Good Behaviour - a rainbow that colours our life

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Good Behaviour

A rainbow that colours our life

Lifelong Learning Programme Comenius

School Partnership 2008 ‐ 2010 This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.

This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

A rainbow that colours our life

Good Behaviour

Index of the E-Book General information about the Project

Summary of the Project Students and teachers involved Coordinating school Partner schools General objectives of the Partnership European added value Objectives, subjects and problems Dissemination and use of results

page 04

Introduction to the work

page 13

Questionnaires Stories Stickers Proverbs Multilingual Dictionary Website and blogs Addressing others

page 15 page 18 page 20 page 22 page 26 page 28 page 29

page 04 page 05 - 06 page 07 page 08 page 09 - 10 page 11

Introduction

Chapter I

Chapter II

Chapter III

Chapter IV

The impact of a sample of activities, suggestions of how to use these activities in the promotion of: Good Behaviour Good Manners Interpersonal relations

Pages 32 - 34

Travelling character Didactical Game Songs Comic strips

pages 36 - 48 page 49 page 51 page 52

Activities specific to each partner institution and impact of the project inside each school community

pages 58 -97

Conclusion

Pages 99 -100

Conclusion

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Summary of the Project We joined to work on a Project about behaviour, good manners and interpersonal relations.

These times of rapid social change have altered behaviour and the quality of interpersonal relations. The school has a role in the identification and development of appropriate responses to this challenge with a view to supporting and encouraging young people towards responsible citizenship.

The project involved children from 4 to 15 years old from a wide variety of partner institutions.

Our goal was to make vertical and horizontal links, learn about each other, from each other and find or invent new approaches to help each child in developing emotional and social intelligence, a basic behaviour culture and awareness of its importance.

Specific activities were organised to motivate and encourage children to active participation in and evaluation of all stages of the Project.

By establishing a direct relation between what we call “A good behaviour” and the Heritage and the Traditional Culture of each one of the countries, we aimed to provide an interest, awareness and a sensibility in each of our students towards artistic, social and ethical values, a sense of responsibility and respect, to enhance tolerance in accordance with common European values.

Students and teachers involved Name of participating organisation

Country

Osnovna šola Idrija Vrtec Idrija Scoala “Simion Barnutiu” Yarnfield Primary School - Birmingham Istituto Comprensivo “C. Carminati” Wallands CP School - Lewes Ovens National School Externato Santa Catarina St Joseph Junior School Sliema Halil Gelendost Primary School

Slovenia Slovenia Romania UK Italy UK Ireland Portugal Malta Turkey

Total nr of pupils involved 650 147 275 300 400 440 320 150 125 40

Total nr of staff involved 32 16 20 10 20 20 16 9 8 8

2407

159

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Coordinating School of the Project Osnovna Šola Idrija Slovenija

Lapajnetova 50 - 5280 Idrija http://www.osnovna-sola-idrija.si projekt3.osngid@guest.arnes.si

Partner Schools of the Project Ireland

Italia

Ovens National School, Ovens, Co. Cork http://www.ovensns.com ovensns.ias@eircom.net

Istituto Comprensivo “C. Carminati” Via Dante, 4 - Lonate Pozzolo (Varese) http://www.ic-lonatepozzolo.it ist.comp.lonatepozz@libero.it

Malta

St Joseph Junior School Sliema Cathedral Street - Sliema stjoseph@vol.net.mt

Externato Santa Catarina Portugal

Rua Padre José da Felicidade Alves nr 3 1465-688 Cruz Quebrada http://www.santacatarina-ext.pt/ santa.catarina@sapo.pt

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Şcoala Simion Bărnutiu Romania

Dorobantilor Street – 72 400609 CLUJ – NAPOCA http://barnutiu.scoli.edu.ro s_barnutiu@hotmail.com barnutiu@isjcj.ro

Vrtec Idrija Slovenija

Prelovčeva 11 - 5280 Idrija http://www.vrtec-idrija.si vrtec.idrija@guest.arnes.si

Wallands CP School United Kingdom

Gunreda Road - BN7 1PU Lewes http://www.wallandsprimary.com office@wallandscp.e-sussex.sch.uk

Yarnfield Primary School Yarnfield Road - B11 3PJ Birmingham http://www.yarnfld.bham.sch.uk enquiry@yarnfld.bham.sch.uk .

Turkey

Naşide Halil Gelendst İlköğretim Okulu Hizirbey Mh. 32100 Isparta www.nasidehalil.com.tr nasidehalil@hotmail.com

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The proper education of the young does not consist in stuffing their heads with a mass of words, sentences, and ideas dragged together out of various authors, but in opening up their understanding to the outer world, so that a living stream may flow from their own minds, just as leaves, flowers, and fruit spring from the bud on a tree.

Jan Amos Comenius (1592-1670)

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“Part of the Lifelong Learning Programme, Comenius seeks to develop knowledge and understanding among young people and educational staff of the diversity of European cultures, languages and values. It helps young people acquire the basic life skills and competences necessary for their personal development, for future employment and for active citizenship.” in http://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-programme/doc84_en.htm th (9 April 2010)

In this project we decided to follow these objectives and goals:

General objectives of the Partnership -

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To develop the European dimension at all levels, in order to emphasise the spirit of the European citizenship, re-evaluating the cultural heritage of each participating country; To contribute to the improvement of linguistic competences and also knowledge of the languages of partner countries. This will broaden horizons and will contribute to the intercultural dimension of education; To encourage connections between the pupils from Europe and contributes to their intercultural education; To contribute to a larger and more intense cooperation between the partner institutions emphasising their intellectual and teaching potential; To encourage teacher and pupil mobility; To give pupils and teachers from the participating countries an opportunity to work together on topics of mutual interest; To promote the Europeans values that will provide our pupils with a training to become perfectly integrated European citizens; To develop the necessary skills for creating projects in all fields of activities ; To enhance skills in the use of ICT; To enhance communication and personal skills; To increase self-esteem and confidence; To encourage professional development and educational innovation, To realise all the activities planned, leaving each partner space for new initiatives and creativity.

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European added value .

This partnership is considered to be beneficial because it aims to enhance the quality of and reinforce the European dimension of school education, by encouraging transnational cooperation among schools and contributing to professional development of staff who are directly involved in school education, to promote intercultural awareness and dialogue, the ability to communicate and to promote an interest in learning modern languages with pupils and staff…

Besides this we claim that by establishing a direct relation between what we call “A good behaviour” and the Heritage and the Traditional Culture of each one of the countries, we will provide an interest and an awareness in each one of our students towards artistic, social and ethical values, a sense of responsibility and respect, and will enhance tolerance in accordance with common European values.

One of the aims of our project is to show and prove that understanding of European citizenship should start with valuing all of the different identity layers which define each of us and show children the path from the local, regional, and national identity to the European citizenship.

We are convinced that cooperation between European schools is an effective way to support integration and intercultural dialogue.

We are also sure that by going behind the tourist facade to look at the very rich and unknown historical and cultural background of partner countries, a Comenius project will supply our students and teachers with a great opportunity to meet people from other countries, learn to value and respect both one's own and other peoples' values and cultures and help them fight against prejudices.

The project will contribute to the sharing of resources (existing or newly created) by undertaking the collection of information about available teaching materials.

It will also provide a blog /forum on the Project web site for discussion of behaviour / manners / interpersonal relations matters and offer the necessary channels for the easy and direct communication and exchange of views among teachers and pupils in Europe.

All the above mentioned is, of course, a great benefit for partner institutions to promote the quality of their work in the broadest sense.

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Objectives, subjects, problems .



To analyze the situation in the field of behaviour, manners and interpersonal relations and not only inside schools;

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To discover attitudes and opinions about the importance of politeness;

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To make vertical ( age of pupils) and horizontal ( different countries) links and comparisons;

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To exchange information about the work being carried out in this field in partner schools;

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To reflect together upon the results of inquiries, problems and how to face them;

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To compare School systems and integration of these topics in the curriculum;

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To analyze the role of family, school and social surroundings;

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To encourage students , teachers, parents and others to give more emphasize to behaviour, teaching and reinforcing good manners, interpersonal relations

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To help teachers develop effective strategies for good behaviour management;

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To share achievements and experience in developing social and emotional intelligence and social skills;

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To promote creativity of teachers in finding and/or inventing new convenient teaching strategies that could help promote good behaviour and awareness of its importance;

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To share teaching styles in the field of behaviour, good manners, interpersonal relations;

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To improve teachers’ abilities and methodology by creating new teaching instruments;

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To provide final products that can be shared and used by participants and others even after the Project is finished;

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To promote developing of emotional and social intelligence with children;

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To motivate each child to be actively involved;

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To establish a direct relation between what we call “A good behaviour” and the Heritage and the Traditional Culture;

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To learn about different cultures;

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To involve as many students, parents and teachers as possible;

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To involve seniors ( retired teachers, grandparents and other volunteers );

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To involve associated partners actively;

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To develop creativity and abilities of pupils and their culture awareness;

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To promote mobility;

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To make the pupils aware of the concepts of identity and diversity within the European community and of the importance of a tolerant, open-minded attitude;

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To identify common features and difference, their transnational significance in establishing common values of the European spirituality and to make pupils aware of their belonging to the community at the local, regional and European level;

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To promote active citizenship;

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To promote language awareness of modern languages used in partner countries and early foreign language learning;

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To put into practice abilities to communicate in foreign languages and use modern means of communication (email, internet, messengers, Skype) for children and teachers;

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To put into practice the use mathematical tools;

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To encourage and promote ICT ability and skills in teachers and children;

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To develop pupils’ personal behaviour and social skills;

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To evaluate partnership and work inside partner institutions;

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To create “Comenius Corners” in all partner institutions;

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To disseminate the results.

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Dissemination and use of results The entire project will be presented to pupils, parents and school boards as well as to local communities and wider.

All the materials and products will be shared among partners.

First of all we will definitely use the results in participating organisations.

It is hoped that they will be used by other institutions or individuals as a result of their dissemination in local communities, presentations to the professional public, publishing on the web site, etc.

We will be glad to share our experience and present our project to wider Lifelong Learning (LL) community if possible.

Inside partner institutions we will:  Organise “Comenius corners” to inform the school community;  Display good-behaviour signals at schools;  Organise exhibitions, performances and presentations for students, teachers and parents;  Set up a resource and documentation centre using the experience and the materials collected and designed during the project for a permanent activity;  Publish information on the web site.

In local communities we will:  Present the project to local authorities and sponsors;  Organise exhibitions and events ( performances, etc);  Present the project in the mass media, web site, CD and DVD;  Present the work to associated partners;  Create workshops for parents and/or public in general, as well as dealing with some questions related to the project.

In the wider community we will:  Present the work to associated partners;  Present the project in the mass media;  Present the project to professional public at meetings and seminars.

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“Nature never deceives us; it is always we who deceive ourselves.”

Jean Jacques Rousseau

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Introduction

The project, “Good Behaviour, a rainbow that colours our life” was first proposed by Mrs. Vasilija Kobal, a teacher who has had wide experience of working in Comenius projects. She had observed that children’s behaviour was no longer an integral part of their training and felt that a study of current practice would best be pursued by a dedicated team of enthusiasts such as those who participate in trans‐national collaborative projects.

Thus the project was initiated and in this the final product, we hope to give the reader an overview of the processes which formed the 2 year work of this project.

Beginning with a Preparatory meeting in Birmingham,, in December 2008, representatives from the 10 project schools met and prepared a detailed proposal for the project on good behaviour. Considerable time was spent on planning the name for the project and emphasis at all times was placed on the positive aspects of behaviour. When the proposals for the study were approved, partner schools embarked on a journey, the fruits of which are now beginning to emerge.

Recognition of the unique cultural heritage and context of each school was the first essential step in the project plan. It was acknowledged that the combined wealth of school experiences would enable a rich, broad‐based learning experience to occur over the course of the project.

Participants agreed on the importance of studying behaviour and how best to promote good behaviour in students. The inclusion of the whole school community in all aspects of the work was regarded as essential. So parents, students and teachers in the ten schools were to be included in this ambitious study of behaviour in all its complexity.

The opportunities presented by modern technology were considered to be crucial in ensuring that the aims of the project were realised. Communication, recording and presentation of ideas were all to be enabled through the use of the wide variety of media. The project would present the partner schools with the opportunity to develop professionally as well as being the forum for many exciting and innovative developments both within the school and in the wider community.

It was hoped that when completed, the project would provide some insights into behaviour in modern society. What are the expectations of society in general?

What sort of behaviour do we expect from children and how do we set about trying to achieve it? Do children value good behaviour? Does society value it and if so how does it set about attaining it?

Through a variety of tasks, challenging and enjoyable, the past two years have seen the development of a wide range of resources and studies, which will be summarised in this book. We hope that they will be the foundation for some worthwhile future insights into Good Behaviour in modern society.

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Good Behaviour

A rainbow that colours our life Lifelong Learning Programme Comenius School Partnership 2008 ‐ 2010

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Chapter 01

Questionnaires Stories Stickers Proverbs Multilingual Dictionary Website and blogs Addressing others

page 15 page 18 page 20 page 22 page 26 page 28 page 29

Chapter I ‐ Questionnaires If you want a wise answer, ask a reasonable question.

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749‐1832) German poet, novelist and dramatist

The first task undertaken by the Comenius project group was the collection of data about the views of the whole school community on behaviour and manners as it currently manifests itself. A very comprehensive questionnaire was designed and distributed and a wide range of information was elicited and gathered. The data which has been garnered is in no way a scientific summary and is qualitative in nature rather than strictly quantitative. Therefore no claims will be made with respect to the statistical value of the survey. A consensus across the partners was established in very many areas.

