From 29 May to 2 June 2015 coordinators and teachers representing the partner countries - Turkey, the UK, Italy, Romania and Poland met in Balikesir, Turkey.
On the first day of our visit we were greeted by the representatives of the Balikesir school and offered "Turkish Delight - the famous Turkish sweet delicacy. Then we were shown around the school and invited to the Culture Centre.
At the Culture Centre, all the school community including Erdal Özel - the head and Gonca Çilli - the project coordinator - along with the teachers and students gave us a warm welcome and introduced us to the Turkish culture, traditions, music and dances. We could see children dancing in traditional costumes and doing acrobatics and karate, listen to the school choir performing songs in English, Italian, Polish, Romanian and Turkish, see multimedia presentations about the five partner countries and listen to the military band. Also, our hosts presented how they had worked on the project tasks. Here are some photos frm the welcome concert.
On the following days we participated in an official meeting with the mayor. Again, we were treated to some delicious Turkish delicacies and exchanged gifts. Also the local media were present at the event. Next, we visited the State Centre of Education and were offered to drink the traditional Turkish tea. We discussed the project realisation and its dissemination.
Apart from the formal meetings, all the visiting teachers took part in a number of activities with students, including clases with the disabled pupils. The children had prepared gifts for us - e.g. the Turkish Eye to bring us good luck. The Turkish teachers, students and their parents invited us to taste tradidional Turkish dishes prepared by them. A special cake with the project logo-shaped icing - "Maths Is Everywhere!" - was a nice surprise for us :) Later, the students provided us with a bit of fun - they prepared mangala for us - a traditional Turkish board game. We all enjoyed it :)
Tasting regional dishes and watching local customs were just a few attractions of this visit. The others included sightseeing around Ayvalik - a seaside town on the north coast of the Aegeaan Sea, Assos - an antique Greek town with a doric temple of Athena and Istanbul with such landmarks as Hagia Sophia and Sultan Ahmed Mosque.
To sum up, all our stay was another unforgettable experience. We found meetings with the Turkish teachers, students and parents extremely inspiring due to their hospitability, kindness and great involvement. And, most important of all, we could exchange and share our ideas and work results of our project "Maths Is Everywhere!"
We also visited Turkish art centre and tried the Turkish art "Ebru"
Here's a presentation reporting our activities in Turkey:
Here is the COLLECTIVE EVALUATION REPORT:
