MEETING WITH CHILDREN FROM A SCHOOL FOR PUPILS WITH SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS

On Monday, 13th December 2021, a virtual meeting of students of Centar za odgoj i obrazovanje (a school for SEN pupils from Čakovec), and sixth graders of our school, II. osnovna škola Čakovec, was held.

This meeting was planned to mark The International Day for Tolerance in November but had to be postponed due to changes in the timetable because of the circumstances caused by the pandemic.

Nevertheless, in both schools we tend to talk about the importance of tolerance all the time, not only on special days, so this was one of the occasions.

The pupils from II. osnovna Čakovec read Manuel, one of the stories they wrote last school year for our project publication The Book of Stories About EU Rights, to mark EU Day and eTwinning Day. The story talks about a Muslim boy who moves to Europe from Syria and the challenges he faces.

The pupils discussed the story and the messages which can be drawn from it.

Also, the pupils from the school for SEN pupils told the pupils of II. osnovna škola Čakovec about posters which they recently made, displaying things which make them happy. Both teams told about the things that make them happy: their family, friends, good grades, their hobbies…

This meeting helped us achieve the aims of our project: to increase students' motivation for reading, develop students' competence in applying knowledge into practice in literacy education, increase the self-esteem of students with fewer opportunities and strengthen students' empathy towards different age and social groups. As for key competences for lifelong learning, we promoted communication in the mother tongue and social and civic competences.