The first Transnational Meeting of the P@LS project was hosted in Trikala by the coordinating school, the 1st Esperino EPAL of Trikala, from 20 to 24 November 2016.
Four days dedicated to the organization and planning of the two-year project according to the Agenda of the Meeting and the presentation of the first educational activities and common deliverable outputs, enriched with cultural tours in the beautiful and historic attractions of our region.
Teachers of the six partner schools attended the programming workshops organized by the Greek school at its premises. The learning activities were designed by the Laboratory Center of Trikala and Christos Efstathiou (Head of the Lab Centre) and they were presented by Thanasis Vrantzas, Section Manager of the Lab Centre, IT teacher, B’ Level Teacher Trainer with the valuable support of Kostas Chalimourdas, IT teacher. With detailed teaching demonstration and instructions we programmed applications for smart devices in order to familiarize ourselves with the MIT AppInventor environment and we followed the construction of an Encryption-Decryption application, designed for the purpose of the meeting, with the use of the Caesar Cipher Algorithm.
Aimilios Papadimitriou, the regional eTwinning ambassador, presented a workshop on the eTwinning platform as a collaborative tool for the implementation of the project and for the exchange of good practice that will result from the partnership.
The participating teachers signed the Implementation Plan and Agreement and the 1st Project Report for the purpose of committing ourselves to good cooperation. During the meeting, tasks were assigned to each school and there was a presentation of the first collaborative web spaces created for our partnership needs.
Website: http://www.erasmus-pals.com/ (created and agreed to be maintained by the Hungarian school)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/527383094119682/?ref=bookmarks (created and administered by the Turkish school in collaboration with the coordinating Greek school and the contact persons of the partnership)
eTwinning: https://twinspace.etwinning.net/25514 (created by the Greek school)
The guests had the chance to enjoy the Greek hospitality, to get to know their Greek colleagues and participate in the reception event at the school Conference Hall on Monday, November 21, 2016 where they were officially welcomed by the Director Mr. Vasileios Varsanis and the teachers of the Greek project team. During the event there were cultural presentations of the participating countries as an effort to strengthen interculturalism, friendship and mutual respect among Peoples. The presentations were attended by students of the hosting school.
The guests were also welcomed by Effie Leventi, the Deputy Mayoress for Education and Culture at the City Hall, where they watched a presentation of the local history and the city’s modern hi-tech infrastructure activities. Helen Giontzi, Head of the School Activities Office, representing the local Secondary Education Secretariat, presented the Greek Educational System.
In our free time we made cultural visits to the historical sites and attractions of the region. Accompanied by their Greek colleagues the guests visited the Holy Monastery of the Great Meteoron at the unique Meteora site, the Hellenic Culture Museum in Kalambaka, the Documentation and Education Centre of the Cave of Theopetra, the Modern Cultural Centre of the Kliafa Beverage Company, the Osman Shah Mosque, the Ottoman bath (hamam) in the old penal prison, the Fortress, the beautiful traditional Varousi and Manavika areas of the old city, the ruins of the Roman Baths, the arched bridges of Palaiokarya and Pyli and the Byzantine church of Porta Panagia. Finally, they had the chance to make a joyful boat ride on the River Letheos.
Our first project meeting, after a feverish preparation of two months, was marked with excitement and enthusiasm on the part of all partners. The members of the Greek team were grateful for their guests’ appreciation and the overwhelming messages they received after their departure.
Our next meeting point for the purpose of the programmed teaching and learning activities will be the beautiful city of Tradate in Italy, in March 2017. Meanwhile, the collaborating schools will test the first applications demonstrated during the meeting in Trikala and will evaluate them. Additionally, they will design logos that will be the entries of an online competition launched for our students, who will vote for the best visual identity of our project, addressed to our target audiences.