The questionnaires were given to parents, teachers , other school staff and children

Parent response

A total of 900 parents of children aged from 4 to 14 were surveyed. Parents are the first educators of children and they have the most important role in the development of attitudes and patterns of behaviour. The project group considered their response to be crucial to the progress of the project.

Almost all agreed that children and people in general are less polite now than in the past and expressed a desire to see good manners and politeness re‐instated as important aspects of social behaviour.

Their expectations of the school in the field of behaviour, good manners and interpersonal relations included the promotion and delivery of the following good behaviour: Respect, Politeness, Manners and Good relationships.

The overwhelming majority of parents stated that they can best influence their children’s behaviour by

 Providing good example.  Giving love , respect and understanding  Positive reinforcement  Discussing behaviour and its consequences  Teaching good manners at home  Having high expectations around behaviour Parents place a high value on respect, commitment and sensibility, good manners and good behaviour, cooperation, kindness, good communication, respectful greeting, courtesy, careful listening and eye contact. Parents consider that good behaviour is a very important aspect of a child’s development and welcomed the study on behaviour as a positive step. The vast majority of parents expressed a keen interest in the project and said that they were willing to help out with any tasks which would arise.

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Children in the project institutions

1,150 children from the project schools were asked their opinions about what constitutes bad behaviour. Their ideas were similar across all the countries each with their different backgrounds and cultures. There is a clear pattern of agreement which provides a good basis for the beginning of such a project. Children care as much as adults about behaviour and they consider it to be extremely important that people behave well.

Children‘s opinions about behaviour and good manners were summarised in the following manner.

They think it is polite:

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To have good manners

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To listen To help To look at people as you speak To respect others

Children are upset when people are mean, when they display bad manners and when they lack respect. They dislike selfishness, ignorance and unpleasantness.

Their models of good behaviour are 1. Parents, 2. Teachers, 3.Relatives, 4.Older people, 5.Grandparents and TV stars. As children get older their role models become less easily identifiable and behaviour is increasingly influenced by peers and wider social influences.

Teachers and Educators

Finally the third group of people, teachers and educators were surveyed about their views on behaviour.

A total of 185 people were surveyed. The role of the school in their view is to teach children  How to treat others with respect  The effect bad behaviour has on others  Knowledge of basic behaviour rules – politeness, respect for people and property, manners  Know and share basic values  Learning through example  How to behave in different situations  Etiquette  Social skills

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Each country has its own curriculum and has a different way of dealing with topics which relate to behaviour. There are specific subjects in some countries while in others it is encouraged as part of a wider programme. Most people state that while lessons on behaviour are included in Social and Personal education and Civics there is room for more emphasis. There is a need to deal with aspects of behaviour in a specific and direct manner and much is left up to individual teacher and classroom practice. They feel that more can be done and that constant reinforcement is required. Time can be a problem. A whole school approach is vital. There is room for improvement in many aspects of behaviour.

Parents and teachers can help by modelling good behaviour, establishing clear limits, praising and rewarding, explaining rules and treating children with respect.

Some activities which promote better behaviour were identified. Leading by good example, discussion, advice, targeted lessons, role play and conflict resolution strategies were among those listed.

Teacher expectations of Parents Teachers expect parents to instil and encourage good manners and support the school’s policy and sanctions. Teachers think that good example should be set and that the positive effects of good behaviour should be emphasised. More attention should be paid to children’s needs and problems so that an understanding of behaviour can be attained. Conflict resolution strategies should be taught, Children should be enabled to deal with disappointment and failure.

Most institutions reported positive co‐operation with parents. Teachers and educators are happy with the support and input from parents. They feel the positive outcome of this is that parents know that their children are in safe caring hands.

When there is a culture of shared values, the same things are considered important.

Some establishments have home school links. Home school link teachers visit homes and have an understanding of the children in their care. Other schools report an open door policy. Close co‐operation and involvement has positive outcomes for all.

When difficulties or problems arise things are not always clear. In some countries, parents only come to the school when there is a serious problem. In other countries, there is ongoing contact on a regular basis. Co‐operation in the event of problem behaviour isn’t easy to achieve.

Expectations about the role of the school may be different. When this happens, problems can arise. If parents expect teachers to teach children everything, then their parental role may be diminished.

The questionnaire findings provided a solid basis for proceeding with the activities of the project. It was clear from the findings that all parties have a common interest in the promotion of good behaviour for successful living.

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Chapter I – Stories

Stories Activity

The partner schools chose one or more of their own traditional stories that were used to help promote good behaviour and positive values. Stories are a powerful and effective tool that children always embrace enthusiastically. Stories provide a common base for shared experience which transcends cultural and language differences. The stories chosen provided the children with interest in and an awareness of artistic, social and ethical values. In the partner schools many activities were explored to help develop positive behaviour. Areas included were:

      

Drama Music Creative writing PowerPoint presentations Art Displays Video

List of stories

Ireland Italy Malta Portugal Romania Slovenia (Osnavna Sola)

Slovenia (Vrtec) Turkey

UK (Birmingham) UK (Lewes)

 The Selfish Giant (Oscar Wilde)  Pinocchio (Traditional)  Gahan and the door  Os Ovos Misteriosos (Luísa Ducla Soares )  O Caldo de Pedra – Stone Soup (Traditional)  Mr Goe (T. L. Caragiale)  Peter Klepec (Traditional)  O Povodnem Mozu – About the River Man (Traditional)  Mojca Pokrasculja (Traditional)  Povodnjak in makov Škrat (Traditional)  Pod Medvedovim Dežnikom‐ Under the Bear Umbrella (Svetlana Makarovič) Four traditional stories about family relationships and friendship  Two close friends  Lazy son  mother‐in‐law / daughter  war‐time story  The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (Traditional)  The Little Red Hen (Traditional)  The Enormous Turnip

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Each school planned activities suitable to its particular situation. Some schools involved specific age groups whilst others involved the whole school community.

Activities chosen depended on the age of those children participating. Many interesting and varied products, both in English and in each partner’s home language were produced from the children’s exploration of behaviour displayed in the stories.

The products included:

 Books  DVD / film  PowerPoint presentations  Art (media including; posters, drawings, illustrations, collage)  Dramatic interpretations

All partner schools exchanged products and the children of each country experienced traditional stories representative of diverse cultures. The Comenius web site enabled each institution to access all stories.

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Chapter I – Stickers

Stickers

This activity was devised by the Maltese school and was one of the first tasks undertaken by the partner schools.

The Learning intentions of this activity were;

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to learn how to explain good behaviour, as well as, to give concrete examples of it

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to learn how to convey a concept creatively: What is good behaviour?

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to use Creative Writing (in the form of slogans) and Drawing/Art as a stimulus for discussion and Citizenship Education

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to adopt a multi‐curricular approach to the Comenius theme: Creative Writing, Art, Citizenship Education

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to promote good work by holding a stickers’ competition and publishing the best work according to set criteria

Activities for stickers

The following instructions were given to teachers and students;

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Read and dicuss stories from the different countries showing good behaviour. This may take place during a Literacy/ Citizenship Education lesson. Draw common themes from these stories. Elicit differences, too

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Discuss good behaviour across the curriculum by citing different examples; in so doing, elicit the pupils’ own definitions, examples and situations where good behaviour is/should be/can be manifested.

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Brainstorm these definitions, situations and examples and set a date for the Creative Writing activity. The pupils are to write their slogans on good behaviour

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Set a date for the Drawing/Art activity. Discuss with the pupils that their drawing is to explain their slogans on good behaviour. Make sure that the pupils are aware of the ground rules of the activity since each entry is to be considered as part of the Stickers’ Competition

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At the end of the activity, collect the drawings and discuss as closure; at the same time, facilitating Art/Drawing Interpretation

Success Criteria; 

I know what good behaviour means and I can give examples of it

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I can explain the concept of good behaviour in a creative way

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I can participate in a discussion on good behaviour, as well as, present my ideas to an audience

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I can demonstrate good behaviour

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I can write slogans promoting a positive message

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I can participate in a competition and adhere to a set of criteria

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The drawings are to be submitted for selection according to the relevant criteria (and closing date) set by the Comenius Teacher Team. These criteria are to be made known to all the participants.

Each country selected a representative sticker from their school.

The stickers were printed on a sheet and each school was presented with the complete range of stickers. These were printed by each school as they chose.

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Chapter I – Proverbs

Proverbs are sayings which are popularly known and repeated. They express a truth based on common sense or practical experience. Proverbs are often borrowed from similar languages and cultures. There are many proverbs, dealing with various aspects of human life – many, of course, are about good or bad behaviour. The reason we decided to use proverbs as a means of learning about good behaviour is because they are simple, easy to understand, and yet they can be applied to a number of different aspects of behaviour.

Proverbs most commonly express what we call 'traditional' values and provide us with an insight into the manners and values of past generations. Young people today don't use proverbs, and very often are not familiar with even the most common ones.

There are many proverbs available in each language. Not all of them are directly connected with what we would want to pass on to our children in terms of behaviour, nor are they all appropriate for the different age groups involved in the project. Therefore, the first thing we did at each school was to select three proverbs ‐ one for each age group.

The proverbs selected were:

Ireland: 1. Ni neart go cur le chéile (There is no strength without unity.)

2. Is minic a bhris beal duine a shrón (It's often a person's mouth broke his nose. (Be careful about what you say) ) 3. Bionn an fhirinne searbh (The truth is bitter.)

England – Lewes: 1. Don't make a mountain out of a mole hole.

2. No man is an island.

England – Birmingham: 1. Too many cooks spoil the broth.

2. There's no 'I' in team.

3. Honesty is the best policy.

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Italy: Primary school: 1. La cortesia non costa niente (Courtesy costs nothing.)

2. L'unione fa la forza (Many hands make light work.)

Secondary school 1. However famous and important you may be, without good manners you're merely an ass.

2. Good manners conquer all 3. Pride comes before a fall.

4. A stitch in time saves nine.

Portugal: 1. A boda e a baptizado não vás sem ser convidado! (Don’t go to a wedding or a baptism without being invited.)

2. A união faz a força. (The union gives the strength.)

3. O saber não ocupa lugar.

(Knowledge doesn’t occupy any space.)

4. Para ensinar é preciso aprender. (To teach it is necessary to learn.)

5. Junta‐te aos bons serás como eles, junta‐te aos maus serás pior do que eles.

(Join to the good ones and you will be like them, join to the bad ones and you will be worse than them.)

6. No aperto e no perigo se conhece o amigo. (In the pressure and in the danger we will discover the friend.)

7. Amigo verdadeiro vale mais do que dinheiro. (Truthful friends are worth more than money.)

8. Amor com amor se paga. (We pay love with love.)

Romania: 1. Bine facti, bine primesti. (Your good deeds will always be returned.)

2. Politetea e cheia de Aur. (Politeness is a golden key.)

Slovenia – Osnovna šola Idrija: 1. Laž ima kratke noge. (A lie never gets you far.)

2. Kjer vsi govorijo, nihče ne posluša. (Where everybody is talking, nobody is listening.)

3. Še pes ima rad pri jedi mir. (Even a dog likes to eat in peace.)

Turkey: 1. Tatlı dil yılanı deliğinden çıkarır. ( Sweet speech can get a snake from its hole.)

2. İyilik yap denize at balık bilmezse Halik bilir. (Behave well and throw it to the sea, if the fish don’t understand the value of it, God does.)

3. Ne ekersen onu biçersin. (What you will find depends on what you do.)

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4. Bana bir harf öğretenin kırk yıl kölesi olurum. (I will be the slave of one who teaches me even a letter. (Saying of Islam Prophet Hz.Muhammed)) 5. Söz ola kese savaşı, söz ola kestire başı. (There is speech that finishes a war, there is speech that is the reason for a war.)

6. İyi dost kötü günde belli olur. (You can see if your friends are true or not on a bad day.)

Malta: 1. A liar is not believed when he tells the truth.

2. Those who live on lies choke on truth.

3. Though a lie be swift, the truth overtakes it.

Vrtec Idrija:

1. KADAR VSI GOVORIJO, NIHČE NE POSLUŠA (Where everyone is talking, no one is listening.)

2. KJER OSEL SEDI, DLAKO PUSTI. (A fool never leaves without leaving a mark.)

3. LEPA BESEDA, LEPO MESTO NAJDE (A kind word finds a kind place.)

Using proverbs in the classroom: After selecting the proverbs and sayings we’ve discussed their meanings with the children. The process of selection itself was a valuable opportunity for talking about their meaning and importance in our everyday lives. The children learnt a lot about the origin of certain proverbs and their use in the past.

The next step was to try and work on the proverbs in a number of different possible ways. The proverbs could be discussed, referenced to different stories, films, plays, real‐life experiences, etc. The students engaged in a number of activities – acting out the proverbs, miming them, writing songs (hip hop/rap songs seemed to be very popular) and poetry. The students also drew pictures, comics of proverbs. The older students have done some creative writing about the topic. The proverbs were therefore used as a basis for a number of activities, all connected with good behaviour.

For the final product – a CD with a collection of the materials prepared by all the partners, each partner school’s task was to choose three proverbs and present them in such a way that their meaning would be clear to the others.

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We have received a selection of videos, stories, and other material that have been put together on a CD. This can now be used as a database of ideas, examples and materials on how one can work with traditional proverbs.

Proverbs are a valuable source of information about the traditional values present in a culture and by comparing the proverbs which were selected at individual schools we can see the specific characteristics of individual cultures, as well as the similarities. Many values are universal and certain proverbs are very similar, despite the differences in region, language, habits and religion.

