From May 30 to June 3, the 2nd international project meeting took place at a partner school in Turkey. As per tradition, we were greeted at Ozel Doga Anadolu Lesesi in Kutahyi by the school authorities. This was accompanied by dance performances by students presenting their national dances and a guided tour of the school. In the official part, the hosts organized meetings with local authorities of the city and the region in their offices. Thanks to this, we had the opportunity to learn about the education system in Turkey and learn about the importance of EU programs for the development of the local community.
During our stay in Turkey, there were numerous tours of the most famous places in Kutahya, Eskişehir and Istanbul. In Kutahyi and nearby Eskişehir, we had the opportunity to see the remains of a Greek temple, mosques, an archaeological museum, a ceramics museum and much more. A trip to Istanbul was an incredible attraction for the participants, during which we visited the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, the Basilica Cistern and the historic city center. The full day tour was crowned with a cruise on the Bosphorus Strait, accompanied by a gala dinner and artistic performances (belly dancing, dervish dancing, etc.)
The hosts took care of introducing us to traditional Turkish cuisine with its greatest delicacies and customs during the Ramadan festival. During one of the dinners, we were guests in a traditional restaurant serving Turkish cuisine. During the feast, we listened to folk music performed live.
We started our project meeting with a summary of all trips related to learning, teaching and training. We checked the compliance of their course with the project assumptions. We made sure that the documentation gathered and the results obtained were correct. We emphasized the value of the knowledge and experience gained by the participants of these meetings and the skills acquired in creating and editing films. An example of such an action was the presentation of an e-book by Polish teachers, containing reflections of students and their parents on participation in the Erasmus + project. Increased cultural awareness of the participants and openness to the diversity of countries and their traditions turned out to be extremely important. Thanks to the visits to the partner countries, lasting and close relations were established between students and teachers. The best example is joint application for further Eramsus + projects by partner schools. We have noticed that the language skills of both students and teachers have improved through project and mobility meetings in the learning, teaching and training activities. As a result of all undertaken activities, we obtained a number of material results in the form of, among others: a project film “Europe unites us”, a project blog, training materials on creating films, an e-book with participants’ memories, a commemorative photo book of Erasmus trips, presentations of schools and educational systems in force in individual countries, presentations containing traditions, histories and customs of regions, a film promoting values European programs prepared by the Polish school, certificates, meeting programs and evaluation surveys.
On the day of the conclusion of the project meeting, the participation certificates were handed over and the willingness to maintain the established relationships was expressed.