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School visit in Zagreb

  • Background of the cooperation

    The teachers from both school, Ljubica Ruzhinska from OOU "Lazo Angelovski", Skopje and Željana Đevenica from OU "Nikola Tesla", Zagreb, started an online correspondence through eTwinning in February 2019. Since both schools are awarded the label of eTwinning schools and both schools have several Erasmus+ KA projects, the idea of a school visit was born.

    The aims of the visit:

    • observing innovative student centered teaching methods;
    • observing practices in relations to educational organizational management and structure within the host school;
    • exchange of good practices between the 2 eTwinning schools
    • improvement the participants’ foreign language proficiency;
    • enhancement of European citizenship through multilateral international contacts.

    In the period 21-23.05.2019, a school visit  to OU “Nikola Tesla”, Zagreb, Croatia was organized as part of the school cooperation between the two eTwinning schools. Six staff members from OOU “Lazo Angelovski” took part in the visit: the school headmaster, Pero Arsenosvki, Erasmus+ coordinator and eTwinning ambassador, Ljubica Ruzhinska, biology teacher, Cvetanka Malchevska, two primary school teachers, Biljana Kolevska and Elena Gashevska, and the social worker, Alekandra Batikj.

     

     

    During the visit, the host school organized class observation, workshops, visit of the entrepreneurial school fair and interviews with different members of the school community (teachers, students, parents) as well as social activities through which all people involved further developed the transnational relationships. Because the host school also has classes where students study Macedonian language, during the visit we visited a Macedonian language class and had a chance to meet and talk to the students.

     

     

    The first day of the school visit was dedicated to lesson's observations. 

    The English teacher, Ljubica Ruzhinska, observed 2 English lessons in the VI grade held by the English teacher Tihana Mesić. The subject during the lessons was cultural learning about English characters in books and movies. The lessons started with icebreaker activities: channel hopping and ABC tennis ball activity, both connected with vocabulary connected with entertainment. The activites were followed by reading and listening comprehension. The lessons ended with a Kahoot quiz which was used for formative assessment. 

     

     

    The biology teacher, Cvetanka Malchevska, and the social worker, Aleksandra Batikj, observed a lesson in Croatian language in the VI grade, held by the Croatian teacher, Jasminka Možgon Jarić. The topic of the lesson was Shame. The lesson started with a brainstorming activity about shame, followed by reading comprehension and a text analysis.

     

     

    The biology teacher, Cvetanka Malchevska, observed a biology lesson in the VI grade, held by the biology teacher Petra Barbora. The lesson started with the digital application, Plickers with was used for formative assesment of previously learned material and introduction into the new lesson about Parts of flowers. The students continued the lesson by examining the parts of the flowers using microscope to observe the pollen tubes and stamens. 

    The second observation was the visit to the botanic garden in the school yard for a lesson in the VIII grade. From the start of the school year, the biology, chemistry and craft teachers together with the students created a botanic garden. During the lesson, the students worked in groups and each groupd had it's own responsibilities: preparation of bedding plants, work in the class flower-beds, grass cutting, work around the planted trees, crafts work on the wood benches and tables, preparation of the water pond. The idea of the botanic garden is to have a place and space to learn different topic and subjects in real-life situations 

     

     

    The social worker, Aleksandra Batikj, observed a workshop about soft skills in the V grade, held by the social pedagodues, Liljana Samardzic. During the workshop, the students worked in groups on different activities which provided them an opportunity to strengthen peer-learning and coopration, the feeling of empathy, respecting the others wishes and needs in groups where all members are equals (there are no winners or loosers). 

     

     

    The two parimary school teachers, Elena Gashevska and Biljana Kolevska, observed 3 different lessons in the lower grades. 

    The 1st lesson was with primary school teacher Vishnja Mushnjak in the III grade. The aim of the lesson was revision of nouns, verbs and pronouns. The lesson was started with a lead-in activity, choosing a stick with another student name who needed to continue the activity. The second activity was using a digital application Wheel of fortune, where the students needed to say one noun, verb and pronoun using the letter of the alphabet that they got on the wheel. The lesson ended with an individual work - worksheet.

     

     

     

    The 2nd lesson was with primary school teacher, Željana Đevenica in the III grade. It was a lesson in science - revision about still and flowing areas of water, wildlife and vegetation. Through different types of interactive games, students revised the learned material: pass the ball and questions in a box. For formative assesment the digital application Plickers was used. The lesson ended with the kinesthetic game Bird and nest.

     

     

    The 3rd lesson was with primary school teacher, Marijana Kovačić in the I grade. The topic of the lesson was What we do during the summer. The lesson started with the lead-in game What's hiden in the box. The studnets than worked in groups using different worksheets. In the end each group presented it's worksheet to the rest of the class. During the lessons, students had a chance to learn and work in groups and develop thier cooperation skills as well as present thier work to the rest of the class. 

     

     

    The last classroom observation was during the Macedonian language lesson, held by the Macedonain teacher, Despina Velinska. OU "Nikola Telsa" is the only school in Zagreb where Macedonian language is taught as a falcutative subject. We had a chance to meet the studnets who study Macedonian and speak to them about their study of the langauage. The studnets also preformed some of the activities and songs they've learned in the past. 

     

     

    During the second day of the school we visited the Childrens' Entrepreneurship Fair, which was organised as the final activity of the Erasmus+ KA1 project TESLA: Teachers Engaging Students in a Learning Adventure. During the Fair, we had a chance to see all the different activities and products the students made during the school year. 

     

      

     

    Since both schools are school that are awarded with the eTwinning school label and have taken part in several Erasmus+ projects, during the visit we had a chance to talk about possible future eTwinning and Erasmus+ projects.