This activity has been a valuable source of knowledge about individual country’s tradition, and a great experience for the students. We can now use the finished collected and sorted material in class as a resource with information on morals and values across Europe. We can also research the differences and similarities among us, thus again greatly contributing to intercultural exchange, raised awareness and improved communication.

Fun with Proverbs

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Chapter I – Multilingual Dictionary of Good Behaviour “The way we communicate with others and with ourselves ultimately determines the quality of our lives” Antony Robbins (American advisor to leaders)

Multilingual Dictionary of Good Behaviour

One final product of the first year of our Comenius project is the Multilingual Dictionary of Good Behaviour.

The goal of the dictionary is to encourage communication among children of different nationalities, to promote intercultural education while keeping in mind the theme of the project: good behaviour and communication in different situations.

This dictionary is meant to be used by children of different ages and, because children like stories, it was devised as one. We think that, through stories, manners can be improved.

The dictionary begins with the story “The Magic Word” by V. Oseeva. The first part of the story stirs children’s curiosity by encouraging them to find out the magic word. But before revealing it, the story stops and makes room for the dictionary that contains words and phrases of good behaviour in different situations. The last part of the story follows, as a conclusion. We find out that the magic word is “please”, one of the words to be found in the dictionary, and, by using these words, and the rules of communication; we can improve our relationship with others.

This dictionary has contributions from all the project partners (teachers and children). Its design was conceived and worked out by the Romanian Team.

The task of each project partner was to represent communicative situations by using a photo and to present audio files of all the words/phrases in the dictionary in their own language.

Each partner school recorded words and phrases pertaining to specific situations.

Ireland ‐ Ovens National School, Ovens, Co. Cork ‐ Asking permission Italy ‐ Istituto Comprensivo, Lonate Pozzolo ‐ Starting a conversation Malta ‐ St Joseph Junior School Sliema ‐ Thanks Portugal ‐ Externato Santa Catarina, Cruz Quebrada ‐ Greetings – meeting Slovenia ‐ Osnovna šola, Idrija ‐ Meeting people (2) ‐ Questions an response Slovenia ‐ Vrtec Idrija ‐ Greetings ‐ on parting Turkey ‐ Naside Halil Gelendost Primary School, Isparta ‐ At the table UK ‐ Yarnfield Primary School, Birmingham ‐ Apologies, expressions of regret UK ‐ Wallands CP School Lewes ‐ Sussex ‐ Wishes (1) Romania ‐ Şcoala “Simion Bărnuțiu”, Cluj Napoca ‐ Meeting people (1), Seasons Wishes

In order to be easily used the dictionary was created in Power Point and written on CD, as well as in the form of a booklet.

Each slide of the dictionary refers to a communicative situation; it contains:  phases/words used in the particular situation written in English;  a photo for the situation;  the language of the partner countries;

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To hear the audio files of the words on the slide, you have to click on the language you are interested in.

Photos were taken at each school for the multi‐lingual dictionary. Each school is represented in the following picture collage.

Creating this dictionary gave partners the opportunity to reflect more on ways of behaving in order to try to improve it.

Working at it the students “learned by doing”, the rules of communication, the benefits of working in groups, realising thus, the importance of good behaviour in society.

We are sure that students will enjoy learning about good behaviour by using this dictionary.

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Chapter I – Web site and blogs "For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them."

Aristotle

The Web site Creating a design for the web site of the project had a central aim: the effective and efficient navigation of information on pages by everyone who surfs the site, in order that all the important information could be available.

http://behaviourproject.110mb.com/

We tried to avoid placing too much information on any single page for ease of navigation and basic information access.

The Blogs The experience through blogs, in this project, started with a need: to spread information between partner schools and school communities.

The key ideas of this activity were; to share knowledge and activities, to create critical conversation and connections in the learning experience, to transform live experiences into public information, to invite users to participate in a larger community, to create an instrument in the information technology world, to learn how to participate in and not just to learn about, to perform critical thinking, creative narrative, formal and informal discourse, research and contribution, linking, writing for others, taking creative risks and collaborating.

By publishing and sharing content regularly through blogging, readers keep in touch with current ideas, news, and information. Blogging helps them to communicate and interact with members of the community who they may traditionally have had a tougher time reaching. This includes parents and anyone in the community who is concerned about education. Above all it is a question of engagement with the content and with the authors of what we read—reflecting, criticising, questioning, and reacting.

“Blogging is using a new medium for what it is good for ‐ connecting and interacting.”

George Siemen

Italy

Ireland

England

Slovenia

Portugal

Instituto Compr.

Carlo Carminati

Ovens School

Wallands CP School

Vrtec ‐ Idrija

Externato Santa Catarina

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Chapter I – How we address others “Proper names are poetry in the raw. Like all poetry they are untranslatable” W. H. Auden (1907‐1973) English‐born poet and man of letters

How do we address others?

The “Good Behaviour” project partners decided to examine how we address others and to make cross‐cultural comparisons. A survey of partner schools was conducted.

Each school was sent a questionnaire by the Irish school which contained a list of the people who are encountered in daily life. Family members, relatives, friends, neighbours, professionals, religious, teachers sports coaches, referees were included in this list.

The aim of the questionnaire was to see whether a common title existed for certain people and if so, to identify such people.

Some interesting trends emerged from the survey of partner schools. Many questions were raised and discussion topics were identified which might be useful for school policy makers.

Family members, mothers, fathers, grandparents all had individual special titles in the language of each country.

Some people such as doctors, policemen, priests are addressed in an identical manner in all the countries… i.e. there is a single title for them, and it is used across the board.

There are noticeable differences across the countries in relation to the teachers and school principals. A wide variety of forms of address occur. Different constructions exist for the titles such as title + first name, title on its own, headmaster or principal, Mr. Principal etc.

Also, Principals/Teachers are the only people in authority on the list that are given nicknames (derogatory or otherwise) possibly due to the level of interaction combined with uncertainty over the level of respect deemed necessary or required.

Questions raised.  Is giving a title a show of respect?  Does the existence of a particular title indicate clear respect and are there areas of uncertainty in modern society?  Are authority figures clearly identifiable by specific titles and if not, is it something that should be discussed and clarified.

Schools may wish to clarify what is considered respectful in their particular context. Modern society doesn’t provide explicit expectations and it is difficult for children to know what precisely is required.

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Nicknames and their use

Many people are known to others by a name which is not their proper name and so a nickname is commonly used. A nickname is a descriptive name given in place of or in addition to the official name of a person, place or thing.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that children like this if it is a term of endearment although it may not exist outside of the home. If it is a teasing or mocking term then it can be used in an offensive or derogatory manner. Nicknames are common in online situations and indeed are recommended for use in order to preserve individual identity online chat rooms and networking.

There are many different aspects to the use of nicknames which affect the feelings and outcome of their impact.

Pupils' nicknames for teachers or for other children who may be victims of bullying are usually clandestine and serve a reference function rather than acting as terms of address.

Many nicknames express contempt or dislike, or attempt to get back or get even, or to put one over on an individual. The majority of names draw upon physical characteristics of the target person. Although nicknames may be derogatory in intent, wit and aptness seem to have a moderating effect on the offensiveness of nicknames.      

Does a nickname change a relationship?

Who selects the nickname?

Does it make a difference?

Does it make a difference to the person being addressed?

What about the expectations of the person addressing?

Is this all that is required?

How is behaviour affected?

In conclusion, the use of nicknames and the question of how we address others raise issues for school communities. It may be useful to consider whether there is any connection between how we address others and the show of respect for individuals in the community. Do children like to control how they are addressed or named? Anecdotal evidence suggests that they do and they feel more comfortable when they are shown respect.

Addressing others in a manner which pleases them is an essential part of respectful behaviour. This may be included in the school’s code of conduct.

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Good Behaviour A rainbow that colours our life Lifelong Learning Programme Comenius School Partnership 2008 - 2010 This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Chapter 02 Activities undertaken to develop emotional and social intelligence in the promotion of:

Good Behaviour Good Manners Interpersonal relations

Pages 32 - 34

Chapter II "Emotional Intelligence is a master aptitude, a capacity that profoundly affects all other abilities, either facilitating or interfering with them."

Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence

In

this chapter, each of the partners reported on what they did to develop emotional and social intelligence by activities in the field of

 Good behaviour  Good manners  Interpersonal relations

A complete list of all activities and an overview of the age‐groups involved is provided in the Appendix.

Different activities were undertaken to meet children’s needs and motivate them to be actively involved. Some common activities were agreed upon, and this left partners the freedom to choose other ones according to their needs and preferences.

A wide variety of resources from the cultural heritage of the country were used ‐ traditional stories, proverbs, sayings, songs, poetry, music and art.

Since it is too early to talk about the

a) Common project activities

Year 1: Questionnaire, Stories and related activities, proverbs, Stickers, Multilingual Dictionary of polite expressions, Addressing others.

Year 2: Character exchange, Comic strips/cartoons, Didactical game, Songs.

These are detailed in subsequent sections of this book.

b) Activities of own choice organised inside partner institutions

1. Good behaviour in the broad sense

Some of the following topics were chosen by all partners to explore behaviour in their schools and community. Topics were chosen with regard to the age of the children participating, and relevance to the school community.  Codes of conduct in society  School rules  Anti‐bullying  Human rights  Citizenship  Sourcing educational resources

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Ecology Some partner schools chose to work in the ecological areas of  Recycling  Water conservation  School garden  Eco codes

A wide range of school specific tasks were completed.

Ireland chose to work on reducing the incidence of bad language in the whole school community. “The apprentice Citizen” was an activity in the Italian school while Malta chose the area of Human Rights. Portugal had a “Water Day” and Romania had a whole school collection of used batteries. Slovenia Primary school focused on behaviour at school meals while in the Slovenian Kindergarten the re‐use of waste materials in Art was enjoyed by 3‐6 year olds. UK Birmingham worked on a Big Book of behaviour strategies and UK Lewes achieved a “Rights Respecting School Award” in conjunction with Unicef in the UK.

2. Good Manners

Topics in this area included:  Table manners  Classroom manners  Manners at outings and cultural events  Manners in society  Church events  Good listening  Hygiene

All participating schools chose some of these topics to work and improve the children’s behaviour in the area of good manners. Turkey chose to make an award to the” cleanest class”, UK Birmingham made “Behaviour Flowers” promoting good manners, while UK Lewes used a “manners monitor” to select the politest class of the week. Discussion and role play about table manners was prepared by parents and grandparents in Slovenia Kindergarten, while in Slovenia Primary school, an ABC of good behaviour was devised. Romania had “10 minutes of politeness”, Portugal engaged in an art activity entitled “A question of values” and Malta had a rules and reward system for good behaviour. Ireland engaged in lessons about Manners and Italy worked on street rules with support from local police officers.

3. Interpersonal Relations

Areas explored were:  Social exclusion/inclusion  Equality – e.g. Fair Trade  Nicknames  Acts of Kindness  Charity fundraising

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All schools again chose to work in one or more of these areas to make children more aware of the wider world and its citizens and problems. Lessons about bullying were taught in Ireland. Italy linked to Project 2010: the year for combating poverty and social exclusion. Malta had a “Smiley Walk” while in Portugal children donated toys for Christmas in Solidarity. Romania organised an activity in partnership with “World Vision” and “Save the Children”, while the Slovenian Primary school conducted workshops on tolerance, equality and discrimination. Slovenia Kindergarten had guided conversations about mothers and built individual skyscrapers from kind acts. In Turkey, questionnaires were distributed to parents in order to understand their expectations while UK Birmingham held some charity events. Fair Trade was the focus of much work in UK Lewes.

Methodology and Implementation

Many and varied methods were used to explore all the above areas of good behaviour in the participating schools:  Story  Poetry  Art  Music  Drama  Recitals  Workshops  Discussion  Circle time  Projects  Role play  Power points  Reward strategies  Cartoons  Competitions  Gardening  Communications

In all schools parents, teachers, children and the wider community were involved in various stages of the work. Children from ages 3 – 15 participated in age appropriate projects. School size also varied across the participating countries from 150 – 905 enrolment. Groups taking part in each activity also varied, from small groups to whole school involved.

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Good Behaviour

A rainbow that colours our life Lifelong Learning Programme Comenius School Partnership 2008 ‐ 2010

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Chapter 03

Travelling character Didactical Game Songs Comic strips

page 36 page 49 page 51 page 52

Chapter III ‐ Characters Ireland – Polite Paddy and Minnie Manners

Our characters, Polite Paddy and Minnie Manners

Polite Paddy and Minnie Manners were chosen by the children of Sixth Class in Ovens N.S. This class also chose their very apt names. They were then introduced to the whole school. The children were told they would be visiting schools in other countries learning about aspects of good behaviour, culture and school life. All classes from Junior Infants through to Third Class helped to get them ready for their travels. They gathered suitable clothes for Paddy for all possible occasions. They were very excited when all was ready and eagerly waited to hear what they would learn on their travels.

Their travels December ‐ They left for Vrtec, Idrija, Slovenia.  They spent Christmas with a child from the Kindergarten.  They learned about the City of Friendly Children – acts of kindness building towers.  They learned about proper eating habits at lunch time.  They learned polite expressions in the Slovene language.  They learned the Golden Behaviour Rules in the school February – They went to Externato Santa Catarina, Lisbon, Portugal.  They spent time in the homes of some of the children.  They experienced and learned good behaviour in the classroom.  They ate lunch with the children and learned good table manners.  They experienced the work involved in a green school.

Visiting Characters to our school

Star came to Ovens from Yarnfield Primary School, Birmingham, England in January and stayed until mid February. While visiting Star learned good behaviour in the following areas

 Recycling and Litter  Listening Skills  Turn Taking and Sharing  Respect

Star worked with different classes and took part in games, circle time and many other activities with the children to explore the themes.

