After eight hours in a train having seen many bicycles and astonishing traffic lights (they are kind of round in the Netherlands and look more charming than the German ones) we finally arrived in Putten, Netherlands. The schools we visited in the Netherlands were quite different to the one we go to in Altdorf. (They were all new, not a single building older than 15 years.)

We arrived at 16:00 so we were in time for dinner. To quote Felix K.: “Man, that was delicious.” After spending some time cleaning our rooms we just went to bed – being good boys and pleasing our teachers and to be ready for the school visit next day.

The way of teaching in the Netherlands is quite different to the way of teaching in Altdorf. So the way they teach at Holk is new and a little bit strange to us, but obviously quite effective. And the students were so quiet and keen on working – honestly – we couldn´t really believe it.

At the end of our week we visited Amsterdam in typical Dutch weather (rain, fog etc), we had a boot trip through one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. To put it in a nutshell (my best British English) the Netherlands was one of the best countries I´ve been to and we did interesting projects on different intelligences.

Felix Kümmel

 

 

 

 

We had a wonderful time in Estonia! The first day started after a warm welcome of the headmaster with a tour around the Tallinna Polütehnikum. We saw the interesting structure of the school with different work shops e.g. for printing, photography or electronics. After a delicious lunch at the canteen we started our work on the Comenius project. In the afternoon the group was shown around the old city of Tallinn by Ege Meister. What a marvellous old city! 

On Tuesday we had the opportunity to visit a chemistry lesson. It was very inspiring to watch the students work on their experiments. While the teachers gave their presentations on multiple intelligences and had a vivid exchange of ideas the students had a lesson in Estonian language. From then on, they practiced as much as they could. The German students were happy to learn some Estonian as they had the great opportunity to stay in families. Thank you. After another delightful lunch at the canteen we walked to the Gustav Adolfi Gümnaasium, where we attended another class and were shown around the impressive old building.

The next day we went to Laulasmaa School, a beautiful and bright school building. Afterwards we discovered the museum of Arvor Pärdi, a well known Estonian composer, and learned in the open air museum about the development of housing in Estonia. The guide could talk to us in amazingly many languages as English, German and Turkish. How gifted!

On our last day in Estonia, Ege took us on a trip to southern Estonia where we climbed the highest mountain (317 m) and even the tower on top of it! There we had a great view over the coloured leafs of the autumn forests. In Rouge we saw an energy park, parts of the town and visited a youth centre. Later Ege took us to Voru, her home town, where she showed us the centre and we had a walk along the banks of the lake.

Dear Ege, thank you for giving us such a great time in Estonia, thanks for your perfect organisation and the careful choice of delicious food for us!

Comenius in Bulgaria

1^st day:

After a long time in the plane and in a coach without any air conditioning we finally arrived in Tarnovo. We shortly strolled through the city filled with evening light and had pizza for the pupils and local specialities for the daring teachers. By and by the other participants arrived and they were heartily welcomed.

2^nd day:

We were welcomed at the Resource centre for children with special needs and the students started to work in groups on the topic: “school of my dreams”. At the beginning the students were a bit shy, but Todor, a Bulgarian student, introduced himself with great pleasure to every one of us and took photos as well.

In the afternoon we visited the castle “Tsaravets” – it´s the place where Bulgaria was founded in the Middle Ages. We had a most impressive view to the river valley and the town which looked like a little nest in those hills.

3^rd day:

Céline made friends with the Portuguese girls and gave them some fashion tips: what´s hot, what´s not. We went to the elementary school “Ivan Varzov” and saw several quite interesting lessons. Some of the classrooms had smart boards.

In the evening we wanted to smuggle pizza into our hotel, but we had to fight too many technical problems – we wanted to pull the pizza up with a rope construction, and somehow it didn´t work. But in the end we miraculously had an international pizza party – delicious.

4^th day:

On our fourth day in Bulgaria we visited the school in Gorna Oryahovitsa, where we saw a very beautiful dance performance. Afterwards we danced ourselves, and the teachers showed a lot of talent, whereas the pupils appeared to be a bit shy.

Then Arbanassi, a little place with very beautiful houses, welcomed us with its great natural beauty, large meadows with blooming flowers and finally brilliant weather.

Souvenirs, souvenirs, souvenirs: Rose oil and wood carvings were bought, and hand creams for the nice girls from school who had stayed at home and collected the information for the travellers.

A real highlight in the most literal sense of the word was the sound and light show representing Bulgaria's bloody history. It was really awesome, almost overwhelming!

5^th  day:

After visiting a resource centre in the town of Grabovo (and leaving behind the Greek delegation!) we went to an open air museum in Etar which recalled the medieval life of the simple people of Bulgaria. The homemade bread was delicious, and craftsmen offered their products in historical workshops.

In conclusion, the pupils Céline, Christoph, Felix and Jakob were very glad to have met young people from other European countries, get to know different cultures, and experience how well they could talk in English with their new friends.

Communication and the discovery of Bulgaria as a country they hadn't seen before were also the teachers' most important impressions from the week in Bulgaria. The Academy of Multiple Intelligence brings people together, makes friendships grow, and broadens the horizon.

The German team:

Céline, Christoph, Felix and Jakob and their teachers Gisela and Bernd

Meeting in Istanbul In June 2013, headmasters and teachers from the nine Comenius-AMI schools met in Istanbul. The Turkish hosts with their tremendous hospitality gave us an unforgettable and splendid time. With a number of presentations given by several participants we learned more about multiple intelligences. It was most interesting to hear and see the others' ideas. Particularly valuable, of course, were the insights into the Turkish school. We had the advantage of a great welcome evening including a pupils' dance performance and delicious food, visiting lessons in various subjects, and, most of all, making friends with Turkish colleagues, pupils, and their parents. On top of all this, our hosts spared no effort to show us their impressive town where Europe meets Asia and the historic cultural sites abound.

In January all our Comenius friends came to Altdorf and we had a lovely and very interesting time together. Apart from visiting lessons and excursions to Nuremberg, Burgthann (to visit a castle) and certainly Altdorf – where the youngsters from the Netherlands and Portugal went to the famous bakery “Fuchs” and learnt how to make “BREZELN”, we did a lot of work on our topic: multiple intelligences. There the teachers exchanged experiences they have made and on our last day together we even had a project on multiple intelligences with all the students. Europe was the topic of it and really everybody could take part in it, for example they all learnt how to do a Scottish Ceillidh.

And here are some impressions. We hope you remember and enjoy it.