Category: Travel reports

The first day was a day of arrival of the guest groups from North Macedonia and Poland. In Loxstedt the students and teachers prepared a warm welcome. Most of the students met for the first time in their life but the ice was broken very fast thanks to a very nice atmosphere and great hospitality of the Germans families.

The second day of our stay in Germany brought us many surprises. Coordinators prepared a city game in Bremen, thanks to which students could visit the city in international groups: Poland, Germany and Macedonia, as well as make friends and take photos together. After the project was finished, the groups went for lunch together.

Sunday was the day the children spent with their German families. They had the opportunity to learn about their culture and tradition. They took part in confirmation, as well as family games and spending time together. Some went to “Heide-Park” in Soltau, an amusement park or to the seaside in Cuxhaven, where they had the opportunity to observe the tide and walk on the muddy bottom.

On Monday, the students met in Bremenhaven, where they played a game in international groups. Detective trail, which consisted in finding designated places in the city using a map and decrypting the code. Thanks to this game, students could get to know the city and strengthen their friendships. Then, we went to the Climate House, where there were a lot of surprising attractions waiting for them, e.g. getting to know climatic places from around the world and representatives of the continent’s animals. The students’ task was to write down the most important information about the conditions in a given area. It was a very active and successful day.

On Tuesday, we met with students at the municipal Youth Center in Loxstedt where an app-based workshop was held on topics related to geography, history, politics and economics. Students worked in the international groups, creating a map of places in the city. There was also a speech by Loxstedt Mayor Detlef Wellbrock who thanked everyone for participating in the program. He also mentioned the difficult situation in the world and thanked that despite many adversities, we were able to come and share our knowledge.

Wednesday was the last day of the project in international groups. We went to Nesse – a sports center where children got to know each other  by presenting their figure, saying what they like and what they are interested in. The students took the Quiz-Café “Europe” tests on the knowledge, origins, history and values of the European Union. After learning, there was time to talk and develop friendships while barbecuing. At the end, the coordinators thanked all students and teachers for the time spent together, learning and exchange of experiences. Everyone received a certificate of participation in the project.

On Thursday, May 12, 2022, after tender and touching farewells to wonderful families, the Macedonian and Polish groups went to the airport in Bremen, from which we flew home where longing parents waited.

Summing up, the students participating in the project experienced an amazing life adventure, gained many interesting experiences, became independent and met wonderful people who will be remembered for many years. Lots of friendships have been made that will be able to continue.

In March 2022, an online mobility for students from Germany, Poland and North Macedonia took place at the Primary School in Mysiadle as part of the “Appic Learning” project of the Erasmus+ programme. It was the first meeting in the project after the Covid-19 pandemic and although all partner schools dreamed of finally being able to meet in person, unfortunately due to the current restrictions and the war in Ukraine, students couldn’t travel to Poland. 

Therefore, the team of teachers tried to do everything to ensure that a group of thirty students lived together, albeit remotely, 5 valuable days. The agenda of the meeting concerned mainly the main topic of the project, i.e. applications used for learning. Students had the opportunity to test applications such as PlantNet, HumanBody or GeoExpert, and explore blogs and channels on YouTube, where enthusiasts of natural sciences popularize knowledge via the Internet. Through a remote lesson from the Maria Skłodowskie-Curie Museum, students got to know the figure of this Polish Nobel Prize winner, and thanks to a lesson from the Copernicus Science Center on the sense of balance, they learned what seasickness is all about. Students in their home schools also interviewed science teachers to inspire themselves to develop into chemistry, physics, mathematics and computer science. 

 Not all classes were held in front of the computer. Students explored the nature growing around each of the schools, made monuments to Warsaw using recycled materials or recorded an advertisement for Polish sweets  that they received in advance by mail. 

Although the students and teachers at Mysiadł regretted not being able to show their country in person, 5 days spent on remote mobility allowed to break the first ice and wheted the appetite of participants for the mobility planned in Loxstedt in May 2022. 