Star also visited places of interest in our area with the children after school and at Good Behaviour – a rainbow that colour our life – 2008/2010

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weekends.

Tinka Lacemaker came from Vrtec, Idrija, Slovenia in February until April. She experienced good behaviour with the children of Ovens in the area of Classroom and School Behaviour.

These themes were explored through the following headings  Listening to Instructions  Taking turns to speak in class  Respect for others – children and adults  Keeping our area tidy – classroom and outside

Tinka visited the classes and took part in games, role play and discussions to learn the good behaviour codes of Ovens School.

The Impact of Travelling Characters

The work with the travelling characters was a very positive experience in our school.

The children (and staff) took a great interest in the visits and the work planned for them.  The children loved bringing the characters to all school activities and teaching them about our school and community.  They learned about the countries where the characters came from and their schools.  They took the job of teaching good behaviour to the characters very seriously and learned a lot from this.  They took great pride in showing the characters how well they could behave and were assured this information would travel home to the various countries and schools.  They looked forward to video conferencing with the partner schools especially those hosting our characters.  The children loved to follow the trail of our own characters on their travels and the themes they were exploring.  All children are looking forward to the return of our own school characters and sharing of all they have learned.

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Chapter III Italy – Pierino Pozzolo

Our character, Pierino Pozzolo

Our characer is Pierino Pozzolo. He was made to look like a “Pigotta”, the rag doll created by UNICEF.

The name Pierino was chosen because in Italy there are a lot of jokes about a boy who’s a little bit naughty but fun, while the surname, Pozzolo, is the second part of our little hometown name.

His travels

19/10/2009: he arrived in Slovenia, travelling by coach; there, he was given to Mrs Tyler who brought him to Wallands School, in England.

15/02/2010: he arrived in Portugal by plane, and from there he flew to Malta with Mrs Ungaro and Mrs Grech Mallia.

Visiting characters

From October to February we hosted the Maltese character, Pippa Tikka.

She stayed at Dante Primary School and at Brusatory Primary School, where, with the children, she learned the following topics: table manners, behaviour on school trips, road safety and etiquette (walking and cycling), respecting rules at school and respecting rules during games.

Walter Wallands, instead, stayed with us from February to April. He was welcomed by the children of Volta Primary School with whom he talked about the following topics: table manners, communication with schoolmates and adults, looking after the environment, respecting rules at school and respecting rules during games.

The impact on children (and not only on them...) of the work with the characters was definitely positive; in fact the children really loved to learn and to work on behaviour rules with Pippa Tikka and Walter Wallands. The two characters often went to the children’s homes and to other places where our young students usually go, such as the Sunday School and basketball matches.

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Here are some pictures.

The three friends together .

Walter Wallands with our Head Teacher

Walter Wallands with our Mayor

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Chapter III Portugal – Açorana

Our character – Açorana

Açorana was the name chosen for the Portuguese character, a sperm whale from Azores one of the regions of our country.

After an initial choice, a child that belongs to the Comenius Team of our school (the group in charge of the implementation of the Project) gave the idea to choose as a character an animal in extinction in order that we could work on behaviours preventing that new reality. Then, children in their groups/classes gave some names to the character and vote for the name Azorana.

Origin of the name

In Azores the sperm whales enjoy incomparable conditions. They are free from the threat of whalers, and are surrounded by clear water and abundant food all year round, a true sanctuary. All these conditions have created a unique relationship between the sperm whale and the Azoreans.

Therefore, the name “Açorana” comes from the name of Azores [Açores], the Portuguese archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, about 1,500 km (930 mi) from Lisbon.

Her travel 20/02/2010: Azorana went to Birmingham, with the teachers that participated in the Study Meeting in Portugal.

April 2010: Azorana will change to another partner.

Hosting Paddy and Mini Manners

The Irish characters – Paddy and Mini Manners – were hosted in our school with great enthusiasm and happiness and they spent some days in each group of the Kindergarten and in each class of the lower Primary.

Besides the attendance of school activities and study visits, they spent all weekends in some homes of students. They learned a lot about the Portuguese school and families, Behaviour attitudes, social events (Exhibitions, a match of football…), sightseeing in nature and some special places in Portugal, traditions and, above all, attitudes of citizenship on the preservation of the environment.

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Chapter III ‐ Characters Romania – Păcală

Our character, Păcală The pupils from „Simion Barnutiu” School have chosen PĂCALĂ to be their character because they enjoy reading adventures that feature this character, which are great fun and many children would love to be like him. Păcală has a lot of qualities: he is optimistic, brave and hard‐working, he has self‐control, dignity and spirit of justice, and his wits and humour help him cope with any difficulties and win any confrontation. His main occupation is to help people see their flaws and get rid of them.

Through jokes and tricks he makes fun of vanity, laziness, stupidity, greediness, thriftiness, vices, wrong education and any bad behaviour. Thus, he makes people see their flaws and correct them. Children who read about his experiences and adventures get to learn a lot of things.

Origin of the name His name is derived from the verb “a păcăli” (“to fool somebody”), so his name means “somebody who plays tricks on you”. He is just a part of pure Romanian humour. He represents the ordinary man, the average Romanian and he was a source of inspiration for many authors who wrote rhymes and stories that are read with great pleasure by children. Moreover, his words were a source of inspiration for a lot of sayings and proverbs. He has acted in many plays written for children and in puppet theatre. Movies in which he is the main character have been made over the years.

His travel 20.02.2010 – Păcală went to Idrija, Slovenia with teachers that were participating in the Study Meeting in Portugal.

April 2010 – Păcală will go to another partner.

Hosting Kekec from Slovenia The Slovenian character stayed in our school from February to April. He was hosted by our students from primary school and they learned together about the following topics: Greetings, respecting rules at school, how to become a good listener, about Slovenia, Idrija, the Slovenian schools and families.

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The students enjoyed the character and the activities that they did together. These kinds of activities increase students’ motivation and we considered that it is a positive learning experience for all. Students tried to integrate Kekec in all their other activities like: other lessons, trips, sightseeing, sports, celebrating the students’ birthdays, taking photos. They enjoyed painting and drawing Kekec, very much.

Just like our character, Păcală, Kekec will go to another partner in May.

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Chapter III - Characters Slovenia – Primary school OŠ – Kekec Our character, Kekec Our character comes from the Slovenian fairy tales.

His name is very well-known in Slovenia by people of all ages.

Based on him, a lot of children's films have been made, songs recorded, and a number of institutions (kindergartens, schools…) have been named after him.

He plays a part in many puppet and youth drama plays, even a magazine is named after him, as well as a climbing route, a ski-lift in Kranjska Gora, and a delicious pate is named 'Kekec’. And of course, books about Kekec are read by children as part of their reading badge at school, as well as many other people of all ages.

His travels January 2010 – he arrived in England (Yarnfield Primary school, Birmingham), travelling by plane.

February 2010 – he arrived in Romania (Scoala “Simion Barnuţiu”), travelling by plane.

May 2010 – he arrived in Turkey, travelling by plane.

Visiting characters From January to February we hosted the Maltese teddy (Pippa Tikka) and the English teddy bear (Sammy). They learnt about suitable behaviour at different events, celebrations, appropriate behaviour during meal times in the school dining hall, at meals, good behaviour on the bus, in class, at days of activities, in the mountains (outdoors)...

From February to April we hosted the Romanian character (Pacala), whom we’ve been teaching primarily about behaviour at cultural events – which was also the leading topic chosen by our school.

From April to May we’ve had another guest character - the English teddy bear (Star) whom the students have been teaching about good behaviour in various situations.

Into this activity the students from 1. – 5. grade (6-10 years) have been included.

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The different characters have had a really positive effect on learning about good behaviour in all the participating classes. Apart from good manners, the students have at the same time got to know the interesting facts about the countries that the characters were from. Students (especially the younger ones) have really taken the characters as their own and have thus internalised the rules of behaviour in the different selected areas. The characters did not stay only inside the school – the students have taken them with them to days of activities, their birthday parties that they’ve celebrated at home, to see certain cultural events, etc.

The characters have really made an impact on the students, since they have often proposed the activities to be done with the characters on their own (i.e. celebrating the birthday party (Sammy), dedicating a poem to a character, making clothes and other accessories for the characters, etc.)

All in all, the characters have become an integral part of the classes, students have had a hard time saying goodbye to them and they have hardly been able to wait for the next one to arrive. They have made learning the rules of good behaviour a lot more interesting and effective.

Some of the activities with the characters have also been captured by the cameras.

Saying goodbye to our character Kekec was really moving.

The Maltese teddy bear used to a lot of heat has tried sledging. We have taught her about the rules for safe sledging on the slope.

Pacala has been learning the traditional Idrija craft – lace-making. We’ve also taught him about our cultural traditions.

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Chapter III - Characters Slovenia – Kindergarten - Tinka Lacemaker Characters exchange and related activities helped us bring children to a challenging topic we've been focusing on - empathy. We believe that an active learning method is very appropriate to achieve our goals of this activity, which are: promoting, recognizing and developing a sense of empathy, understanding and learning behaviour rules in the group and habits, learning about our home town and country, learning about partner schools, towns and countries.

Children tried to understand the feelings and needs of someone who is far away from home. Learning the rules of good behaviour without an understanding of interpersonal relations can lead to misunderstanding of the importance of politeness. Empathy is one of the characteristics most difficult to develop, therefore the support and help of adults is very important.

Our character, Tinka Lacemaker, is a doll made by one of the grandmothers.

In accordance with our local tradition, Tinka goes to lace making school, wears a dress decorated with lace and brings small pieces of lace as gifts to her hosts.

Tinka travelled in this box.

Before starting her travels around Europe, she visited all groups in our kindergarten.

Children wished her a good journey and hoped she wouldn't feel lonely. They gave her some drawings to remind her of her friends while being abroad. She was also given a presentation made from some photos and comments to help her present our Kindergarten and hometown Idrija to the children in Great Britain, Ireland, Malta and Portugal. Visiting partner schools, she experienced good behaviour with the children and learned a lot about it.

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Characters, visiting our Kindergarten were teddy bears: Polite Paddy from Ireland, Star from Great Britain, Pippa Tikka from Malta and Azorana, a whale from Portugal.

Children were happy to have shared everything with their guests that took an important role in their everyday life. Polite Paddy even spent Christmas in a family and witnessed all the customs and traditions.

Visiting characters were presented golden behaviour rules in the groups and joined the children in discussing and illustrating them. They took part in all activities. The children enjoyed to have a look in » The Big Atlas for Small Children« and see where the characters come from. They found out that they all came from very distant places and found themselves in a completely new environment, among people they didn't know before. Children succeeded in identifying themselves with the characters and their feelings.

During the hosting of characters, we have organized video conferences with the schools where the characters came from. Children could see each other, greet, introduce themselves, sing songs and listen to their siblings. They really enjoyed seeing where the character from their school was. Videoconferencing was an activity that satisfied as the children as well asthe teachers and made them feel the cooperation really functioning.

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Chapter III ‐ Characters Lewes UK – Walter Wallands joins Comenius

We introduced Walter Wallands to the school through a teddy bears picnic. All of our children brought a cuddly toy to school and we had a whole school party to welcome him to our school and show him good manners. He brought the project alive for the children and provided a needed link between them and the partner schools. We told the children he would be visiting different countries in the Comenius project and learning about their schools and countries and also learning different aspects of good behaviour. He would come back and share with us what he had learnt. They helped pack his case and were eager to know what he would learn in our partner schools. He initially went to Malta and then to Italy and the children were anxious to keep contact and follow his progress through video conference. Whenever they spotted him in a partner school on the screen, there was great excitement.

Welcoming our “Visitors” They were very receptive to the idea of welcoming characters from our partner schools. We spent some of the time with the younger classes making books about our school day and living in our local area. For them this was a fun way of learning about the routines that they themselves needed to know.

Family Groups At our school the children work once a week in “family groups”. The family consists of 10 mixed age classes of children from 6 to 11. The meet once a week in the same group for the whole time they are at Wallands.

This means that these children get to know children of different ages and helps with playground problems and improves social skills. We worked on all the activities of the project in these groups and so made it a whole school project.

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Pierino learns listening First we hosted Pierino Pozzolo from Italy and taught him about English customs. The children in the Comenius club took turns to take him home and he was treated very well by them! We taught listening skills in family groups through Pierino. Every family group did listening activities and were specifically taught listening skills starting with the importance of eye contact, not interrupting and thinking and talking about the same thing as your partner.

We played many games with Pieriono to show him the importance of this. We moved on to the skills of empathising, asking encouraging questions and paraphrasing what your partner has said. With speech therapists and educationalists worrying more and more about the lack of speaking and listening skills of children as they enter school, this kind of work is the foundation to all learning as well as good behaviour.

Rights Respecting Schools and Fairtrade

When we welcomed Pippa Tikka from Malta, we were ready to move on to a more global issue. We decided to follow the UNICEF programme about becoming a Rights Respecting School or a school that teaches children about their rights and responsibilities. Part of their responsibility is to learn how to be a global citizen. We felt this fitted perfectly to what we were trying to achieve in the Comenius project too and decided to teach the children, through Pippa Tikka’s involvement, about Fair Trade.

We focused initially on the concept of fairness and what they thought was fair and unfair.

We then used a series of games, role plays and simulations from organisations such as Oxfam, UNICEF and Christian Aid. These were designed to educate the children about global trading and some of the inequalities there are between countries. The children were really receptive to this work. They produced posters campaigning for fair trade produce to be stocked in local shops became aware of their part as consumers.

