Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Transnational meeting in Slovenia - Day 1

We all arrived on Sunday and after a good rest we started work on Monday morning. We were warmly greeted by the principal, the teachers and the students of our Slovenian partner school in Slovenske Konjice.
The meeting was opened with a lovely song performed by students followed by the kind words of the school's principal and the Slovenian project coordinator , Mateja. We had a chance to hear about various project-related activities and besides Erasmus + projects we were also informed about other interesting programmes that the students have taken part in, such as the Human Library. We were also told about the different activities students do related to Earth Day and two students also gave a lovely recital of some eco-themed pieces of literature.
This informative session was followed by a really generous act; we planted a tree together with the teachers and the students of the school, which was a lovely experience.
After a short break we took part in some lesson observations. Firstly, we saw a really interesting English-Slovenian literature class where students worked on a poem written by a Slovenian poet, Srecko Kosovel. The lesson was conducted both in Slovenian and English and was really interesting to see how the two subjects could be combined in one lesson using great methods such as brainstorming, creative writing and translation.
During the second lesson we could observe Geography, Physics and Maths lessons, all of which were really interesting and informative. The lesson observation was followed by a project meeting where we agreed on the common tools to be used for project evaluation, distributed some tasks and we also managed to agree on the timing of the mobilities of the next year. After lunch we took a great walking tour in the beautiful surroundings and admired the breathtaking scenery. We visited a golf course where we learnt some information about this sport and also had a chance to try it out ourselves. It was followed by a visit to a nearby farmhouse which is beautifully furnished and we were offered some tea and traditional Slovenian cakes, all of which were delicious.
All in all, the first day of our meeting was extremely enjoyable and full of great professional and recreational activities alike!