A report of the meeting
From September 27th to October 2nd, 2021, the first mobility for teachers and students took place in İstanbul, Turkey. In fact, this meeting was planned to held in İstanbul on March 2020 but due to coronavirus pandemic, it was canceled. That’s why it was the first time that students of our common project meet each other at our high school, Sainte Pulcherie French High School. At that time, coronavirus pandemic was going on in Turkey and we controlled this meeting with strict health rules.The statements of the Turkish Ministry of Education on the 2021-2022 academic year calendar are followed accordingly. That was the reason our guest students stayed at the hotel with their teachers not with host students because families didn’t want to host them. The same situation was accepted for all meetings during our project and all students and teachers stayed at the hotel during the meetings. Due to Covid-19 precautions it wasn’t easy to organize this meeting but we managed to do it successfully. In addition, we organized cultural and historical visits to introduce our city and our culture. The mobility was realized by teachers and students from the high school "Ljupco Santov" - Kocani, Macedonia, Marijampoles Suduvos gimnazija - Marijampole, Lithuania, Sainte Pulcherie French High School - Istanbul, Turkey,IGS - Bad Salzdetfurth, Germany. Students and teachers from LICEUL TEHNOLOGIC "SFANTULPANTELIMON" – Only Bucharest, Romania, participated online-virtually due to pandemic strict rules in their country.
During İstanbul Erasmus+ meeting, our students and teachers and all participants worked hard so the meeting was very productive. After getting to know each other, the students worked on the recall of the logo competition and interpreted logos. Then all schools gave some presentations about their schools and countries. To understand the concept of “participation at school”, students used the method of brainstorming to generate ideas. Afterwards there was a “Q and A” session about participation at school. Later the students clarified key words in this context. At the end, students created one common questionnaire to make the survey at our schools. The task was to present the results at the next Erasmus mobility. All works that planned before was realized by students to start first steps of our project "Participation of pupils at European schools: How democratic are our schools for pupils in Europe? that was supported by European Union and Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Directorate for EU Affairs - Turkish National Agency.
Erasmus+ Istanbul Meeting First Day
On the first day the project coordinator went to partners’ hotel and brought them to the school. After the registration and precautions of pandemic at the school entrance, the participants were welcomed to the school by the students in the conference hall. The school principal came and gave the welcome speech to start the Erasmus+ meeting officially. In the first part of the day, the participants had the opportunity to get acquainted with the other participants in the project. All students played games and did some activities to get to know each other. Then there was a guided tour at the school and all partners visited the school and learned all information about the school. Due to pandemic, students visited the school in groups. After the break, there was a recall of the logo competition. At the beginning of our project in the end of 2019, we made a logo competition at each school to find a common logo for our project. One logo at each school won the internal school competition. Then the former project participants voted for the best logo of the five national winners. Students interpreted all logos and expressed their ideas. Then students from different countries presented their schools, their cities, and their countries by using power point presentations. Listeners asked questions to the presenters. After the presentations, all students and teachers went to school canteen to eat lunch all together. Later, the participants went to visit the school’s neighbourhood. In the evening they had a traditional dinner in a Turkish restaurant and the guests had the opportunity to get acquainted with the delicacies of Turkish cuisine.
In the first part of the second day, the students had a brainstorming session for “participation at school” Students presented their results about tasks of teachers, parents and students at school. Then they worked for “Q and A” sessions about participation at school. In this workshop, students got cards with scenarios that might happen at school. They answered the questions then changed cards and found new partners to do again. After a short break, the students discussed clarifying key words about participation at school and presented their results in conference hall. Then all participants were invited for lunch all together. In the afternoon, all guests had free time to discover İstanbul or visit museums.
Erasmus+ Istanbul Meeting Third Day
On the third day, the participants came to school early for the last workshop. The task of this workshop was to create a common questionnaire to find about the participation of pupils at our schools. Students created the questionnaire at this workshop to make the survey later at their schools. The questionnaire included a lot of statements in English. After getting the results of the questionnaires, the results will be presented at the next Erasmus+ mobility. This workshop lasted a few hours then all participants had lunch at school all together. After the lunch we came to Eminönü to take a boat tour with a professional guide. The cruise took us from Eminönü to different parts of İstanbul from the sea and back. Participants had a great Bosphorus experience. This trip was very interesting way to learn about this area of Turkey while seeing different things that we would not see from land.
On the fourth day, all participants met at school in the morning and had a tour to Old City-Sultanahmed Area to visit cultural and historical places. We had a professional guide and she helped them to explore this magnificient city. We visited the Topkapı Palace, the Hagia İrini, the Blue Mosque. The Hagia Sophia Mosque. Participants learned the history of our city and our country. For lunch, we went to Historical Sultanahmet Restaurant that serves old, traditional and delicious food. Participants discovered the richness of the Turkish food culture during lunch.
Erasmus+ Istanbul Meeting Fourth Day
On the last day, all participants arrived to school in the morning. There was a closing ceremony. Our principal gave a farewell speech. Students expressed their evaluations of their first mobility. expectations. After that groups got their certificates and their gifts. We took pictures all together. During the day, a project meeting was held at the school by the project coordinators from each country, including Romanian and German coordinator, to discuss further activities and future mobility in North Macedonia.
