Győr, 19 October 2012 Erika Magdics Szabadhegyi Magyar-Német Középiskola, Győr Tel: +36/70/

Depicting a poem or story element by sculpture miming Processing a part of a novel

magic-of-reading.html

Spain, Turkey, Italy, Poland, Romania, Greece and Hungary An application by Mrs. Papp with previous project partners The working language of the programme is English

To learn about the reading habits of age group students To improve the attitude towards reading To get an insight into the literature of the partner countries

To familiarize the students with the literature of partner countries through reading clubs To read books in English and the local language To collect the most frequent ethical values in literary works. Each partner school is then to write a story beginning based on these values. Using this story beginning as a starting point each country is to make its own play and present it in Italy between 10 and 14 of December 2012.

Students are to build an English-Hungarian vocabulary list of 25 words relating to reading and literature The outcome is an eight- lingual dictionary Students are to make illustrations to books and exhibit their work

The questionnaire on reading habits that the schools had developed (and parents, teachers and students filled in) were debated. The list of books and poems to be read and processed was finalized. The governing principles of compiling the „national cards” (i.e. presentation of a country’s culture on 25.ppt slides) were discussed. The website of the project was presented. The Reading Club of the Romanian school

Nikos Kazantzakis: Zorba, the Greek Esterhazy Péter: Helping Verbs of the Heart Radnóti Miklós : How Others See… Wislawa Szymborska: Selected Poems Slawomir Mrozek : The Elephant Zahrad: Selected Poems Orhan Pamuk: Museum of Innocence Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra: Don Quijote Federico Garcia Lorca: Selected Poems Giovanni Boccaccio: Decameron Carlo Collodi: Pinocchio Mihai Eminescu: Evening star Mircea Eliade: Bengal Nights Konsztantinosz Petrosz, Kavafisz: Selected Poems

The countries presented their reading club activities of the first five months Sections were selected from pieces of writing on the reading list for translation (from English to the local languages, and from local language editions of foreign pieces of writing into English) The Hungarian group presented its reading club activities as a.ppt presentation, then showed what it had created about Federico Garcia Lorca Lorca’s poems put to music created a peculiar atmosphere

The winning „story beginning” was selected. Zahrad’s poems were recited in English and in Turkish in the presence of the poet’s widow. Small sections of Pamuk’s „Museum of Innocence” were read out loud in English and the mother tongue of the various countries.

The programme includes excursions (e.g. to Budapest), a visit to the local theatre, workshops. Recitals from Helping Verbs of the Heart by Péter Eszterházy and of poems by famous Hungarian poets - in English and in the mother tongue of each participating country.

We were familiarized with excellent pieces of writing by major authors from six European countries. We succeeded in motivating our students to read – teachers and students alike enjoyed the challenge. Various workgroups are successfully collaborating to achieve a shared goal. The students had a chance to share how they were impacted by a book and to articulate their thoughts and feelings. Close friendships were developed and the students’ language skills improved.