20th - 24th September 2021

Slovakia prides with its beautiful nature, specific endemit flowers, trees and endemic species of animals. More than 50 percent of the Slovak´s land is covered by trees and mountains. Students, teachers, parents and local authorities participated in many of the activities connected with the education, care, awareness and protection of the delicate environment which is unfortunately being harmed and destroyed daily. We organized meetings with specialists about these topics, not only in the school but also in the many museums which Slovakia boasts. We visited places focused on Slovak´s fauna and flora and its protection in Turiec Region around our hometown Martin, in Malá and Velká Fatra. Students with their teachers visited Harmanecká Cave where bats live in winter time, the guide specialists gave lecture about the topics and problems that Slovakia deals with. During our filed trips in the nature we cleaned the environment from the trash, rubbish not only around the school but at some other places, where it was needed. Most of the activities were done before the mobility during the lessons of Biology, Physics and Chemistry where many of our students and teachers were involved and shared their work on the school boards, school website and local newspapers. We took advantage of the fact that the Slovak school is the only school in the project which is bilingual so the participants were supposed to attend lessons of some subjects taught in English but due to covid restrictions our presence in lessons was impossible. We celebrated and reminded students the Earth Day and the World Cleanup Day which was celebrated just a day before our arrival to Slovakia - students picked up trash around their schools.
We think that this mobility helped the participants to understand the problem of environment protection focused on vegetation, trees, forests in Slovakia. They were able to experience the destructive impact of hurricane Kyril in 2007 in High Tatras and the effort of local ecologists to renew the forests. They also witnessed how important forests and mountains are for Slovak sheep farmers producing cheese and other typically local products depending on clean and healthy environment. The added benefit was the possibility to see typical folklore and try local gastronomy specialities like "halušky s brynzou".

We posted all our project results, dictionary, videos, articles, evaluations, survey and its outcomes, questionnaire and the shared documents on the eTwinning platform. Before the mobility students and teachers regularly held online meetings, they were chatting, video-calling. All mobility information, such as programme, photos, newsletter, questionnaire, welcome letter, videos were posted there. All the work and all the communication was done through this platform. Before the mobility project team members worked especially with their teachers of biology on the topic of vegetation in every partner school, studying the situation in their regions. Their findings were shared on Twinspace by means of a shared google document with texts, videos, pictures etc. During the summer break they took photos of the places of natural importance which they visited and again share them on Facebook group so that others could comment them and compare the landscape to their own. Each type of vegetation is different in every partner school - from dry and hot south, mild central Europe to green north washed by the Baltic sea, so the variety of pictures was attractive. During the mobility students presented their pictures and findings, discussed it and shared experience. Students presentation skills were put into practice as well as their knowledge of English which definitely improved before and mainly during the mobility - the pinnacle of their work done before the short-term exchange.

Students benefitted from the mobility enormously in many different ways. First, they got better in English language because all work was done in this language. Moreover, students learnt other languages along with the project - mini dictionary was created and shared online. Students, teachers, parents, public learnt a lot of information and knowledge about the Slovak´s environment, its history, protection, care and destruction - endangered species of plants and animals, about the climatic changes and its influence on nature and us. Project work was involved, students cooperated in groups, they presented their work in front of the public. Their awareness about the current problems - for example: deforestation, endangered species of plants and animals -  raised. They themselves shared this knowledge and raised awareness about these topics among all students, teachers, parents of the school and the public. They used IT skills, languages, communication skills, team skills and developed them throughout the project work. This mobility was the beginning of the second year of our partnership so the participants had a chance to evaluate and discuss the work finished so far, prepare for the second half of the project, make detailed plans personally on the spot as personal meeting is always much more productive than the virtual one on internet. The location of the hosting school was also unique as it is surrounded by the Malá and Velká Fatra with some big factories nearby like Kia in Žilina so it was interesting to experience and see the coexistence of industry and nature close to each other. We witnessed it during our visit to Strečno castle where we could see the KIA factory from above.

Programme of the meeting in Slovakia:

Sunday 29th August 2021

Arrival and accommodation in hotel Čierna pani.

Monday 20th September 2021

08:00 - 09:00 – Breakfast

09:00 departure by bus in front of the hotel in direction Vrútky where we had a guided tour of a city sewage plant.

10:30 Turčianske Jaseno (museum of Jan Jessenius + church)

11:00 – view point of our Turiec region

11:30 – Gaderská valley – short hike to the ruins of castle

14:00 – 15:00 – Lunch at the hotel

15:00 – Team building activities in our town

Tuesday  21st  September 2021

07:00 - 08:00 – Breakfast

08:00 departure by bus in front of the hotel in direction Harmanec (Harmanecká cave) (Warm clothes and good trainers)

12:30 – Aquapark and spa Turčianske Teplice (swimsuits)

16:00 – 17:00 – Dinner at the hotel

Wednesday 22^nd September 2021

08:00 - 09:00 – Breakfast

09:00 departure by bus in front of the hotel in direction Strečno (castle + the ancient village)

13:00 – Čičmany village

15:00 – Lunch at the hotel

16:00 – Free time activities

Thursday 23^rd September 2021

08:00 - 09:00 – Breakfast

09:00 departure by bus in front of the hotel in direction Šútovo (a hike along the mountain creek to the waterfall – natural habitat and environment) (hiking shoes and warm clothes)

12:30 – Trusalová mountain resorts (horseriding)

16:00 – 17:00 – Dinner at the hotel

Friday 24^th September 2021

08:00 - 09:00 – Breakfast

09:00 – School meeting – club room. School tour, if possible participation in lessons, newsletter and questionnaire + presentation of works.

12:00 -  Lunch at the hotel, free time activities

Saturday 25^th  September 2021

Departure of all participants

Photogallery from the mobility is HERE.

Newsletter:

Questionnaire results:

What was the BEST experience this week for you?

What was the WORST experience this week for you?

What would you prefer to do during the next meeting? What would you change?

Was the meeting well organized? Average 4,61 out of 5,00

Were all objectives of the meeting achieved? Average 4,67 out of 5,00

Were all the topics from the agenda covered? Average 4,83 out of 5,00

Did you like the programme of the meeting? Was it interesting for you? Average 4,72 out of 5,00

What do you think is the most attractive thing about your work in this stage of the project?

Add any comment you think might help the coordinators to improve in their work on the project.