sign of this confidence is Bursaspor’s recent winning of the Turkish football championship in which the Mayor expressed his pride.
In the afternoon students made their presentations on the theme of immigration in the premises formally serving as a Haman or Turkish bath and now used as a cultural centre.
(short summaries of the presentations can be found in the annex)
The day’s activities concluded with a Classical Music Concert at Tayyare Kultur Merkezi in the centre of Bursa.

Thursday
We spent Thursday morning at the Bursa Polis Koleji, initially in the lecture theatre where the school director made an opening address to welcome us to his school, outlining the school’s ethos, aims and ambitions. This was followed by a round table discussion similar to those we have held at each of our four project meetings. Ethnic Turks from Greece and Bulgaria as well as an Italian immigrant from Turin related their experience of leaving their country of birth to settle in Turkey. Students and teachers had an opportunity to dialogue with them.
We were then divided into groups and some teachers and students were taken to the school’s shooting range in the basement to practice their shooting skills while others took part in English classes.
In the afternoon we were taken to the Karagöz Museum to enjoy the traditional Turkish shadow puppet theatre involving the two characters Hacivat and Karagöz. The resident puppeteer is responsible for all aspects of production, including the creation and design of the puppets themselves, the writing of the scenario as well as the manipulation of the puppets and the different voices.
We moved on to visit the 600 year-old Historical Plane Tree in the picturesque village of Inkaya and the day’s cultural activities concluded with an impressive performance of rock music, dance and traditional Turkish music given by the students of the Bursa Polis Koleji in the school lecture theatre to rapturous applause.


Friday
We made an early start on Friday and were driven to Cumalikizik Village in the Yıldırım sub-province where, after a copious Turkish breakfast, we were able to examine the perfectly preserved characteristics of Ottoman architecture.
We then returned to the Bursa Polis Koleji where students were placed in mixed nationality groups, this time with the task of producing and presenting in mixed groups posters promoting the underlying message of tolerance and anti-racism that has been prevalent throughout the two years of our project.
After lunch students and teachers were divided into two groups and taken to the headquarters of two NGOs in charge of assisting ethnic Turks returning to their homeland as well dealing with problems of discrimination faced by ethnic Turks living abroad.
Back in the centre of Bursa we were offered a Sema or Whirling Dervish Show in which dancers dressed in flowing white robes whirled around for forty minutes accompanied by prayers and holy music amazingly without showing the slightest signs of dizziness.
In the evening all participants attended a dinner at the Bursa Kent Hotel. The director of the Bursa Polis Koleji honored us with his presence and gave a final speech thanking us for participating on the project and hoping future collaboration would be possible in the years to come. The local press published various articles on this Comenius project and even the Turkish TV broadcast parts of the fourth meeting.


Saturday
On Saturday we returned to Istanbul, crossing the Sea of Marmara this time by the express ferry from Mudanya. Students and teachers were delighted to discover on arriving in Istanbul a police escort awaiting us to accompany us to the Istanbul police restaurant overlooking the Bosphorus where we enjoyed a hearty breakfast before setting off to discover the beauty of Istanbul (the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, the Tagpapi Palace as well as a memorable boat trip on the Bosphorus).
Teams returned home on Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 May.


A word of thanks
All colleagues and students expressed their delight at all aspects of this fourth and final project meeting. Our Turkish hosts offered us wonderful hospitality and were constantly concerned that all our needs were attended to. The programme was rich, varied and very professionally organized.

Alasdair Watts
Project Coordinator


Annex

1/ The German Presentaion

Many topics related to immigration and integration are frequently covered by the German press. One are the so-called “honour killings“, a term that is used when a family drama occurs in an immigrant family. It enhances people’s fears of immigrants, just as the topic of fundamentalism among immigrants, such as the Turkish neo-fascist movement of the “Grey Wolves“.
However, the media more and more also cover topics that evoke positive feelings with regard to immigrants, for example successful integration projects. One of them is the “mentor project“ supported by the German government. Committed citizens help individuals with a migration background, especially students with school problems. Another example is the “Ernst-Reuter-Initiative“ which supports German-Turkish cooperation.
On the local level, the city of Seelze has, just like other communities, developed various programs that provide help for immigrants. The local newspapers cover these efforts continuously.