The travelling characters brought a new purpose and relevance to the children because they were learning alongside and teaching the characters. They formed such a strong bond with Walter Wallands that they couldn’t wait to connect with them during video conferences and hear what he had to teach them about Good behaviour and the cultural heritage of our partners in Italy and Malta.

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Chapter III – Didactical game “Play is our brain’s favourite way of learning” Diane Ackermann (poet, essayist and naturalist)

The rainbow of good behaviour – Didactical game

The didactical game “The Rainbow of Good Behaviour” is one of the final products carried out in the second year of our Comenius project “Good Behaviour – a rainbow that Colours our Life”.

It is known that children learn intuitively, by playing, and find it easier and better.

The Comenius team from “Simion Bărnuțiu” School, Romania proposed as a final product a didactical game about good behaviour. This game can be used for teaching, enforcing and/or evaluating knowledge in this field as well as for finding out new information about the countries of the partner institutions.

Creating this didactical game had as its goals: enriching and enforcing knowledge about good behaviour in different situations, improving communicative competence and promoting children’s creativity.

This didactical game has been created with contributions from all the project partners. The task of each partner was to devise questions for their chosen topic, questions about their own country as well as some for “good luck” and “bad luck” cards.

Country / Schools/Domains (topics) 1. Ireland ‐ Ovens National School, Ovens, Co. Cork ‐ Internet/online safety 2. Italy ‐ Istituto Comprensivo, Lonate Pozzolo ‐ Respect for nature 3. Malta ‐ St Joseph Junior School Sliema ‐ Table manners 4. Portugal ‐ Externato Santa Catarina, Cruz Quebrada ‐ Behaviour at school 5. Slovenia ‐ Osnovna šola, Idrija ‐ Behaviour at cultural events 6. Slovenia ‐ Vrtec Idrija ‐ Mix questions 7. Turkey ‐ Naside Halil Gelendost Primary School, Isparta ‐ Traffic behaviour 8. UK ‐ Yarnfield Primary School, Birmingham ‐ Good Behaviour when playing sports 9. UK ‐ Wallands CP School Lewes – Sussex ‐ Good Listening 10. Romania ‐ Şcoala “Simion Barnutiu”, Cluj Napoca ‐ Greetings

The game can be played by 4‐8 players or in teams, using a game board, cards with questions about behaviour in different situations (100 pieces), star cards containing questions about each country (40 pieces), “good luck” cards and “bad luck” cards (10 pieces), “Funny task” cards (4 pieces), puzzle pieces as reward. The players throw the dice in turn and complete the tasks, depending on the position of their pawn on the board. The winner of the game is the one who succeeds in completing the puzzle first.

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Working on this game was an exciting activity for all. The Romanian children proved to be highly creative; they came up with ingenious ideas, involving themselves with great pleasure in all the (suggested) activities.

The game has been used during some classes in Romania and it has been noticed that the children master the basic code of good behaviour and that they are open to finding out new information about similarities and differences between the cultures of the partner countries. The competition stirred their curiosity and motivated them to improve their knowledge about good behaviour in the areas suggested by the game.

We are sure that the children of the partner institutions would love to learn about good behaviour using this didactical game, too.

We invite you to play it and see how well you behave!

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Chapter III – Songs DVD

"Music is the movement of sound to reach the soul for the education of its virtue."

Plato

Songs DVD One of the goals of the project was to promote understanding and respect amongst different cultures. The arts have a unique potential to support intercultural dialogue.

This is particularly so with music which is a unique form of human expression. As the ultimate form of non‐verbal expression, it can create a basis for intercultural dialogue and common understanding without even using translation.

“Children sing” is one of the activities, to encourage the development of a sense of belonging to the local, national and European community by establishing cross‐ cultural relationships through music. Music is a valuable activity that contributes immensely to the development of a child. It can sometimes be the best link between those who share the same values. The creative power of music can make music a communication tool.

Therefore we made a DVD with songs from the partner schools.

Objectives: ‐ Presenting of partners’ own cultural identity, ‐ Exploring the cultures of other countries, ‐ Exploring the languages of other countries, ‐ The chance to learn songs from other countries.

Each partner school was to record 3 songs:  a traditional one,  one from children’s favourites  and the well known song which appears in different countries entitled as Mojster Jaka / Frère Jacques / Fra Martino/, etc.

The last one can serve as a teaching tool in various subjects. Children can learn (about) different languages and compare them while listening to song. Songs are recorded in the video, showing the cross‐cultural diversity and colourfulness of languages in which the children sing. The product can be used after the project is finished.

Using imagery as a learning device depends on the teacher's ingenuity and ability to prize and how to recognize the richness of different cultures.

Teachers may also use the DVD with songs to identify the countries, languages, as puzzles.

Life is a song, let's sing it together.

Let's take our hearts and dip them in rhyme, hoping the song lasts for a long, long time.

Life is a song that goes on forever.

Love's old refrain can never go wrong.

Let's sing together and make life a song.

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Chapter III – Comic strips

Comic strips

As agreed by the partners, the first year activities of our Comenius project analysed the cultural aspect of human behaviour through the approach of traditional stories, legends or proverbs while the second year was dedicated to creative writing or story illustration in order to put into practice what children have experienced in the first phase of the project.

The idea of creating comic strips about Alien characters watching human behaviour is suggested by the application form: “Two friendly non‐aliens come to Earth, behave in a strange way or observe human behaviour and manners in different situations … and ask questions. Children are supposed to continue the plot by solving problems or explaining. Teachers or students give ideas about situations… and realise the stories in different ways (dramatise, write and illustrate, make comics, videos, etc.)”

(Application form p. 51).

For the first grade students of Secondary school (age 11‐12) we chose the comic strip form of narrative because at this age children can master both written language and quite complex illustration; in addition drawing and colouring is definitely one of the most favoured activity of students, without exception.

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The activity consists in creating “Alien stories” to be illustrated in groups or individually and its objective is to promote awareness by describing behaviour from an “outsider’s” point of view.

The partners who participated in this task are Italy, Ireland, Malta, Romania, Slovenia OS.

Each partner school has created its own collection of comic strips (1 album per class – 6 episodes each ‐ Any drawing or colouring technique of children’s choice) and has provided one or more comic strip stories in original language and English. As a final product the stories have been assembled in a joint album accompanied by a resource book and a CD with instructions, lesson plan, comic strips album both in coloured and blank version and suggestions for the follow up action.

The final product has been edited by “Istituto Comprensivo, Lonate Pozzolo (Varese), Italy”.

Beware of the Aliens …

They are watching us !

Comic strips album and resource book

.

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COMIC STRIPS Instructions and Lesson plan

Objective: To promote awareness of behaviour by describing behaviour from an “outsider’s” point of view.

Activity: Create “Alien stories” to be illustrated in groups or individually

Age: 11‐12 (Activity can be adapted to any age)

School product: Collection of comic strips (1 album per class – 6 episodes each)

Materials: Drawing pad, pastel crayons, watercolours, collage papers, camera and pictures, computer graphics… (Any technique of children’s choice)

Joint product

Album with joint collection of comic strips + CD with description of activity and worksheet samples ‐ Each partner was asked to select and provide six illustrated pages + six story pages with story sequences in original language and English.

Lesson plan

Step 1 ‐ Brainstorming. Class activity. One hour.

Discuss with students what is good‐bad behaviour.

Ask students to identify problem areas and draw a list of situations where improvement is required (at school/home, at the canteen, at the gym, at the park, with disadvantaged students, bullying …)

Step 2 ‐ Defining characters and template. Class activity. One hour

The children are asked to create a cartoon strip story. The story must have an ALIEN character witnessing human behaviour. Ask children to talk about their own experience of Alien stories (Films, books, cartoons…).

Ask students to imagine an Alien eye watching them while doing different activities at school/home…

Ask them to imagine how the Alien may feel when observing human behaviour and how he/she may react. (The Alien eye should help children by stimulating questions, motivating them, creating awareness of improper behaviour as well as proposing suitable emotional responses).

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Ask children to draw their own Alien character (Front, back, side) and give him/her a name. Any technique. One /Two hours, depending on the selected technique. Children can start at school and finish their project at home.

(Individual activity)

Step 3 ‐ Children show their Alien to the class and explain its characteristics and name. The class chooses the Alien who will be the character of the class story.

(An exhibition of all Alien drawings can be displayed on the Comenius Corner.

Some Aliens can appear on the Blog or website)

Step 4 ‐ Ask children to imagine and write the Alien story.

To begin with, you may give some options about the role of the Alien in the story: 1‐ A “teen age” Alien falls on earth and gets lost. Some children find him/her and try to integrate him/her by teaching him/her how to behave in different situations.

2‐ An Alien on a mission on earth has to study human habits and write a report for his master…

Discuss ideas together and then ask children to write their own short story keeping to the chosen situations of problem behaviours and the Alien role.

You may set the word number, if you like. (Children may finish the story at home).

Step 5 ‐ Children read their stories. Schoolmates are asked to express their opinion.

Select the best ideas from all stories and create a CLASS STORY. Find together a suitable Title.

Step 6 ‐ Split up the class into small groups (3 or 4 children each)

Divide the story into episodes (if possible as many as the groups) Each group will illustrate the assigned episode. They will also write dialogues and the corresponding story sequences. They will translate captions and text sequences into English with the help of the teacher.

Step 7 ‐ Scan and print illustrated stories + matching story sequences. Assemble pages to create a class album.

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Follow up action

Scan and print non coloured illustrated stories with empty balloons and captions.

Supply worksheet with captions and cues.

The empty version of illustrated stories + captions and cues can be a good way of sharing other class groups or partners’ work: Here is an example from Italian comic strip “Najla falls on earth”, page 1:

Nejla falls on

Page 1

1. Nejla lives on the Flat Planet

2. She leans out too much and

falls down

3. She stops on the wing of a plane

4. She lands at Malpensa

airport

5. She meets Anna and Marco

6. They invite her to stay with

them

The blank version of the comic strip can be useful in a variety of class activities, such as colouring, decorating, reading or listening comprehension, creative writing, narrating:

1 – Give the illustrated page without captions and cues. Ask children to guess the story.

In pairs/small groups they create captions and cues. Colour the panels. Compare the new version with the original one.

2 – (For younger children). Copy one page per children. Cut the panels, hand them out in mixed up order. Read the story and ask children to find the right order.

3 – Give the captions in mixed order and ask children to stick/write them under the right panel.

4 – Dictation/spot dictation of captions and dialogue.

5 – Give the cues in mixed up order. Children copy/stick cues into the right balloon.

6 – Give the story page with captions. Children create the dialogue and write the cues.

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Good Behaviour A rainbow that colours our life Lifelong Learning Programme Comenius School Partnership 2008 - 2010 This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Chapter 04 Activities specific to each partner institution and impact of the project inside each school community

pages 58 - 97

Chapter IV – Specific activities Ireland – Ovens National School Ovens National School is a 320- pupil mixed primary school in Southern Ireland. This Is the second Comenius project for the school. Participation has enabled the whole school community to work together in a spirit of learning and innovation while enhancing the teaching and learning experience of all involved in this transnational collaborative work.

Year 1 Language free zone One of the areas identified as problematic by parents, children and school staff was the use of bad language. The school undertook a campaign to try to improve the situation. Art lessons, stories, poetry and dramatic situations were created with the aim of reducing the incidence of bad language both at home and at school For the months of April and May, the entire school community focused on ensuring that bad language was not used. Many deterrents were put in place such as a box for infringements and loss of some privilege. At home, parents were reminded by children of the inappropriateness of bad language and in the yard every effort was made to ensure that no bad language was used.

Many stories and poems were written and people became aware of the need to discourage others from using language which many find offensive.

Caring for the environment Growing fruit and vegetables and the creation of a school garden was part of a plan to promote awareness about and learn how to take care of the environment.Plants such as potatoes, carrots, cabbage, beetroot and strawberries were sown and harvested. This was a worthwhile successful project which taught the whole school community about the importance of caring for the environment.

Children learned how to feed and water plants, how to weed and protect plants and they were encouraged to learn more about recycling, composting and looking after the wormery.

The correct disposal of all sorts of litter was another aspect of this work and paper, food, and all materials were sorted and recycled according to the appropriate procedures.

Research and presentations about the local area Students prepared presentations about Ovens, Cork, Ireland and sporting clubs in the locality. Each class took a partner country and over a period of four months learned all about the physical features, cultural heritage, and other facts about the country. Some classes communicated with partner countries. They then presented their research findings in either a poster format or as a PowerPoint or Photo story presentation. These presentations were put together as a resource for other pupils and shared with partners.

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The entire school selected specific behavioural areas to dramatise or to present a musical compilation or choral verse recital. Songs relating to behaviour were combined, children arranged musical accompaniment and presented to the remainder of the school.

These presentations were fun for the children and were enjoyed by audiences in a number of settings. Selected by the children themselves, each class group had a different emphasis, some related to bullying, others to bad behaviour, good manners at table and in school, positive behaviour. Songs included rap, rock, pop and dance and movement were included. The following songs were part of the routines e.g. Don’t worry, be happy, Try a little kindness, You’ve got a friend.

Year 2 - Fundraising for poorer families Carols and Krispies Children in the two sixth classes did a day-long Carol Service for the whole school.

They played all the usual Christmas carols and Seasonal songs. Each child contributed one euro to the fundraising team in return for a Krispie bun baked by the pupils. A sum of €700 was gathered and presented by the children to the local helping agency, the St. Vincent de Paul Society. This event reminded children to think about others at this time of the year. A no uniform day was held in the school for the victims of the Haiti earthquake. The children of the school raised a whopping amount of €5,000 by participating in a Readathon for people who suffer from Multiple Sclerosis.

