Project Meeting in Bjelovar: Bits and Pieces of Professional Training
Last week, from 16th to 18th October 2018 the 1st Primary School Bjelovar hosted the first project meeting of the Erasmus + KA2 project "Bits and Pieces of Culture". 11 teachers from 5 partner countries (Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Italy, and Poland), visited our school. The purpose of the visit was to improve the skills and the knowledge of the teachers involved in the project and to agree on the further course of the project, implementation of project activities and planned pupils and teachers' mobility.
The first day of the project meeting started with a warm welcome of the project coordinator Helena Gustović Ljubić, headmistress Tatjana Landsman and the Student Erasmus + Club representative Nina Šignjar. The members of the school choir and their teacher Danica Barišić sang “Ode to Joy“, as a symbol of European unity, multinationality and multiculturalism and one member of the choir played it on the glass bottles.
After a short meeting during which partners got to know each other better and a brief agreement on the further course of activities, the guests enjoyed the sightseeing and visited the mayor's office. Mr Dario Hrebak, the Mayor of Bjelovar, welcomed them and commended the initiative of the teachers for the implementation of this and other projects and promised the City's support in carrying them out. He pointed out that European projects are the only option to advance the education system in a short period of time and to increase the current standard in education.
After the lunch and a short break, teachers returned to school and participated in educational workshops whose themes were: the Twinspace, web tools needed for the project implementation and e-safety. The workshops were held by Rania Bekiri from Greece, Barbara Gluszcz from Poland and Nataša Ljubić Klemše and Martina Supančić from Croatia.
The second day was spent on a one-day trip to Zagreb. Our guests from partner countries visited the city and attended an educational workshop at the Ethnographic Museum. The day was seasoned with lunch in the traditional restaurant “Stari fijaker“, where we all enjoyed the taste of traditional Croatian cuisine.
The Italian teacher Licia Arcidiacono held a CLIL workshop on the third day of our guests' stay in Croatia. Later that day, teacher Martina Supančić presented an educational field trip with the theme of intangible UNESCO heritage as an example of a good practice.
After the lunch in the school dining room, we continued to work on planning the further course of the project, distribution of the responsibilities and duties, and on the agreement on upcoming mobilities in Spain and Poland. Project Coordinator Helena Gustović Ljubić will make sure that all project activities will be held as planned and that each partner country will carry out the tasks.
Our guests liked our school, city, food, and our capital city Zagreb very much. Satisfied, full of positive impressions and ready to work on project activities, they happily returned to their homes, emphasizing that they will remember this project meeting, stay in Bjelovar and friendship with colleagues who will they collaborate on this project for the next two years for a long time.