2/ The French Presentation
The four French students first showed a film they had made entitled ‘I’ve had Three Lives’. It features a ‘pied noir’ or white French Algerian called Denise Vabre who was forced to leave Algeria after it gained independence in 1962. She expresses the love she feels for the land where she grew up and the difficulty she experienced adapting to life in mainland France.
The second presentation was called ‘We work, we strike’ and dealt with the protest movement in March 2010 which saw immigrant workers in France and across Europe down tools to raise awareness of the discrimination they face


3/ The Italian Presentation
Islam and Western culture meet together through immigration. Is the integration a problem or a phenomenon In Italy?
Our presentation is a synthesis of our work of analysis and discussion about newspaper articles and interviews which reflect different Italian points of view on this topic. In this period the debate in the Italian media about the difficulties and positive aspects of immigration and possible integration between people of a different culture and religion is open and vivacious. In our classes of “responsible and active citizenship” we made deeper our research interviewing people who know and live personally integration among people of different religions. A theology and philosophy teacher, a Catholic priest who worked for a long of time with immigrants, a Turkish lady living in Italy. The point of strength of the project is the comparison and synthesis concerning the situations in the six different countries involved in this project .
4/ The Turkish Presentation
As the hosting school of the final meeting the Turkish team decided to reflect on the theme of immigration in two ways. The first one consisted of Interviews and presentations of the immigrants (Ethnic Turks from Greece and Bulgaria as well as an Italian living in Bursa) and visits to NGOs connected to Immigrants.
We also thought it would be worthwhile to give inclusive information about the immigration from Turkey to European countries. Germany was the leading country with Turkish immigrants so we studied on “Immigration of Turkish citizens to Germany” with three subtitles “Guest workers, Family Unifications and Incentives for Returns”.
5/ The Polish Presentation
The first presentation made by Polish students was a film about one of the largest groups of immigrants in Poland – the Vietnamese. They come for many reasons, but particularly economic ones. The journey is very expensive, costing about 4000 dollars and is organized by special agencies operating in Vietnam. The film outlines the difficulties some face integrating into Polish society but it also shows that there are many success stories.

The second deals with the story of a woman called Swietlana, who came to Poland from The Ukraine in 1995 to earn a living after the Ukrainian factory where she worked started to pay its employees in kind (cloth instead of money). Shortly after settling in Poland she discovered she had terminal cancer. The film focuses on her quest for a foster family in Poland to avoid her four children being sent back to Ukraine after her death.

6/ The Romanian Presentation

700 Years of Turkish-Romanian Relationships

At the end of the 14th century the borders of the Ottoman Empire reached the Danube River
The relations with the Romanian Principalities were often tense till 1877 when Romania became independent.
Many Turks remained to live in the south and south east of the country.
Today the majority of the Turks live in the historical region of Northern Dobruja (Turkish: Dobruca), particularly in Constanţa County, where they number 24,246 and make up 3.4% of the population, in Tulcea County : 3,334 (1.3%), in Bucharest : 2,473 (0.1%).
As an officially-recognized ethnic minority, the Turks have one seat reserved for them in the Romanian Chamber of Deputies.
After 1989, a significant number of Turkish entrepreneurs started investing and establishing business ventures in Romania, and a certain proportion chose to take up residence in Romania.
At the same time many Turks living in Romania immigrated to Turkey to live with their relatives there.

Feedbacks from Poland

Dear Turkish friends,

my journey to Turkey was the best experience in my life. I did not expect Turkey to be such a beautiful country. The programme of our project meeting was simply perfectly prepared, all the meetings, trips, special activities so relevant to the topic of our project . Thanks to you I have seen a lot of interesting places and monuments, I could participate in so many wonderful activities which I will always remember. I learnt so much about Turkish people, their system of education and their culture. I could meet a lot of wonderful people, so warm , caring ,friendly and hospitable. I learnt a lot during the meeting and I hope that our friendship will last for ever.

Thank you for everything.

Joanna J. Poland.

Dear Turkish Friends,

At the begining I would like to thank you all for hosting us with such warmth and hospitality.
If I had to choose the thing I liked most I'd choose You - Turkish people because I was very nicely suprised by your hospitality and the way you treated us - like your family :). Apart from all activities prepared for our project meeting which we enjoyed so much, I also liked sightseeing - I've seen a lot of interesting things which I'll never forget, for example beautiful mosques, exotic cities of Bursa and Istanbul so different from the ones I've already been to. I would like to mention that I really loved the family who hosted me . They were such warm and friendly people that I really miss them now. We appreciate so much all your effort you put to make us feel so good in Turkey that it is difficult to find words to describe how much we loved the project meeting, all people whom we had an opportunity to meet and everything you prepared for us .

At the end I'd like to send greetings to all of you my Turkish firends and I hope we'll meet again soon :)

Jakub P. Poland