Short-term staff training event in Tartu, Estonia

From February 29 until March 2, 2020 a short-term staff training event was carried out in Tartu as part of the Erasmus+ project APPic Learning. Three participants from each project country took part in an eTwinning workshop, The workshop was carried out by Maja Videnovik, who is an eTwinning ambassador. In her presentation, she first emphasized three key aspects concerning eTwinning: Why, How and What is eTwinning. The participants were very interested in the presentation, they asked questions about the benefits, the way that projects can be carried out and different ways of professional development.

After that interactive presentation the eTwinning platform was dealt with. Participants registered on the eTwinning platform, they edited their profiles, started communication via eTwinning among each other and tried to find partners on the platform for other projects they could create. After that the new eTwinners started planning a project among them, titled: Our dream town. In this project students will have to create their dream town together.

Elements of the eTwinning platform were discussed and teachers were interested in different forms of professional development, how they can be carried out and what are the benefits from it. How the project can be visible by other people and how to achieve a bigger impact on teachers was part of the discussions, too.

The coordinators from different participating countries started filling the project’s Twinspace and putting information from previous mobilities there. They also discussed future activities on this platform, like organizing an eTwinning conference with all project participants before meeting in Tartu in May.

Other organizational issues were discussed concerning the meeting to come in Tartu and activities with the students in each participating school. The process of creating a mobile app as a project final product was also discussed.

Maja Videnovik

The first Learning/ Teaching/ Training activity as part of Erasmus+ project APPic Learning took place in Skopje, from November 18, 2019 to November 22, 2019. Participants from Germany, Estonia and Poland, came to Skopje on November 17, 2019. Six students and two teachers from each country were looking forward to sharing experiences and to learning from each other during this mobility.

On the first day, the foreign guests were welcomed at school by school the principal, teachers and students. They visited a bazaar that was organized in the school, as part of the celebration of the Day of the School’s Patron. Students walked around the school and got familiar with the way that teaching is organized in school and students’ everyday activities. After that short presentations from Macedonian students concerning the four participating countries were carried out. The students had made presentations about each of the participating countries and their most important characteristic facts. It was a day full of ice-breaking activities in order to help students to get to know each other and improve their communication skills. In the afternoon a group of students presented different learning apps which can be used in the school subjects music and art. They presented the benefits of these applications and after that students could try them on their own.

On the second day, the students explored the city of Skopje with the help of an interactive sightseeing tour (Actionbound). They enjoyed each moment of running around the town, learning new things about Skopje and trying to finish the tour in no time. After that we all went to Gazi Baba municipality, where we were welcomed by the mayor. He told the students about the activities of the municipality, the way that education is carried out and the activities the municipality is implementing in order to improve the quality of education. The day finished with a visit to the Museum of the Macedonian Struggle, where students learned about the history of the Macedonian people over the years.

The third day was dedicated to learning apps that can be used in sports. Macedonian students presented some apps, and after that all the students enjoyed playing them together. In the afternoon they had sport activities and a sport tournament. It was a great day when students communicated a lot and had fun together. They talked a lot about the apps they had got to know in the past few days, and how they could be used in everyday learning. The students were divided into international groups and created a list with pros and cons of the application in question and how it could be improved to suit their needs.

On the fourth day, the whole group visited the Faculty of Information Science and Computer Engineering, where they were hosted by professor Trajkovik. He gave them a short introduction into the importance of using mobile applications in education. Then important and characteristic aspects of a good learning app were pointed out. At the end of the visit, the students created a plan for their own app, working in groups and each group sketched how their app should look like focusing on one of the subjects learnt at school. In the afternoon students visited Canyon Matka and had sport activities.

The last day of the mobility was organized in the school, where students were introduced to the eTwinning platform. They created accounts and surfed the project Twinspace. They started using this platform adding the material and photos from the work done in the previous days. After that the students were working in groups, describing their time during the mobility and presented it in front of the others. Thus the students evaluated the mobility and reflected the work that had been done. The final conclusion was that the mobility was very interesting, educational, the students (and teachers) had learned a lot about new apps and all had had a great time together.

Maja Videnovik