Project diary
SEPTEMBER – OCTOBER
HOW IT ALL STARTED
Because of the good experience from the previous project (European Tenagers´Lifestyle - 2011/2012), the French teachers ( from Collège Jean Giono, LE BEAUSSET ) and Czech teacher ( from Gymnázium Vysoké Mýto) agreed on working together on another project in the next academic year 2012/2013. The topic STORIES IN HISTORY that we chose corresponded with the curriculum of both the schools. The third partner, this time from Greece (ΓΥΜΝΑΣΙΟ ΝΕΟΥ ΣΟΥΛΙΟΥ, ΝΕΟ ΣΟΥΛΙ ΣΕΡΡΩΝ) joined the project in September 2012. Our project was mainly based on History. We focussed our work on the experiences of young children during the WWII.LOGO
Soon after beginning to work on the project, we all felt we would like to have a logo for our project. One of the French students, Léa, desingned it and all of au liked it a lot so we chose to keep it.KNOWING ME, KNOWING YOU
When we want to make new friends, first we usually introduce ourselves and so did we. The Czech students introduced themselves through presentations made in Power point or PREZI and sent their parners interactive “Hot Potatoes” crosswords to check, how much their partners had learned about them. The French students made wonderful short films in which the students introduced themselves and at the same time showed intersting posters with “mostly true” hints – the task for their parners was to find out the differences between the information included in the oral presentation and the pictures. The Greek students also had presentations and a “spot the lie” activity. The second step was to introduce our schools and cities – we did so using Power Point presentations and short films.
NOVEMBER – DECEMBER
HISTORICAL CONTEXTS IN THE WAR TIME
After the introductory stage we started to work on the topic – “Children during the WWII”. First we focussed on the historical contexts in the war time. The French students produced an amazing poster in Glogster and shared it with their partners. All of us gathered a lot of material that was used to create a set of presentations (word documents, Power Point presentations), e.g. “World war 2 – historical events”, “Daily life in the early 40s”, Schemes and operations set up”, “Food and shopping”, “The children in the war”, “Life in the protectorate Bohemia and Moravia”, “Resistance”, “Surpression of the Jewish rights”, “Nicolas Winton” or “The occupation and the grammar school students in 1939”. The Greek students gathered a lot of photo material and shot two amazing short films. It was really interesting to share the information and we found out that some of the experiences of the people of the time were similar such as rationing or blackout.
JANUARY
BIOGRAPHIES OF POLITICAL LEADERS
The following task was to find out more about some political leaders of that time. The Greek students looked up information about Winston Churchil and created two Glogster posters, the Czech students´ task was to find information about Charles de Gaulle and they made a timeline in Timetoast.com and a simple Power point presentation. The French students focussed on the bighgraphy of Adolf Hitler and gathered the information in an e-book in Calameo. They also send their partners a set of questions to be answered. The last task in this project stage was to watch parts of the film Chaplin the Dictator and answer the questions created by the French students.
FEBRUARY - MARCH
ANNE FRANK DIARY
A lot of people have heard about Ann Frank and so did we. We decided to find more about her because she was one of the numerous Jewish children who were afflicted by the war. First we gathered materials from the Internet about her life and the French students processed them and shared them with the others in the form of a Glogster poster. Then we all set to read the book (in English in the simplified version). It took us several lessons at school and also we did some reading at home. At school, when reading the book we often stopped to discuss the facts and details which was very interesting. We also watched parts of the film. All of us were really moved by the story and we felt that we would like to respond to it. First of all the French students started a Linoit noticeboard where all of us shared Anna and her family´s photos and commented on them. Then the Czech students imagined that messages can travel back in time, wrote some encouraging mesages to Anne in the annexe and decoreated a tree with them. The French and the Greek students decided to get into Anne Frank´s shoes and wrote a diary page of their own; the French students published their diary entries in a wonderful e-book using Calameo. The Czech students decided to do it a bit differently - they chose a real day in March / April 2013 and then wrote real diary entries recording the highlights and drawbacks of the day. Our partners were welcome to comment on the differences between a common teens´ day nowadays and Ann´s day in the Annexe.
