Diseminare proiect Erasmus Plus "4E - Exchanging Experience, Educating Europe"

The Ecological Tourism Association Camena from Romania (Asociatia de Turism Ecologic Camena) is implementing between the 1st of September 2017 and the 31st of January 2019 the project “4E – Exchanging Experience, Educating Europe”, within the frame of the Erasmus Plus Programme, Key Action 1 – Mobility of individuals.

The learning outcomes include competences in the management of organizing international training events for children, youngsters and adults and also competences in using creativity and artistic methods in international training courses.

At this moment, all three planned mobilities of the project are concluded and we are now in the phase of the dissemination.

The mobilities we had were:

- “The 4Cs: Creativity, Critical Thinking, Communication and Collaboration in Schools” hosted by Europass Teacher Academy in Florence in February 2018

- “Increasing social and civic competencies through dramatic art and theatre” hosted by Octanous in Athens, in April 2018

- “How to Organize A Summer School?” hosted by Debrecen Summer School in Debrecen, in July-August 2018.

For any information reagrding the project, please contact us on email at office@camena.ro

Here are some thoughts and experiences the participants shared with us:

 

Attending the “How to Organize a Summer School” course held by the Debrecen Summer School as part of the “4E – Exchanging Experience, Educating Europe” Erasmus Plus project, has been a journey of self-development and a life-changing experience on multiple levels. Coming in close contact with professionals from another country has given me an overview of the organizational requirements, the necessary resources and all the aspects one needs to take into account to set up a successful summer school.

The course

Debrecen Summer School is one of the oldest summer schools in Europe, and offers a wide range of language courses of various levels to around 900 students every year. For me, as a language teacher, it was particularly interesting to observe the mechanisms involved in selecting the teachers and the participants, assigning them to the most appropriate group level, designing the curricula and correlating it to the extracurricular activities. We gained insight into how the different departments of accounting, marketing and office management all contribute to making a summer school a profitable business.

The cultural experience

Taking part in an international project always includes a cultural dimension, just as learning a language is closely bound with exploring all cultural elements connected to it. Debrecen Summer School lays great stress on the cultural activities it conducts, as they are meant to promote national values, customs and traditions. We took part in folk nights, cooking classes, wine tasting, guided tours and hiking trips which were all enjoyable and entertaining, but also gave us the chance to learn about Hungarian music art and history.

Exploring the city

During our fortnight stay in Debrecen we managed to visit most of the sights in the old city, such as the Reformed Church, the Deri Museum the Calvinist College Library and the Centre of Contemporary arts. We admired the fascinating collections of old books, pieces of art, and other historically relevant items.

We were also fortunate to attend an international jazz festival and an international military band festival, both highly entertaining. We loved the delicious Hungarian cuisine and local wines, which all contributed to making our participation to this project a memorable experience.

Conclusion

All in all, I consider that taking part in this mobility has been a professionally enriching experience, which has taught me a great deal about teaching languages, organizing international courses and promoting European and national values.

Laura Butnariu

 

 

By participanting in the mobilty hosted by Debrecen Summer School in Debrecen, Hungary, I gained competences in the management of organizing international learning events (summer schools) dedicated to children, youngsters and adults.

I learned what a summer school is all about, how to plan activities and costs, how to proceed with the event, how to disseminate and evaluate such an international training programme.

I gained experience regarding promotion of the summer school, aimed to raise interest for a larger number of participants.

I gained digital competences regarding the management of data bases used for the signing up of the participants, course organizing, logistics, evaluation, mail exchanges, etc.

I developped competences on how the local community can get involved in such an event.

By taking part in the mobility in Hungaru helped me improve my English and my social and cultural experience. All these will be of great help in my future professional life.

Alina Pirlea

 

A summer school is a complex program and it is a good opportunity to explore different competences of the learners.

My participation in the course „How to Organize a Summer School” hosted by Debrecen Summer School in Debrecen, Hungary, between the 29th of July and the 11th of August 2018 was a unique experience to understand how a summer school really works. With the help of professional staff, like Peter Szaffko, PhD, we learned the steps we need to follow in order to be able to organize an international training event, from the idea to the event itself, how to find partners, how to plan the budget and the logistics, how to select participants and how to evaluate and make a report.

We also learned from Kulcsar Judit, Senior Educational Officer that a special interest should be dedicated to the data base of the students. From Dora Feher, Office Assistant and Cultural Officer we found out that evaluation of the course and the trainers is very important to the success of an international event.

Of equal impact and importance was the cultural experience I had in the two weeks of teh course. The organizers, the guests and the students, during the four practical workhsops, offered me the chance to interact with persons from across the world: USA, Japan, China, Germany, Ukraine, Ireland, Russia and Hungary. We visited museums and monuments in Debrecen, we took part in trips and optional activities offered by the organizers, helping us getting closer to people and cultural values of Hungary.

By participating in the mobility, my professional profile improved by achieving abilities in the management of organizing international training events, a fact that meets also the needs of the local community. Regarding my personal development, I formed the ability to communicate and work better in national and international teams, I improved my language skills, I learned to understand and make others understand messages in different situations, I learned words and expressions in Hungarian. Also, I met the culture and civilization of Hungary by active participation and direct contact to its educational system.

In conclusion, taking part in the mobility had a positive impact both for my personal and professional development and also for the local community, through the dissemination I was involved in. An important part is also applying the results of learning in international training events dedicated to childre, youngsters and adults.