Cartoon stories based on the Simpsons Senior Infant classes took the Simpsons cartoon television series as a starting point for behaviour modification. Aspects of incidents and behaviour, comments and events which featured in the programmes were used to discuss the rights and wrongs of the behaviour which occurs in the scenes. Children love the Simpsons and are really keen on the characters so this was a good choice and got plenty of input and reaction. Lessons were built around the programme.

PowerPoint Presentations and Poetry about Good Behaviour To consolidate all that was learned about good behaviour; the older children prepared some presentations on a wide range of situations and outlined a range of appropriate behaviours for each. The pupils were encouraged to make suggestions for their peers and for younger children. These presentations are a valuable resource for the whole school and coming from the perspective of young people are more meaningful to them. The poetry gives a good insight into how children feel about a wide variety of behaviour issues and many of the poems have been chosen for a European publication, Eurochild and so will have a broad audience of young people across many countries.

Positive Behaviour Whole school strategies Staff in Ovens discussed strategies for promoting positive behaviour throughout the school. Senior Infants and their teacher adopted an in-class reward strategy using Good Behaviour – a rainbow that colour our life – 2008/2010

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yellow cards, red cards and green cards in the classroom. The teacher and student teacher found that group work and collaborative work improved a lot.

Throughout the school, staff decided to reward children for good behaviour when caught being good by any adult in the school. Notes of praise were sent for behaviour such as stepping back, opening a door, being nice to a younger pupil, helping other children and basically any behaviour which could at a teacher’s discretion be construed as well-mannered and exceptional. This has raised an awareness of the importance of good conduct in the yard, at the school gate and in the school hall and corridors.

The impact of video conferencing on the school in Ovens Videoconferencing has been one of the most exciting aspects of the project work. It has brought partner schools and their children to life and has put a face on each country. It was essential to do some research prior to each conference and this was done with enthusiasm and a spirit of inquiry as children looked forward to having an immediate audience for their findings. Educationally then this form of communication has a huge motivational value.

Children’s presentation skills have been enhanced by videoconferencing. Scripts had to be prepared in advance and a plan for each meeting was devised by the children in the class. Children developed an awareness of sound and lighting requirements for working on camera and discovered that clarity of speech and voice projection are essential elements of good communication.

The Irish children prepared songs, music, dance, poetry, choral verse and information about our cultural heritage and school system. They were delighted to share their art work displays with children throughout the partnership. Irish children in turn were enthralled by stories from Birmingham students, Italian songs and music and ongoing interactive presentations from Malta, Lewes and Slovenia.

Videoconferences enable relationships to be formed and are an ideal platform for learning about each other. Among the observations of the Irish children was the multicultural nature of neighbouring schools, how tall some children are and the lack of uniforms in many schools.Total engagement with the process is guaranteed with a videoconference and the learning outcomes may be unexpected.

The impact of teacher mobilities Comenius project mobility has been a fantastic opportunity for teachers to learn from colleagues in other cultures and school systems. Their professional development is enhanced and there are many examples of staff returning to their own schools with new ideas which have been found on a Comenius visit. Teacher mobility has a huge impact on the classroom environment as it enables the teacher to share what has been learned with the class.

The school community benefits from the mobility as structures, systems and practices are examined, questioned and explained and the best aspects may be put in place or at least shared with the home school. In the case of our good behaviour project, teachers saw at first hand, the impact of strategies for improving behaviour, inclusion, motivational practices and the pros and cons of each. Each visit has reminded us that all countries have their own unique cultural heritage and that it is Good Behaviour – a rainbow that colour our life – 2008/2010

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important for us to preserve what we have by ensuring that our children are aware of it. Teacher mobility encourages the development of this awareness.

Teachers were selected for mobility based on their interest and input into the project. This made for very worthwhile involvement and good quality work resulted.

Teachers were invigorated as a result of the mobility and were challenged to reflect on their own practice through the experience of other systems. On return, ideas were shared with the whole staff and discussions were based on what was seen. Many practical strategies and ideas have been initiated in the school as a result. It was a most worthwhile learning opportunity and has had positive spin off for the whole school community. Pupil mobility for the children in our schools was not allowed as they are aged 12 and under.

Parental involvement Step one of the project “Good behaviour a rainbow that colours our life” required the involvement of parents in assessing the situation with respect to behaviour.

Parents were asked to reflect on their own attitude towards behaviour and how they thought the school should contribute to the promotion of good behaviour. A comprehensive questionnaire was presented and answering it required a considerable amount of time and effort. So the project began with total inclusion of parents and their opinions. The success of the project was dependant on the enthusiasm and positive contribution of the parents. It was recognised from the beginning that parents are the primary influence on children’s behaviour. Across the partner schools, parents responded with comprehensive and informative opinions.

The collation of all the information gave the project a solid base and set the foundation for a worthwhile project.

Each of the activities of the project involved the parents. Younger children shared experiences with their parents. Activities involving the characters included home and holiday visitations and the visiting character was included in many fun and daily routines.

Parent representatives were involved in the whole school review and planning of a code of behaviour. This is a very important part of the required process for the creation and review of a whole school policy on behaviour and parents shared with the whole staff a day of discussion of the many aspects of this. Priorities and concerns were identified and it is hoped that our project will help to shape some decisions.

Parents were involved in organising the meetings which were held in the host countries. Ireland hosted the meeting in June 2009 and parents of Ovens prepared meals and helped with the provision of hospitality for the visiting teachers. Parents participated in social events during the visit as well as providing assistance with aspects of the work. Their co-operation and encouragement of children was of central importance. Other events included newsletters with up to date news of the Good Behaviour – a rainbow that colour our life – 2008/2010

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project specifically designed for the parents of the children. Notes relating to project progress were distributed and at all stages of the two years, parental support was forthcoming and very welcome. We are looking forward now to sharing the many exciting products and results of our work.

Arranging a Meeting- the impact on the school Ireland hosted a meeting in June 2009. This event galvanised the whole school community into action.

Parents, teachers, children and the wider community worked together to make this event the huge success that it was. The Irish Minister for Education was invited to attend and he agreed to so do. His visit to the school involved a number of press briefings and a number of local and national media publications covered the event with pictures and newspaper articles. Involvement in the Comenius project and its launch was a great opportunity for the school Management and community to communicate and show at first hand the dynamic and progressive nature of Ovens N.S. and also to raise concerns about the growing need for increased permanent classroom accommodation in the future. The Minister was pleased to experience at first hand the great work that was being done in the project and commended the project team for their enthusiasm and foresight.

The Parents Association worked hard to fundraise, publicise and provide for the meeting. They organised a very impressive notice for the front of the school which still remains and proclaims the Comenius partnership.

Social events were organised and some music, dance and sport representing Irish culture and the locality were on display.

Personnel at the local Golf Club worked hard to provided accommodation and meals at a very reasonable cost to participants. Visiting teachers got a taste of Irish hospitality.

The best weather of the Summer greeted the visitors on arrival and the good weather ensured that our guests sampled the best of all that is good about Ireland through visits to the West Cork coastline and some local heritage sites.

Staff, parents, children and the whole community took great pride in presenting the school and its environs to the visiting delegation of teachers. The children remember the visit with fondness and still speak about the people they met. It had a unifying effect on the whole school and was a powerful means of promoting a sense of self and the school as a unit.

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Chapter IV – Specific activities Italy – Istituto Comprensivo “Carlo Carminati”

The accomplishment of the project objectives in our institution has been pursued through the realisation both of common and specific activities by means of which we have managed to achieve the common goals while preserving our specific identity.

Year 1 ‐ “2009: year of innovation and creativity”

From November 2008 to March 2009 we successfully experienced a vertical cooperative teaching project that involved a group of 13 year old students fostering a class of 5 year old children. Students planned didactic activities covering 4 lessons, 2 hours per lesson, developing the theme of the basic values of European citizenship with special interest in creativity, diversity and inclusion.

Lesson 1: Students illustrated the geographic dimension of the EU by means of large posters they created.

Children were asked to draw and place themselves into the outline of their own town/country/continent.

Children painted together a big European flag.

Lesson 2: Children were asked to imagine the world/Europe they would like to live in. They drew and painted the Europe they imagined, filling in a blank space.

Lesson 3: Students told a story about integrating and including people, with a missing ending, eg (“X” comes from a foreign country, doesn’t know the language, the habits etc., no children want to play with him, except for “y”… “how do you think the story ends?”). Children didn’t know how to go on because they didn’t see the point: they don’t have prejudices towards foreign children. The teachers explained that intolerance is driven by society and “education”.

This was an exciting discovery for everyone.

Lesson 4: Children “make a wish upon a star”. Students asked children to make a wish about their future life: “When I grow up I want to be… /I want… “and helped them draw and write their wish upon a yellow paper star. Children’s drawings and stars were tied to a big bunch of blue balloons. The balloons were finally launched in the sky while children followed their wishes flying high.

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The experience has been surprisingly successful in terms of emotional involvement, motivation, responsibility and learning, especially for those students who usually show intolerance towards school and display challenging behaviour. In their approach to younger children, teenagers who can be challenging showed unexpected care and consideration towards the younger children.

The experience was recorded and edited in the year 1 Comenius Spot.

Year 2 ‐ Citizenship Education Project: “The apprentice Citizen” The Year 1 experience was repeated in an alternative version involving a larger number of students. Four classes from the Secondary school (100 students, 12 years old) and four classes from Primary (100 children, age 7‐9) worked together in small groups of mixed ages and abilities to analyse the articles of Italian Constitution that are concerned with equality, freedom, peace, justice, respect, responsibility, tolerance, legality and focus on the basic values of democratic society and citizenship.

The results confirm the high potential of cooperative learning in terms of motivation and empathy.

“2010: year for combating poverty and social exclusion” With older students we have considered behaviour in terms of social responsibility and commitment. This year a group of 13 years old students took part in a couple of European contests about the theme of poverty and social exclusion. In order to raise money for a local aid agency, students organised an “Evening of charity” consisting of a show with songs, poems and quotations about social disadvantage. They scheduled and arranged all the steps of the final event, going through auditions, selecting the best performances, script writing, soundtrack adjustment, making a PPT to be used as a background, advertising of the show as well as extensive rehearsing.

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In addition, students have analysed the theme of poverty in their local context by means of interviews with the Lord Mayor and the Social Policy Councillor of our town and to the representatives of the local aid agencies.

All the activities were edited in a DVD including both a “Video News” programme and the recording of the “Evening of Charity” show.

This project has been extremely successful in terms of emotional involvement and motivation especially for students who generally don’t show any interest in the conventional class activities. To perform on stage, they accepted common rules, kept to deadlines and rehearsed as much as anyone else. The applause of their peers and the audience has finally supplied them with positive feedback for their abilities and raised their self esteem.

In this sense the experience proved to be a good opportunity to promote the inclusion of those who, inside the school system, are at risk of social exclusion often because of their socio‐economic disadvantages.

“Movies and food” project

A group of 13 year old students ran an activity based on the analysis and review of film scenes. Students have basically analysed table manners and examined their connection with social condition and influences. The activity has been divided in two sections, one per year.

The final product consists of 2 CDs including the selected film scenes and the matching worksheets (in Italian, English and French).

Video conferencing

Video conferencing has been one of the most motivating project activities. We have set a series of video contacts involving a few classes of our Secondary school. The first attempts occurred at Christmas time and were basically centred on sharing Christmas carols and traditions. We had video conferences with Sussex, Ireland, Malta, and Slovenia OS and from the beginning children were motivated by them and reacted with excitement and curiosity. After initial approaches, we decided to make best use of the time of the conference. We planned more structured communication with questions sent in advance so that the students could practice the answers before the video call. This procedure helped non native English speakers feel more confident and less shy on screen.

We must add that the activity has been challenging from the beginning. As the result, the planned work has been often affected by difficulties arising from bad connections or inadequate equipment.

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Arranging the meeting

Our school hosted the third Comenius meeting from 31 March to 5 April 2009.

We hosted 24 adults (Head Teachers, Deputy Head and Teachers) and 14 students from Slovenia and Romania. The organization was challenging but, according to the partners’ response, really successful.

Students are the ones who most profited from the meeting opportunities.

Their comments were always enthusiastic and they all appreciated the contact with different cultures. They realized the importance of an adequate linguistic competence for effective communication and in many cases they succeeded in overcoming cultural prejudices establishing good personal relationships.

Teachers, families and local institutions got spontaneously involved in the organization of the meeting truly demonstrating the traditional hospitality of our country.

The whole project profited from the meeting in terms of dissemination of objectives, activities and products in the local context.

Mobilities

We have easily achieved the 24 mobilities we had planned in the application form. We moved 14 students and 20 teachers as a whole.

Eligible teachers and students were selected on the basis of their personal involvement in the project and of the effectiveness of their action.

To select students we asked them to tick the following priorities:  Having given hospitality to a partner student during the meeting in Italy  Having kept regularly in touch with the partner  Being a member of the Comenius team  Taking part significantly in the project activities  Being able to use English language to express one’s one needs.

In case of an excess of candidates we devised a test about partner countries. The procedure proved to be valuable as there was no controversy about the selection of candidates.

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Chapter IV – Specific activities Malta – St Joseph Junior School

Impact on our school

Video conferences

Taking part in a number of video conferences has proved to be very positive for everyone at St Joseph Junior School. Before joining in this project, we had no idea what a video conference was. During the first meeting which had taken place in Isparta, Turkey, we heard the opinions of various participants of other schools from different countries about the positive aspects when holding such conferences.

As a consequence, a number of teachers at our school started to take a keener interest and wanted to learn more about it. Over the months this proved to be very successful and it left a very positive impact on everyone at our school, pupils and teachers alike.

