An unforgettable “European” week

An unforgettable “European” week

by Antonia Gremi-Liadi, Greece

ERASMUS +: First meeting in Greece

Our school participates this year for the first time in an ERASMUS+ student exchange program. After a first meeting of the teachers in Istanbul in November, it was Greece’s turn to host the first groups of guests. So, from the 7^th to the 13^th of February, our school in Velo, Greece, hosted four children from each partner country (Italy, Spain, Turkey, Poland-Latvia)

The first meeting at the airport was a little awkward, but in just a few minutes the ice broke, as every Greek child met with their assigned guest. The entire Greek group had come by bus to welcome the visitors. We had prepared welcome banners for each country in their own language, which made everybody feel comfortable.

On Monday our guests had a short tour of the school, where they met the rest of the teaching staff, and then we went on our first educational excursion. First, we visited the ancient theater of Epidaurus, where Greek students presented to their guest an extract from the ancient tragedy “Helen” by Euripides. Then we went to Nafplio for lunch. On Tuesday afternoon we made a short trip to Xylokastro, a pretty town by the sea, and we were shown to the house of an important Greek poet, Aggelos Sikelianos.

On Wednesday, we went on another trip to Athens. We were guided to the Acropolis Museum and the Parthenon. We had the opportunity to show our new friends the Monastiraki flea market, the ancient agora in Thissio and the Greek Parliament. Also, we witnessed the change of the National Guard, the famous “Tsoliades”, who guard the Greek Parliament and the monument devoted to all the “Unknown Soldiers” who have sacrificed themselves fighting for freedom.

On Tuesday and Thursday mornings, the students worked in mixed groups in our school library to complete the programmed activities. We presented the results of a survey concerning the habits of students and teachers in using the media and the social networks and we joined in a discussion about the pros and cons of ICT as an introduction to the next objective of the program, which is to create a Safe Media Using Guide. We also prepared videos of our trips and excursions and talked about the experiences we shared. On Thursday afternoon we had a traditional celebration with dances from all partner countries and "Greek souvlaki" in the school yard. Each country presented their own traditional dances and we all had fun together.

On Friday we visited Ancient Corinth. There we played an educational game. Greek students were standing in pairs in front of some monuments, pretending to be local ancient Corinthians. The rest of the students – Greeks and visitors – pretended to be travelers from the future trying to return to their time. After taking some information about the monuments from the locals, they were also given an envelope with the letters of the secret code that would be the key for them to travel back to the future. We all met at the centre of the ancient site, where Saint Paul once stood trial in front of the Roman Governor in his passage through Corinth. There, we joined all the letters and the secret code that linked the past with the present was the Greek word “AGORA” and the Latin word “FORUM”, which basically both mean the same thing “a meeting place where people come together and talk”. After that, we went to Modern Corinth, where we visited a local TV station and were interviewed by a reporter. On Friday afternoon we had an open farewell party for our new friends with lots of food and dancing, where the entire school was invited.

The time of separation, on Saturday morning, was full of emotion and sadness, since most of us might not see each other again. We have grown very fond of each other and we shared beautiful moments of fun. Everybody admitted that it was a memorable and powerful experience.

The next trip is scheduled for Easter in Poland.

VISIT TO POLAND

VISIT TO POLAND                                       by Marilena Bouka, Greece

This year for the first time our school takes part in an ERASMUS+ project entitled: “Media, Social Networks and ICT: Opportunities for Learning”. In Aprli, from 25^th to 30^th, we travelled to Poland, to the Gymnasium of Lekavitsas, a small but picturesque town in the south of the country. This was the second mobility of our program, since the first one had take place in February, in Velo, Greece. So for us it was very exciting to go on our first trip abroad.  The four students of our school who went on this trip were Georgia Yianni, Sophia Zolota, Paul Poulos and myself, Marilena Bouka, with the School Director, Ms Martha Politou, and our English teacher, Ms Helen Kravariti.