APRIL
OTHER JEWISH PEOPLE´S STORIES
In March the Czech students met an elderly lady Michaela Vidláková, who (as a child) survived the Terezín (Theresienstadt) ghetto. She was invited by the history teacher and spoke about her life in the ghetto. Consequently the students started looking up information about people like her. The most interesting video that they found was made with this Michaela so they shared it with their partners and also sent them a set of questions to be answered.
MAY
The French students made a wonderful job creating a fantastic interactive map of places of remembrance and also a historical tour around them – an amazing quiz game. Their partners had to find 10 stop-towns of the tour and each time answer the questions. The Czech students wrote about it:
We would like to thank you very much for the amazing Quiz Game with the interactive map. We spent a lesson following the path - it was a wonderful experience! We learnt a lot of new interesting facts about important moments of WW II in France. MANY THANKS!
Inspired by the French students, the Greek and Czech students also created simple interactive maps of the important places of remembrance in their countries.
JUNE
FREEDOM WRITERS
What do „Freedom Writers“ (book and movie) and „Ann Frank´s Diary“ have in common? We found out when we watched the film and answered a set of questions. We really enjoyed watching the film. The French students used the Linoit noticeboard and wrote about their opinions, feelings and impressions. The Czech students reflected on the film in a short Prezi presentation. At the same time, watching parts of the film with some other classes was a good opportunity how to introduce the whole project to them.EVALUATION AND GOOD-BYE
With the end of the academic year it was time to evaluate the project and say good-bye to each other. For the evaluation we used a survey made in SurveyMonkey. When all of the students answered the questionaire, the results were published in the twinspace. To say good-bye, the French students used a Padlet wall and the Czech students produced a simple Prezi presentation. It was a great eTwinning project and we really enjoyed working together.
SCHOOL TRIPS, EXHIBITIONS AND CEREMONIES
PHOTO EXHIBITION IN THE LIBRARY OF SERRES
On the 4th of February, on the occasion of 100 years since the liberation of our home town, Serres, and within the scope of the project « Stories in History », the third class of the Junior High School of Neo Souli visited a photo exhibition in the library of Serres. We toured in the building where we learned historical facts about the Balcan Wars. We also saw photos of the leaders of the Balcan Alliance. The fotographs were exceptional, ''original''. Then, we saw photographs with marches of Greek soldiers and cannons. The exhibition was very interesting and enriched with many photographs and lithographs. (by Katerina)
DISCUSSION ON THE HOLOCAUST
On Friday, 22nd March 2013 the grammar school in Vysoké Mýto was visited by Dr. Michaela Vidláková who at the age of three was moved together with her parents to the Theresienstadt ghetto during the Second World War. Dr. Vidláková told us the story of her family. From her story we learned a lot about the course of life in the Theresienstadt ghetto. Dr. Vidláková came together with Ms. Hana Vavříková, who introduced the Holocaust and also gave us an idea of the history and customs of the Jewish people. (by Pavlína)
EXCURSION TO TEREZÍN (THERESIENSTADT)
In April a group of students from Gymnázium Vysoké Mýto visited the town of Terezín and its fortress which used to be a ghetto from which the Jews were sent to concentration camps. It was a very interesting experience and the students shared it with thein schoolmates.
CEREMONY OF DEPORTATION
Toulon hosts the Ceremony of Deportation on Sunday the 28th of Apríl. Julien and Hugo represented our school to the ceremony. They were really proud to be there to remember that important moment in French History.
EUROPEAN DAY
In May, we organized a European week at Jean Giono and we took the opportunity of this event to invite the pupils of the nearby primary school ( André Malraux Primary School) not only to see the exhibition we prepared for them but also to join in the show we presented to the parents and friends in the evening. It was fabulous to hear them sing in English with our students and on top of that they recited in 7 different languages "the Wolf and the Lamb" they had learnt by heart in their native languages for some of them such these 2 Polish sisters who were so committed in their recitation and this Norvegian girl and this Dutch girl and this Portuguese boy who was so proud without forgetting these Greek triplets .....