Home and Abroad in Europe Third Comenius Meeting Germany November 2009

The meetings took place between the 9 th and 13 th of November 2009  Teachers met and discussed on the progress made with the films.  Problems encountered by partners were acknowledged and dealt with through a consensus.  Targets were set for the last meeting in Poland and dates were given for the finalization of the end product.

The details  The meetings lasted roughly nine hours.  The topics of discussion were :  What was said in the last meeting in Portugal  What new tasks have been achieved and whether they were successfully accomplished by all partners.  What tasks are to be done in the future.  Coordination of the work accomplished so far.

The films  These were filmed and sent to partners prior to the meeting.  Text was then to be elaborated and inserted as narration and subtitles to the films by each partner assigned to do so.However, with only one exception, Cyprus, the other three partner schools, having encountered some technical problems in their respective schools (what exactly?) left the insertion of the narration and subtitles to the film to be accomplished after the meetings.

The texting  It was agreed that coordination between the concerned partners on the text writing of a film had to be done in order to avoid inaccuracies with regard to information.  It was understood that each text writing partner may use these clarifications in a liberal and individual manner.  Not all partners had access to all films.

The content of the films  It was observed that the European element which was the main characteristic of our film productions did not appear in all films or at least in very different forms. This creates some concern as to whether the final approval of the end product will be the one aimed or not.  The story also anticipated from the beginning and reminded in the second meeting was missing from at least two films as said by partners.

Remedy to the problem  It has been expressed that the respective partners will see to integrate the European element either in the texts or in the music in order to make up for the initial error.  As to the story, nothing has been said in order to harmonize the odd effect created by the missing story. As it creates the aspect of a tourist film which was expressly to be avoided from the beginning we stand, I fear, less chances for a good final evaluation.

Postponed deadline for the texting  The following amendments or catching ups need to be done by the 21 st of December:  Narration and subtitles to be inserted to the films which Portugal, Poland and Germany are working on. Eventually, Germany may not include subtitles but whole text inserted in between the images.( ?)  Amendments to already inserted narration and subtitles on the film Cyprus has worked on.  Films need to be sent by the 21 st of December and be received by their respective partner school by the 1 st of January.

Music Magic boxes were exchanged  Music files have been exchanged between  Cypriot movie: => Germany received music, Andrea has to look for a special Cypriot Jazz CD which was given to Paula in Portugal 2009  German movie: => Cyprus received music  Polish movie: => Poland will send the music together with the film to Portugal by December 23rd latest.  Portuguese movie: => Poland received music

Deadline for the music track to be added to the film  The music track will be added by the next meeting in Poland at the latest.  However it was said that we could finish the film a month earlier and probably send them to the partner school the originate from, in order to get a final approval with regard to the content.

The MICE questionnaire  The partners worked diligently since the last meeting in Portugal and based on the MICE tool recommended by the Comenius, established a set of questions addressed to pupils, teachers and the SMT.  The coordinator assembled the results on a common graph but failed to achieve evaluation as not all questions were asked by the partners.  It was then decided to conduct a more diligent research for the end of project report to be presented at the last meeting in Poland.

The importance of the questionnaire  This is a very important part of the final report. All partners are to conduct this in the space of time lapse between the finishing of the film with the music track and the meeting in Poland.  All questions need to be answered unless tjis proves to be impossible.

Final Report  This will be written by the coordinator of the project, after the meeting in Poland. It will have to be handed in to the National Agency by the end of June.  Therefore partners will bring their individual reports, in which t hey will be evaluating the tasks accomplished at their respective schools as compared to those stated in the application form.  These reports will be given to the coordinator who will use them with the questionnaire in order to write the final project report.

The Meeting in Poland This is the last official meeting between partners and it will take place in Poland between the 19 th and 23 rd of April The main objective will be the viewing of the four finished films and the coordination of the work to be done on the questionnaire to be evaluated and on the final report. The pupil exchange will continue.

Pupils in Families or not  The Liceum Ogolnoksztalcace in Poland is a very small school of 67 pupils only. Their possibility to host in families all the visiting partner pupils are limited. Therefore, effort will be put for some pupils to be hosted by families from another school in the nearest town of Chiechocinek.  If necessary some pupils may need to stay in a hostel in Nieszawa with some Polish pupils and teachers.  The Bischoefliche Canisiuschule has excluded this possibility whereas the IPTA Portuguese school has accepted it. The English School will need to further concert on this matter.  The stay in a hostel is to be sponsored by the host school.

Attendencies to the last meeting  Germany will participate to this last meeting with four teachers, the Head Teacher included, and 11 to 12 pupils.  Portugal will specify the numbers as soon as the airfares are low enough for them to book.  Cyprus will take two teachers and six pupils.

The teachers at the meeting  The accommodation for teachers will be in the spa town of Ciechocinek, because there are no hotels in the town of Nieszawa, where the school is.  The German partners are interested to rent cars for the week, so Gregory will investigate this possibility.  The Cypriot partners stated that this is no option for our school.  The transfer from the airport to the town of Ciechocinek may be done by bus. This remains to be confirmed.  The currency is PLN which equals 25 Euros for each 100 PLN.