Elisabeta Tamis

 

 

For me, the course “The 4Cs: Creativity, Critical Thinking, Communication and Collaboration” was a new and valuable training experience, as the Romanian educational system is in a continous reform unable to find its way for almost thirty years now.

During the presentations, when we described how we got to the course, who is the sending organization, how is the education organized in different countries, what are the strengths and weaknesses of each system, we learned very interesting things form the other participants, worthed to be put into practice. We have to mention that our sending organization (Asociatia de Turism Ecologic Camena) is an NGO, while all other participants were sent by educational institutions (schools, gymnasiums, religious colleges, professional schools). This indicates the interest of the institutions for permanent forming of the teachers.

Even if the Romanian system faces little flexibility of practices, each teacher can use simple teaching techniques that can prove to be more attractive, aiming to increase communication between students in an active manner. This is what I learned and experienced during the course and started to apply on my own.

I am happy I had the opportunity to be part of this mobility and had the chance to improve my English, to work together with teachers from Germany, France, Bulgaria, Serbia, Finland and to try new methods of teaching based on modern technology and asertive communication.

Tuscany is definetely the most beautiful region of Italy. Florence is a wonderful city I visited with pleasure and it enchanted us with its cuisine and architecture.

The experience gained in the course “The 4Cs: Creativity, Critical Thinking, Communication and Collaboration” was the most benefic I had. I had the chance to meet interesting people from which I learned a lot for my personal and professional development. Susan Gagliano – the trainer – welcomed us with a smile every morning and knew to keep a dynamic and participative atmosphere.

Nela Mirea

 

 

The course “The 4Cs: Creativity, Critical Thinking, Communication and Collaboration” in which I took part represented for me an unique forming experience both at professional and personal level. I am happy I had the opportinuty to be selected and to participant in this mobility, during which I had the chance to improve my abilities of communication and working in an international context. I had the chance to work in a team and to discover new teaching methods based on modern technology and efficient communication. My travel to Florence through the Erasmus Plus Programme gave me the chance to experience unforgetable moments with special persons.

This experience was by far the most interesting I had. I had the chance to meet new people, to see new places and from which I had a lot to learn. The main support came from Susan Gagliano who is a great trainer. She shared with us from her experience, proving the a good communication can lead to the fulfilment of all goals.

We had also some local trips organized by our hosts, with guides that helped us and answered our questions about Florence.

During the course we discussed about our sending organizations and found out new things from the other participants (for instance, about the Finnish educational system that passed through important reforms that brought meny benefits)

This experience helped me learn new methods and made me want more from myself in this field. I realised once more that this job is one of the most beautiful. I strongly encourage those who want to participate in such projects to apply for them with every occasion, since it is an unforgetable experience.

Rodica Maricuta

 

 

 

Following my participation in the mobility in Florence, Italy, I developped competences in the field of the 4Cs (Creativity, Colaboration, Cooperation and Critical Thinking), appliable in international training programs dedicated to children, adults and youngsters.

After this mobility, I improved my ability to communicate and work better in national and international teams.

Also, I improved my skills in English, both spoken and written and I also gained knowledge on the culture of the country that hosted the mobility.

The learning outcomes from this mobility can be corelated and applied in international training projects developped by Association Camena, accordingly with its strategy and European Development Plan for 2017-2020.

Alina Pirlea

 

The activities we had in the course helped me to discover my own type of behaviour, my personality and encouraged me to use my charm in any situation and to behave naturally in front of other people. So, I gained more confidence in myself, a result I can use in different situations in life.

The proposed exercises led to an increased confidence in the courage to act and interact, to develop the freedom of thinking, to discover various solutions to a given issue, to discover one’s self and self respect but also to discover respect for the others.

At the same time, I improved my abilities to communicate verbally and non-verbally, I learned to picture in drawings my personal feelings, to express in colour a text. I learned to extract detailed information from a text and also to present creatively a text after a reading analysis. Also, I practiced reading techniques and active listening.

The participation to this course gave me a number of benefits, having also an emotional impact by increasing self confidence, by reducing fear of speaking in public, improvement of speaking and also development of body language.

Loredana Doinea

 

 

My participation at the course “Increasing social and civic competencies through dramatic art and theatre” was a very good opportunity of personal and professional development.

The four days I spent in Athens gave me the chance to visit one of the most interesting capital cities around the world, to meet a new culture with everything it means: traditions, way of life, cuisine, etc. but also to meet new people that are active in fields I haven’t been in contact with until now – the world of theater.

This experience was very useful professionally and it helped me to improve my communication skills and to learn new methods to stimulate creativity based on dramatic art, methods I can apply successfully in my everyday job.

Rodica Michescu

 

 

During this project I took part in a course about theatrical art. This course was held by Sofia Athanasiadou, I very talented Greek actress that shared with us a lot. Thanks to her, I understood the strong connection between the stage, the actor and the public.

I had a pleasant experience, from which I learned I lot of things that I applied with pleasure and interest in my everyday activities with children, both inside the school and alos in the summer school and camps I am involved.

The most interesting part of the course was the one dedicated to masks, simple objects that can be made by someone alone or with some help, objects behind which you can become a character you are found of. Alos, behind the mask you have to express yourself. Children can learn a lot from these role playing games and with them I plan to share my experience.

This participation improved my professional profile.

Dana Mariana Bartos