The schedule was full of activities and excursions that were both educational and entertaining. All participants visited the palace Wawel in Krakow and the salt mine in Vilitska. We also visited an impressive hydroelectric plant and the ski resort in the Mountain Tatras, where we enjoyed the snow and a stunning view.

We spent three out of the five mornings of our stay there in a classroom and the computer lab of the school working in groups on the activities of the program. We analysed the results of a survey on the use of modern media and social networks and we created a short guide in order to encourage students’ proper and responsible use of technology. We also gave an interview to a local radio station journalist and we held a vote to select the best picture on the modern technological media. The winner of this competition was a picture created by Latvian students, entitled “EVOLUTION”.

The week ended with a cheerful party around the fire, where students, parents and teachers roasted traditional Polish sausages. Children and adults tasted the dishes that were prepared by the mothers of the students played games in the country, danced and had fun together.

The whole event was a success. The educational objectives of the meeting were completed to the fullest and the feelings of friendship and mutual understanding among children, which were born in the first meeting in Greece, were strengthened.

We all thanked our Polish friends for their warm hospitality and eagerly await the next meeting in October in Italy

SOCIAL MEDIA

SOCIAL  MEDIA

     

CAPTIONS

1^st picture: “I broke up with John.”

2^nd picture: “Really? How did he take it?”

3^rd picture: “He doesn’t know it yet. Facebook has crashed.”

by Annita Tseroni, Greece.

The function of social networks (eg Facebook, Twitter, MSN, etc.) is a current issue that troubles many people and many contradictory views are expressed on whether they have a positive or negative effect on our lives.

    Social networks offer a lot of advantages. First of all, it is an easy way of communication for all people, and especially young people. Due to the scarce free time, young people often resort to the Internet, in order to communicate with their friends. Thus, they find an opportunity to express their feelings and their inner world easily, which, for some people, is difficult to do face to face. Also, young people who live in the provinces, outside the city, have fewer opportunities to meet and socialize with people of their age. For them communication through the social networks is a solution to the problem of isolation and loneliness.

    At the same time, through the media, people have easy access to all kinds of information. Moreover, searching for information through the Internet is more interesting than looking things up in a book or an encyclopedia, because there are also pictures, videos and sound. In addition, an important advantage of social networks is that they are a means of entertainment for young users. Young people prefer to spend their free time staying at home and exploring the internet and social networks, where they can listen to music or watch popular movies and TV series.

It is a fact that young people nowadays do not often watch the news, do not read newspapers and they are, therefore, not sufficiently informed about current events taking place in the world. This problem is, to some extent, dealt with through social networks. That is, as young people join various social networks, in order to be entertained and chat with others, they find the opportunity to learn about serious social issues affecting countries and people all over the world.

However, it is commonly accepted that social networks can also have a negative impact on young people’s life in different ways. First of all, some people end up being addicted on the use of such networks, spending many hours a day - more than they really should - connected on the Internet. As a result they not only waste a lot of precious time that could be spent on more creative activities but they also become passive receivers of all the messages that bombard them through the social networks and the media. There have been quite a few cases of young people falling victims of such fraudulent messages.

Moreover, students often tend to ignore their school lessons, as they prefer the "entertainment" through networks and, as a result, they fall behind their education. It has been recorded in various researches that young people do not use the media so much for educational purposes and, even when they do, they tend to copy information without checking the reliability of the sources and without consolidating the useful knowledge. The consequences of such attitude can only be negative to their education and general mental development.

It is also a fact that mainly young children and teenagers are deceived by adults who present themselves on social networks under a false identity, in order to trick children to serve their own interests. There have been large numbers of incidents worldwide involving the mistreatment of minors who were victims of elaborate frauds over the internet.

We should also note the danger of sensitive personal data being revealed or leaked through social networks. Often users are required, under the regulations set by the administrators of such networks and websites, to show to reveal online their personal information in order to log in. Moreover, young people tend to post personal or embarrassing photos, which might cause a problem for them in future life. So, anyone at any time can get access to personal information of a child and use them for unethical purposes.

