Introduction

This is the first joint Newsletter about our Comenius school development project. The project is subsidized by the European Commission. The aim of our project is to investigate and develop the use of multiple intelligences in our schools. In November 2006 we had our first project meeting at … school in Slovenia. We made plans for the project, visited schools and made cultural excursions.

In April 2007 we had our second meeting at Fen school in Norway. In the following articles you can read about our visit to Norway.

Tekstikehys: From Finland: Talsoilan koulu

PUPIL EXCHANGE

Going to Fen school for the whole week in Norway was something very new and exciting for Maria and Tiina who were chosen as representatives of Talsoilan koulu, Finland, to join the pupils project meeting in Norway in April 2007. During this week they got to know much about Norwegian school life. They also expierenced typical Norwegian everyday life while living in a Norwegian family spending time with their Norwegian sister. In addition they made new friends with other pupils from Norway, Slovenia and Netherlands, too.

SMARTY

Tekstikehys: Smarty was somehow an unexpected member in the meeting. We knew he would be joining our project, but the way he showed out was a great surprise – Smarty was a frog! Well, a good project needs to have a mascot, of course. And from now on Smarty will show us how we can learn, using the theory of multiple intelligences. And he will also travel to our next meeting in Finland in November 2007, as well as to our next meetings in the future. We can hardly wait for to meet him again! Welcome to our school and to Finland, Smarty and all other members of the project!

TEACHER CO-OPERATION

One of the main tasks of this project is to study how people learn things. From our point of view the theory of multiple intelligences and different learning styles are relatively less considered in our teaching methods. That is why the project gives us a great opportunity to learn something new and interesting, too. It is also a big challence to try something entirely different in our work.

In this project there has been allready great possibility to learn about such things as other European educational systems, schools in different cultures as individual organisations and everyday school life concerning teacher and pupils in different countries in Europe. Propably we all have learned some about the similarities and the differences between each other concerning learning and teaching. And as the teaching plans and materials were changed in Norway between the project schools, we have some more ways to go and learn new foreign languages by using different learning styles to help with it.

The value we all benefit by getting involved in this project is the co-operation and the friendship, which both have started to grow between us, since we started the project. And this means not just co-operation between other nations and cultures and schools, but also new kind of co-operation and teamwork we have locally started with our teachers in our school. After all, after the first year, we are glad to know that we are just in the beginning and there will be two more years to go together with each other in ”You are smarter than you think” project.

From Slovenia: OS Franja Malgaja Šenjtur

OUR WEEK IN NORWAY

Four teachers and four children spent a beautiful week in Norway. We went there as a part of Comenius project and to see our friends from Norway, Finland and Netherlands again.

Students spent their week at families, where they lived as members of their family. They went to school with Norwegian children; they learnt and also taught Norwegian children some Slovenian words. They went sightseeing, shopping and they spent their free time like Norwegian children do. They liked it there very much and when they had to go home they were sad but they made new friends and it was an unforgettable experience for them.

While the children were having great time, we were also enjoying ourselves, but in a different way. We were working on our project, talking about different teaching strategies and different ways of teaching in our countries and we were comparing how the things work in practice. Of course we also had time for fun, sightseeing and shopping, but the most important thing is that we have strengthened our bonds. We have found out that we are in the right track with our project and we all look forward the meeting in Finland in November.

From Norway: Fen skole

Tekstikehys: Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences were the centre of attention this week. Several schools in Skien, a city in Norway, have worked according to Gardner’s ideas for some years. We visited Kollmyr school (www.kollmyr.skole.skien.no) to see how they incorporate these ideas in their own teaching, and Mette Bunting (Pedagogical centre in Skien) told us about the MILL-project (www.milliskien.net).
We had project meetings were we exchanged lesson plans for our MILL-inspired language-project and discussed the progress of the Comenius project.
At Lunde school we got to see the newly renovated and modern school which is run by the former headmaster at Fen school, Terje Næss.
The visit gave both pupils and staff at Fen an opportunity to practice our English and learn more about the different countries. We hope that our guests enjoyed their stay, we certainly did!

From the Netherlands:

OBS De Springschans

Tekstikehys: We have been to Norway. It was very nice and also very exciting. The thing I liked the most was the first time we went to school, the Fen skole. The children and teachers of the school had organized a ceremony for us and the Finnish and Slovenian people. It was funny that we had to walk around in our socks! There were a lot of mountains in Norway, that is really different from here. The family I stayed with was very kind and sweet to me. I liked this project, because you can learn al lot about the countries and what they do at school. Also you have to speak English all the time! And … you know what it feels like to be away from school and your own family for a week!

Jessica, 11 years old

I have been to Norway! Together with Frank I stayed with a host family and that was great! We have done a lot of things: bowling, shopping, barbequing, eating pizza, and swimming. We had to talk a lot of English and I also learnt some Norwegian words. At school I had to get used to working without a long lunch break, because we don’t have that in Holland. There was a huge football playground next to the school, so every day Frank and I got together there with our Norwegian friends. Before we went home, I bought some souvenirs for grandmother and grandfather.

Joey, 10 years old

A couple of week ago we went to Norway. It was an exchange project. We stayed with a host family for a week. The first day we woke up in the middle of the night to go to the airport. We flew with KLM to Oslo. Also we got two trains. It was a long journey but we had a great view. We played lots of games. When we arrived at Bø our host families were there to pick us up. Joey and Frank were together in one family and Bente and Jessica were together too. The girl’s host family had a farm with 400 pigs!

Every day we went to school. We joined the English lessons and gymnastics. Besides that we also had our own school work. One day we went shopping, bowling and ate pizza with all the host families and the guests from Slovenia, Finland and Holland of course. We also went to the mountains. We went to a kind of snow hut, because there was a lot of snow up there. We have done lots more and we still have contact with the children from the other countries.

Bente and Frank, both 11 years old

THANK YOU NORWAY!

Thank you, to all the teachers, pupils and host families from Fen skole for your hospitality. We had a wonderful week and look forward to continuing the project next school year and to meeting again in Finland next November. Tusen takk!