Initially children were told that they were participating in this project with a number of other children from all over Europe. But what does this mean to a 5 year old? Not much! However actually connecting with other children in other countries and seeing them on the big screen and being able to talk to them, ask questions, share opinions, dance or sing for them...... is truly an experience that most children and teachers will appreciate and remember.

In fact, by the end of our two years our school was very satisfied because we had successfully managed to have a number of video conferences with Italy, Slovenia, Ireland, UK and Romania.

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Comenius Day – A Day of Many Colours

Towards the end of our first year in the project, St Joseph School held an Open Day for parents called Comenius Day – A day of many colours. This has proved to be a very positive event and has left a good impact on the whole school. For this event, the school opened its doors to all the parents.

Parents were invited to view all the work that their children had been working on in relation to the project.

Besides the fact that the children enjoyed doing various activities such as art work, research, creative writing in relation to good behaviour, parents became more aware of what this project is all about.

Hosting a meeting in Malta/ Pjazza Comenius

This event was a very special one for us because it was our first time that our school was in a Comenius Project and so the first time for us to host a meeting of this type.

It meant quite a lot of work not only for each and every one inside our school but also for parents who gave a lot of their contribution. We wanted it to be a memorable experience especially for our foreign guests. Each grade, right from our youngest Pre‐ Graders to our eldest Grade 6s, was linked to a participating country.

This helped our pupils to learn more about the cultures, folklore, art and music of other countries.

We worked as a team to put up a concert, Pjazza Comenius, were we gave life to all the different characters coming from all nine educational institutions. These travelling characters promoted various good manners that had been learned throughout the two years. This event had a positive impact on our pupils because they passed the message of what good behaviour is through drama, song and dance.

Teachers’ Meeting

Meetings left a great impact on the various teachers that have attended them.

During such meetings, teachers from different countries voiced our different ideas and suggestions about what they understand by good behaviour. These meetings have proved to be very fruitful because they gave teachers the opportunity to share their own experience and learn from other teachers coming from different countries and therefore different cultures. As a consequence teachers have benefited a lot by attending such meetings.

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Chapter IV – Specific activities Portugal ‐ Externato Santa Catarina

The context of our private institution – Externato Santa Catarina, Portugal – is the common context of an educational institution for children of the middle‐class group in Portuguese society, with some traces of mono parental families, children of different marriages living in the same home… children staying almost ten hours at school as a result of their parent’s jobs. We also have some students with special needs.

When we joined this Project we decided that by establishing a direct link between what we call “good behaviour” and the sensibility in each one of our students of each country, we would develop artistic, social and ethical values, a sense of responsibility and respect, and to enhance tolerance in accordance with the common European values.

This Project “Good Behaviour – a rainbow that colours our life” was integrated in the Educational Project of our institution and it was developed across all the areas of knowledge, active learning and socialisation, inside the national curriculum of the Kindergarten and the first four years of the Primary School.

But what is Behaviour? According to a strict definition, “it is a goal to achieve the desired results for resolution of symbolized stimuli perceived in the environment, in order to keep emotional equilibrium” and managing it positively can go a long way towards reducing the stress levels of staff and pupils alike, enabling a safe learning environment.



The ethos of Externato Santa Catarina is that we follow Dewey’s idea that “Education is a social process. Education is growth. Education is not a preparation for life; education is life itself”, which gives the right approach to

 the behaviour values of respect, responsibility, cooperation, consideration, fairness and honesty;  essential positive strategies that encourage self‐guidance and are based on the value and belief that children can learn impulse control to help them develop self‐discipline, responsibility, positive capabilities and attitudes; the process of guiding children’s behaviour as an ongoing process; it is a long‐term goal that parents, professionals of education, general staff and

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

other persons should have for children; the concern that children’s behaviour is influenced by their overall development, their environment, and the adults who care for them.

Developing this Project was an experience of participation in terms of interpersonal and intrapersonal relations, engagement to succeed as a learner and to have confidence to apply knowledge, having access to a variety of situations where the child could experience limits and rules for the welfare of the group and of him/herself.

The use of ICT was absolutely necessary in the development of the Project, considering three different perspectives:

1. The communication between schools, between the school community and between staff; 2. The research of information that was used in different activities; 3. The realisation and dissemination of final products.

Besides some simple activities (sending e‐ mails, using internet, taking digital photos, getting images, elaborating texts, recording images ‐ sounds, editing images ‐ texts‐ sounds....) one basic concern of the teachers in this Project was to develop the activity of Video conferencing, in order that we could start a closer relation in smaller groups, some of them without a common language of communication.

As a matter of fact, groups of younger children (Kindergarten and lower primary) could not use English as a common instrument of communication, which could give different approaches by the use of body language (smiling, waving, looking into each other…), listening different languages and its sounds, songs and even amazing experiences such as showing snow to groups that are not used to see it, drawings or even toys, alongside presentations by pupils translated by each teacher.

It was impossible for our students to experience mobility to other countries and contact with different realities and people, due to their age. It was also impossible to promote teacher’s mobility to all our group of teachers, not only because of the fact that we are a small group but also because it is not easy to manage the daily life of our school.

However, for the teachers who had the chance to participate in other meetings abroad it was a unique experience: contacting with other lifestyles, educational systems, and different ways of organising groups of children, interpersonal relations, celebrations and successes, experiencing cultures and above all the richness of working as a varied group.

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For schools with younger children there was not the real possibility to participate in some activities with older students, which for us was a negative note during the development of this Project. It would be very important to work in a real mixed age group – precious goal to a Behaviour Project nowadays ‐ for instance using the work of the oldest to motivate the youngest, at least in one or two common activities. In our institution this was something that we tried hard to do, in order that the final products or simple activities had the contribution of all.

Among all the specific activities that we developed in our institution we also tried to involve the school community as a whole and particularly to involve parents. We believe that teachers and parents need to work together to ensure good behaviour.

Hence the project valued the parents’ participation initially using the results of the questionnaires and also with parental opinions and suggestions. The participation of our parents was essential to the success of all the Exhibitions presented inside our school and also as they enriched their children’s learning achievements. We tried to determine the effectiveness of current activities and planning according to the outcomes.

The preparation of a meeting was important as it needed to reflect the needs of the project at that time.

After the resignation of the general coordinator and the negative feeling inside the group, the Comenius team of Externato Santa Catarina decided to organize a strong Study Meeting, with an effective balance of work, study and cultural visits, contact with the several groups/classes inside school and a specific presentation with children about Lisbon, the capital of Portugal.

The school community worked very hard in the organization of the Study Meeting in order that it would be valuable in gaining collective understanding, agreement and the necessary consensus to establish a proper basis for planning and implementing the project.

Our main goals were to establish a positive feeling inside the group in order that common and enthusiastic effort would bring confidence and creativity into the realisation of final works on the last phase of the Project’s development and also to discover, inside the group, potential resources (physical and human) to close the recent gap.

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The evaluation of this Study Meeting, done by the participant partners and also by the teachers/Headmistress/Administration Board of Externato Santa Catarina, focussed on the quality of the program proposed and the results achieved in the short period of time (15th – 20th February 2010).

In chapter two of this E‐Book we have already highlighted some specific activities done during these two years of Project. We will now present a short résumé:

Meetings  Questionnaires  Rules of Group / Class  Thematic Days 

Traditional Stories  Thematic Exhibitions 

Specific works 

Parties 

Blogs and webiste  Partnership 

Teachers / Parents / Students  Study Meeting for Teachers – February 2010

 Sept 2008 – Sept 2009  Feb 2010

 Parents / teachers / grandparents / children

 Sept 2010

 List of Rules

 Sept 2009 – Sept 2010

 Water Day  Saint Martin Day  Food’s Day  Singing Janeiras (5 years)

 Oct 2009  Nov 2009  Oct 2009  Jan 2010

 “Stone Soup”  “Mysterious eggs”

 Nov 2008  Nov 2008

 Comenius  Christmas in solidarity  Christmas Traditions (countries of the Project)  Countries of the Project  Christmas traditions in Portugal

 Oct 2008  Dec 2009  Nov/Dec 2008  May 2009  Nov/Dec 2009

 A question of values… (5 years) rd  Table Manners (3 grade) rd  Logo of the Project (3 grade) rd  School Eco‐Codes (4 years and 3 grade)  Building a tower (2 years)  Snow Man (3 up 5 years) th  Community school service (4 grade)

 Dec 2008  Feb 2009  Apr 2009  Apr 2009  Oct 2009  Dec 2009  Jan 2010

 Christmas Event  Carnival‐ Characters and stories  Fair of the Countries of the Project  Carnival – Behaviours in Portuguese Culture

 Dec 2008  Feb 2009  May 2009  Feb 2010

 http://behaviourproject.110mb.com/ ‐ site  http://behaviour‐project.blogspot.com/ ‐ blog in POR  http://behaviour2‐project.blogspot.com/‐ blog in ENG

 Jan 2009  Feb 2009  Feb 2009

 Be Hope – school / parents

 Feb 2010

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Chapter IV – Specific activities Romania - Şcoala Simion Bărnutiu The impact of Comenius project “Good Behaviour, a Rainbow that Colours our Life” in “Simion Barnutiu” School Our school have experience in working on projects. We are at our third experience in Comenius projects. All projects started from a real problem of our school. It is one of the goals of our school, establish in our school development plan, to promote international projects. Our teachers, students and parents got involved in the project with enthusiasm and we worked together during the common activities established in the application form, but also in other specific activities run in our school or activities with different partners, having the same topic – good behaviour.

1. Good manners • “10 minutes of politeness”- activities at primary school children reinforcing basic rules of politeness situational activities – 130 students (primary), 14 teachers and students aged 6-11 years; • “Table manners around the world”-reinforcing our own table manners as well as becoming aware of cultural diversity and promoting tolerance (project work, miming) – all school 300 students, 24 teachers, students aged 6-14 years; • “Intricate stories” – a play performed by students which was based on an original script written by students in the 6th form; it satirizes nowadays attitudes and behaviours, using animals as characters – 25 students, 3 teachers, students aged 13-14 years;

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•

“Right or Wrong”-role play-students in 6th and 7th forms performed good VS bad behaviour - 45 students, 3 teachers, students aged 13-14 years.

•

“The past returns”- film- satirizing bad behaviours using characters from IL. Caragiale’s works, the script written and the performance done by students in the 7th form students, 3 teachers, students aged 13-14 years.

•

“The past returns”- film- satirizing bad behaviours using characters from IL. Caragiale’s works, the script written and the performance done by students in the 7th form – 20 students, 3 teachers, students aged 13-14 years.

2. Interpersonal relations • “The lesson with the largest number of students in the world”- activity organized in partnership with “ World Vision” and “Save the Children” foundations having as slogans “ Education for all” ,”Stop exclusion”(the whole school) – all school 300 students, 24 teachers, students aged 6-14 years; • “Each child matters” – activity carried on in partnership with students at Political Science College in order to promote tolerance equality – 140 students (secondary), 4 university students, 14 teachers, students aged 1015 years;

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3. Activities having as a slogan: “Our planet should remain green” • collecting worn-out batteries – taking part in the contest promoted by LIONS CLUB – all school’s 300 students, 24 teachers, students aged 6-14 years; • posters, projects, displays on “Water day”, “Earth’s day” – 140 students (secondary), 14 teachers, students aged 10-15 years; • performing the play “Drops of life” by Esko-Pekka Tiitinen, Music and translation in English Mika Vanhanen on the Earth Day – 20 students (7th grade), 2 teachers, students aged 14 years; • taking care of the school garden – 45 students, 3 teachers, students aged 13-14 years

4. Activities having as slogans “We have rights but also responsibilities”, “Lets become responsible citizens” • making up class rules/school rules –and getting responsibilities – all school 300 students, 24 teachers, students aged 6-14 years; • taking part in the project “Connect yourself to community” promoted by IMPACT Club and Youth Foundation, sponsored by NOKIA – 24 students, 4 teachers, students aged 10-14 years • setting up the group of children mediators for preventing school bullying within the activity “A World without Violence” – all school 300 students, 24 teachers, students age 6-14 years

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5. Charity events •

•

“Santa Claus Elves” – to render children awareness of other people’s needs (young or old) – presents, a show for those less fortunate than them – 24 students, 4 teachers, students aged 10-14 years “Christmas in light and joy “ – activity organized in partnership with parents – children, teachers and parents made Christmas cards and ornaments, carried out fundraising – 130 students (primary), 14 teachers, 70 de parents, students aged 6-11 years.

Taking part in the project gave us all the opportunity of sharing ideas and stirred our creativity. Thus, we thought to propose new optional classes in the curricula intuited “Good behaviour through stories”, “Great deeds for little children”, “Good behavior, the key to harmony”, there were created new motivating teaching instruments or new convenient teaching strategies that helped to promote good behaviour and awareness of its importance, to increase children’s motivation and bring to life what they have learnt.

Looking back at all the activities we worked on during this project, made us realise the great positive impact they have had on us all, students, teachers and our whole community.

First of all we can say that the goal of the project was attained: our students have become more aware of the importance of good behaviour, which ultimately determines the quality of our lives.

The large number of participants in the project (300 students, 14 teachers, 36 parents) strengthened the idea that the theme of our project was widely taken on board.

The planned activities in our project and the final products that were produced had an impact on our school in the following ways: • They enabled our children to enrich their knowledge about good behaviour in different situations; • It stimulated their curiosity and motivated them to learn about other cultures. They are now able to identify similarities and accept differences and have become more tolerant; • It has given them the possibility to develop social skills that are relevant for their professional as well as for their personal life. For example, the pair work or group work activities helped them “learn by doing”. They learnt rules of communication and good listening, cooperation and they also acquired the ability to make decisions, negotiate, express opinions with arguments and the ability to make a presentation.

