Macedonian pupils from “St Cyril I Methodij” school
in “Dimcho Debelyanov” school, Bulgaria
27.03.2017 – 31.93.2017
During the preliminary planning in our project, we provided for an exchange of students from Bulgaria and Macedonia. We actually started preparing for this remarkable meeting before the application form was submitted. We, the coordinators of the two partner schools - Ms. Stefka Komitova (Bulgaria) and Mr. Dragan Jankosky (Macedonia) - had been in constant contact for months, creating an attractive program that we followed at everybody’s full satisfaction.
Monday, March 27th
The eagerly awaited encounter finally took place and pupils and their Macedonian teachers arrived and met with the teachers from the Bulgarian team and the headmaster of our school. We became acquainted personally after the continuous and effective communication via email, Viber and Skype, and discussed the planned upcoming joint activities. The first personal contact was very pleasant, as between close friends. The talks continued for a long time in a great atmosphere.
Tuesday, March 28th
A wonderful day for both students and teachers. Bulgarian pupils were impatient. In the past weeks, they made gifts for their guests, prepared posters with "Welcome" and other greetings, which they translated in Macedonian with the help of Google Translator. Also included were many parents who prepared a culinary exhibition with traditional dishes from the region where they were born - different places from Bulgaria, Turkey, Armenia, Russia, Greece.
According to an old Bulgarian tradition, Macedonian students and teachers were welcomed by their hosts with bread and salt. The school's director, Peyko Stoev, officially welcomed them. All participants received t-shirts, notebooks and pens with the logos of the project and the Dimcho Debelyanov school. Our school bloomed in blue and "Learn and Play with ICT", "Erasmus +".
The RN-TV news team was interested in our event and reflected it in a report that same evening on TV. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyR7zRnV_1g
Macedonian students and their teachers looked at our school and took part in the lessons of nature and mathematics. We used the Kahoot platform with different devices at the same time - laptops, tablets and smartphones. Children and teachers were learning and having fun together.
In the afternoon we played "A Jewel in Town" game. Children and teachers were divided into three mixed teams, each with Bulgarian and Macedonian teachers and children. The teams started from three different points in order to navigate and discover the place we chose to be a symbol of our city. Each member of the team was equipped with a tablet. They scanned pre-generated QR codes that indicated the name of the destination they were looking for. Then they determined their location and tracked and followed the route with Google Maps. The three teams reached and gathered together - at the "Jewel in Town" - Cultural Center "Sea Casino" at the appointed time. They met with the sea and the beautiful Sea Garden of Burgas.
Wednesday, March 29th
Holiday day for "Dimcho Debelyanov" school.
In the morning, the Macedonian partners again studied and amused with the Bulgarian teachers and pupils. With the help of the Envision software system - with one computer and many mice for everyone, the students actively worked on the topic of how to surf responsibly and safely in the Internet. They created a manual for safe Internet surfing in Bulgarian and Macedonian language.
A fascinating adventure was also the math lesson with Jumpido, where students and teachers solved mathematical tasks and answered with the help of body movements. Some of the games were competing, others were teamwork, but all required Kinect for Windows to capture a certain movement and convert it into a digital signal.
On a holiday - like a holiday! After the lessons the Macedonian and Bulgarian pupils joined the school concert celebration. We would like to thank the Macedonian guests for their cheerful performance, which had again conquered our hearts. Our students still sing the Macedonian song.
The same day the group visited Poda Nature Conservation Center, which makes Burgas the undisputed ornithological capital of Bulgaria. The children watched with binoculars and long-distance tubes and photographed with their smartphones unique and endangered bird species. The day ended with a friendly Laser game. The laser arena was outdoors, where mixed teams of Macedonians, Bulgarians, girls and boys participated in a very emotional game. The children were freely amused themselves and made friends.
Thursday, March 30th
We made a joint trip to Varna, where we visited the Dolphinarium and the Planetarium. Pupils and teachers deepened their contacts, friendships became even closer.
Friday, March 31st
On the last day of our joint activity, we recorded a report for the other partners and our “School radio”, in which we told about the visit of the Macedonian group of pupils and teachers in the Bulgarian school.
All school activities were taken by an RN-TV and the videos are available here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rry3crI3VL8&t=2s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjvA0Ua7wkU&t=710s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIgsGaunGWw&t=270s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IySN1iQpy9U&t=2