Without a doubt, social networks have many advantages, but pose many dangers, as well. We shoul be well advised not to be dependent on them and not to allow them to act negatively on our lives. Let's just keep the advantages they have to offer us.

PHOTO CONTEST

‘’Media, Social Networks & ICT: Opportunities for Learning’’ is the title of our Erasmus project, where we as teachers and students from 6 different schools from 6 different countries work together on making a safety guide to using social media correctly and responsibly. Over the course of our 2-year runtime (2016-2017), we have held several activities—all themed after social media—and we have couple more planned for ahead.
While some of our activities take place when we are in our own countries, I think both students and teachers would agree that our most exciting ones take place when we go to 1 of 6 participant countries in order to hold a project conference that last for 1 week. So far, we have been to Greece and Poland.
One such activity we held was a photo contest in Poland last April. The rules were easy; the students had to take photos that displayed the effect that social media and networks have on our lives, and the one with the most creative photo was to win a gift card for an electronics/book store.

The contestants took their photos in their home countries and sent them to the head of the contest, Miss Bahar. Later on, each photo was displayed in the Poland conference and the teachers from each country voted for their favorite.
There were a lot of inspired and well-shot photos, and some funny ones as well. Here are those photos, along with their titles and presentations;

Technology  Has  Penetrated Everywhere
Author:  Bill Georgantopoulos  - Greece
‘’This photo was captured 1 year ago in a Buddhist monastery. This photo is the proof of the great evolution of technology.’’

The First Steps In Technology
Author: Georgia Gianni - Greece
‘’Learning how to use technology along with learning how to walk and talk.’’

 

A Typical Day at My House
Author: Kinga - Poland
‘’New technologies and social media are in almost every part of our lives.’’

A Day at The Park
Author: Sara Boldrini - Italy
‘’This picture wants to highlight how social media involves everyday life, in the picture are depicted guys at the park that instead of talking to each other and having fun, they are using their phone.’’

Author: Vanessa Bortolotti - Italy
‘’Personally I think that our generation prefers remembering some special moments using a mobile phone or a camera instead of looking with our eyes. These new technologies permit us reliving that moments in order to remember them in a better way.
I've taken this photo during a concert in Bologna last March.’’

There Is Social And... S♥cial
Author: Camilla Gamberoni – Italy
‘’The photo was taken at my home and it represents the different use of social between persons.’’

Measure Is The Key To Enjoyment
Author: Alejandro - Spain
‘’This picture reflects how young people are controlled so many times by social networks and ICT. If we use high-tech devices correctly, we can make the most of them and enjoy the possibilities that they give us so much.’’

Break Time at My School
Author: Jesús Yagüe Martínez - Spain

At School
Author: Ayşe Azgün - Turkey
‘’The idea is that social media can be very tempting and addictive for young people.’’

Watch Out
Author: Ayşe Azgün - Turkey
‘’Most of the time we get indulged in social networks and forget where we are.’’

Curiosity
Author: Ayten Gönültaş - Turkey
‘’This photo attempts to show how new technologies including social media arouse curiosity in young children.’’

Our Opportunity
Author(s): Arthur’s Team - Latvia
‘’The idea is that Technologies let us become closer.’’

Evolution of The Media
Author: Alex - Latvia
‘’The idea is clearly seen. How Technologies have been developing.’’

Pressure of The Media
Author(s): Alex and His Team - Latvia


The voting was made via every country picking their top 3 favorites, and the one with the most votes (5 votes) was the photo titled ‘’Evolution of The Media’’ by Alex. Congratulations buddy! Great photo, and that lighting is especially top-notch!

And that concludes our photo contest. It was a fun little experience that allowed creative and talented minds to speak through art of photography. I for one, can’t wait to see what the future holds in store for us and our project.
Ibrahim YAMAN