In all the activities the Romanian children were involved, they proved to be highly creative, coming up with ingenious ideas and much enthusiasm.

Organizing the project meeting in Romania, gave us the possibility to present the Romanian Educational System, the achievements of our school, the performances of our students as well as the Romanian culture and traditions.

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Teachers, students and parents in our school thought of a large variety of activities on the project topic: workshops - “The Rainbow of good od behaviour” and ““Close Encounters of thee Third Kind Kind”, ”, presenting AElearning system, artistic moments performed by both the Romanian students and guest students. Hosting the guest students in our student’s home offered them a direct contact to our customs, traditions and specific food.

er to make our children aware of the concepts of identity and diversity within In order the European community and of the importance of a tolerant and open-minded open attitude, we thought to encourage connections between our pupils and those from the other partner institution itution as much as possible. Consequently, we involved a large number of students (11 students) in motilities, making it possible for them, to have direct contacts with children of their age. On these occasions they had the opportunity to introduce themselves themselves (the Romanian and the Italian students made a Power Point presentation), to work together in workshops, they exchanged ee-mail addresses, or used other means of communication, so that they could keep in touch even after the project is over.

The students in our school took part in 2 video conferences with the institution from Sussex (UK) and Malta. Unfortunately, we could not have regular such meetings because of the overloaded programme of our students.

Now we are on the point to establish contacts with children from Birmingham by pen pal letters exchange.

Alongside the students, teachers tea also had great benefits from taking part in this project. They acquired new skills in the management and planning of aspects of the project.

They can now organise project projec meetings or negotiate with partners. They have come to know other educational systems or new methods of teaching that are a source of inspiration for innovation and professional development.

The success of the students and teachers has been beneficial to our community community, too.

Thus, during the project meeting, our teachers and students promoted the image of Romania, Transylvania and Cluj, our town, but also the Romanian soul.

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All our efforts to promote European collaboration and civic activities helped our school to be recognized at the national level as follows: • In 2009 our school won the European School Certificate, in the European School National Contest, organized by our Ministry of Education and our National Agency – ANPCDEFP, for promoting activities of European cooperation and projects.

• In 2010 our school won a National Mention in the national contest “Made for Europe”, for our common final product, “The rainbow of good behaviour” – didactical game, contest organized by the Ministry of Education and our National Agency – ANPCDEFP, to promote the final products of the Comenius project.

All the specific activities run in the school, along the common activities, were meant to enlarge the number of the activities and diversify the ways to improve good behaviour of our students, the good of our project.

During the project meeting we all had the opportunity to interchange ideas and enrich our experience. We will surely, use some ideas got during the project, adapting them to the needs of our school and students.

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Chapter IV – Specific activities Slovenia – Osnovna šola Idrija

The most important task of our scho school is to constantly try to improve the educational process whilst taking into consideration the needs of the students. The school builds on good interpersonal relations, trust and respect.

Our school vision school is: Friendship - the way to knowledge This vision is a way to put into practice the values of all participants in the education process - the parents, teachers, students and the broader community. These values are: knowledge, creativity, cooperation, and friendship. Our goal is, while taking into account all these se values, to make learning active, active, to be able to help each ot other to learn, to reduce student conflict. conflict

Good behaviour at meals Good behaviour and the interpersonal relationships connected with it encompass a number of areas which can be improved by working with the students.

As part of the project on good behaviour, behavio our school last year decided that we wish to improve behaviour at meal times, especially at school lunch (snack). Years of experience have taught us that we have significant room for improvement in this field. To achieve our goal we have chosen small steps that have already been successfully essfully included into the work process at the school.

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We have created and carried out the guidelines and rules on behaviour at meal times in concordance with the education plan of the school. We found it important to make the students a part of this task, who expressed their thoughts on the matter, wrote stories, created poems, made posters, comics and pictograms, role played manners at meal time, worked on the proverbs. The fundamental premise of the activities was the Slovenian folk proverb: "Even a dog likes to have peace when eating."

BEFORE WE START OUR MEAL WE SAY TO EVERYONE "ENJOY YOUR MEAL" AND REPLY "AND YOU, TOO"

IT IS INAPPROPRIATE TO BURP AT THE TABLE.

WE DON'T SLURP NOR DRINK SOUP FROM THE PLATE. WE ALWAYS USE THE CUTTLERY.

Spring day for Europe In 2009 our school was also part of the international project Spring day for Europe that we have successfully merged with the project Comenius and therefore tried to bring Europe closer to students in an interesting way. We were happy that the year unfolded in a spirit of creativity, since one of the desired goals of our school is also to have innovative students.

What were the activities carried out at our school?

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-

We took part in the dance, literary, and art contest on the topic of LOVE

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Some students took part in the European online contest for the best poster at the 10th anniversary of Euro.

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Teachers discussed questions regarding the European Union, and kept students informed about current events in Europe and encouraged them to try to keep in touch with them using the media.

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We got to know Europe at different lessons with the help of interactive online didactical games and a CD-ROM Raziskovanje okolja EU. The students have made posters of our partner countries in the project Comenius. During the lessons we’ve emphasised the students’ ideas and thus developed their creativity (creating objects of their imagination at Art classes, poetry and story writing...)

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During English lessons, the students have had the chance to communicate with their peers from other countries and written letters to each other (pen pals).

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We’ve also prepared a public event at Spring day, where the students performed with various acts. The emphasis was on the creativity of their performance.

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The students were also visited by our famous world traveller Benka Pulko, who presented her talks throughout Europe to the students.

- As part of after lesson classes we created the ‘European props’ for the final event, where we celebrated Europe Day, and at the same time concluded the project. As part of the Comenius project, the students made posters about European countries.

- For Europe day (9th May) we had an exhibition about Europe and the European Union.

- As part of the project Comenius, students and teachers have visited some schools and partner countries in the project.

- As part of our activity on creative writing we also published a school newspaper, a part of which was dedicated to European Union, Comenius, and Spring day.

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The impact of video conferencing As part of the behaviour project we’ve connected with partners schools by means of videoconferencing as well. They have been a very attractive way of working for the students of different age groups. By means of modern technology they were able to have direct contact with their peers from other countries. They practised English and made new friends. Many students still keep in touch with their newly made friends by letters, internet (Skype, MSN, Facebook, etc.).

We had several video conferences with different partners and students of different age groups.

In the videoconference with Malta, the younger students were involved. They prepared an interesting short programme where they presented our school in English and introduced themselves. They also performed short traditional Slovenian stories, sang a few songs in English and Slovenian and showed folk dances. The best thing about this was that they were able to communicate with their peers freely, asking each other different questions.

The Comenius team of student has had video conferences with the other Comenius teams, especially from Italy. Individual classes also took part in video conferences with Ireland and England.

The impact of teacher and pupil mobilities The international project we took part in was a project that brought people together on school, local and European level. It encouraged research work among the students and teachers.

The additional value of the project shows through the inclusion of the European dimension into the lessons. The great impact of the project was the international student and teacher exchanges, mobilities.

They have enriched the personal and professional growth of the teachers, enabled their professional development because they offer a lot of opportunities to lear for different educational methods and facilitates cooperation with foreign colleagues. A further benefit is also in the exchange of examples of good practice.

For the students the mobilities have been a priceless experience. Through the contact with other cultures and peers from abroad the students learned the value of their own culture and been able to compare it with other ways of life.They’ve overcome many stereotypes. The motivation to learn English and other foreign languages, as well as learning about European countries has definitely increased, too.

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Parental involvement We tried to include parents into the project wherever and whenever possible, mostly where we felt that their cooperation is meaningful and useful.

At the beginning of the project the parents were offered to fill out questionnaires about the contents of the project, to get an insight into their views and opinions on good behaviour and interpersonal relationships and therefore contribute to achieving the set goals.

The parents also took part in a puppet show that served as a basis for discussion about good behaviour. The parents of all the students of our school helped prepare the Educational plan of the school, which was tightly intertwined with the contents of the project. Discussions about the important values in school and outside it have been going on parent-teacher meetings where the parents have exchanged their views and opinions.

Parents also played a very important role in the preparation of the partner meeting in our town. They were happy to give hospitality to 22 students from Italy, Turkey and Romania who visited us. They were all very happy to host the students, as they have assured us at the evaluation meeting. They were also very willing to help prepare social events where they have greatly contributed to the successful conclusion of the meeting.

The parents have been an important partner in achieving our common goals and their willingness to always help and support us has really meant a lot to us.

Arranging a Meeting- the impact on the school In October 2009 we have hosted a project meeting together with another school from our town – Vrtec Idrija. In the five days, full of different activities, all the participating teachers and students from partner school joined together under the project’s slogan “Good Behaviour – A Rainbow That Colours Our Life”.

The meeting in Idrija was attended by 24 pedagogical workers of the partner schools from Ireland, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Romania, Turkey and England.

The ongoing activities at the school were made even more interesting by the 22 guest students of partner schools from Italy, Turkey and Romania that have been hosted by our grade 8 and 9 students. The guest students were welcomed by the hosting families who took responsibility for their well being in the time of the meeting. They have taken them into their families and homes with great hospitality, and thus opened the doors of their home to a different culture, had a chance to gain nice and valuable experiences as well as practice their English. Many friendships made in the first year of the project, when our students were hosted by the Italian families, were strengthened, and even more Good Behaviour – a rainbow that colour our life – 2008/2010

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new friendships were made.

The guests of our school were also addressed by the mayor of our town Mr. Bojan Sever, and our headteacher Ms. Nikolaja Munih who also presented the Slovenian school system. Our students performed a school play / puppet show about one of our traditional folk stories Mojca Pokrajculja. We presented our school and tried to give the guests an insight into the work at our school – they were able to see the different classes, lessons. The teachers from Malta have prepared a fun lesson in which they’ve tried to teach our students a Maltese traditional dance – our students loved it, even though they were a bit shy at first.

The guest students also had a chance to participate in sports games and activities prepared by our P.E. teachers. Our students were very keen on getting to know their peers and learn as much as possible about them - it was a really valuable experience.

The peak of cultural events of the whole meeting was the evening of poetry where we were given the chance to meet the first lady of Slovenia Ms. Barbara Türk, the honorary patron of the project, who honoured us with her presence. The evening was marked by a selection of Slovenian poetry, interpreted by our students, as well as the poetry from the hosting countries. The experience was magical and left a long-lasting effect both in the students performing the poetry as well as all the guest partners, teachers and parents.

Hosting a meeting gave us a chance to show our partners some of the beauties our small country has to offer. Our students took them on a guided tour of our town Idrija, and showed some of the most important sights, briefly explained the history, tradition and culture, and characteristics of life in this part of Slovenia. The guest students even had the chance to try making our traditional dish Žlikrofi. On the whole-day trip around Slovenia the guests got to know our capital, Ljubljana and experience the wonders of the underworld of Postojna cave. It was an amazing experience to see our students spending the time together so harmoniously, regardless of all the cultural differences.

Hosting this meeting had a great impact on our school. We gained a lot of in terms of how to prepare a meeting, organise different activities and carry them out, how to plan work meetings, etc. all of which is going to be very valuable in our future work. Our institution is richer for the feeling of constructive cooperation among students, teachers and the local environment and is even more aware of the importance of common goal achievement.

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Chapter IV – Specific activities Slovenia – Kindergarten We were invited to join this international project by its coordinator, a person who had conceived it, and were particularly attracted by its contents and the possibility of international cooperation.

At our institution we’ve been following Step by Step Programme inside International Step by Step Association. Our Pedagogical Standards of Quality are: •

Individualization, Supportive adult- child interaction

•

Partnership with parents

•

Supporting learning environment

•

Meaningful learning

• •

Monitoring child development and learning and therefore corresponding planning of pedagogical work Professional development

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Social inclusion

Therefore this project fitted to our model of work very well, so we found it very challenging. The project began with questionnaires for teachers and parents who have shown us the interest and positive attitude to the discussion. Over half of surveyed parents decided to actively participate in the project. All the planned joint activities have been implemented, plus many others that related to the project.

ECO-project was implemented simultaneously and linked to. Work in the project has contributed a lot to professional development of teachers, their intercultural awareness, communicating and interest in learning modern languages. We organized a refreshing course of English for our staff. The effects of the project were certainly positive and versatile and have already indicated in promotion of good behaviour, manners and interpersonal relations.

The project as a whole and our work inside it was presented to the spouse of President of the Republic of Slovenia, Mrs Barbara Miklič Türk, the honorary patron of the project. Project website was developed by the partner school from Portugal (behaviourproject.110mb.com/). There is also a link to our blog (behaviourprojectslov.blogspot.com), published to enable current reporting about the project activities.

All teachers who had the opportunity to participate the International meetings at partner schools in different countries have agreed that each meeting left a lasting impression. Learning about other cultures and school systems gives us the width and the opportunity to compare where we are and what progress can be done.

Participating in mobility was very motivating for further work.

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Teachers were very happy to see their work presented and recognized their own contribution in the process of project activities. They also learned to understand and better the importance of cooperation and negotiation, teamwork and decisionmaking by consensus of all partners, which is a difficult task. We found it an important new experience, to have the opportunity to be observing teaching educational process and identify strategies for teaching children of the same age regardless of whether they are in kindergarten or school. It is also very interesting to compare classroom equipment, furniture, didactic materials and products.

Cultural diversity of the countries involved was exceptional and we were touched by the hospitality and friendliness of the staff of hosting institutions and the local population. It is also very fruitful to sometimes have a look over one's own fence and prevent oneself from being too self confident. At the international meetings teachers have had the opportunity to be presented cultural diversity through exhibitions, international evenings with tasting delicacies brought from all participating countries, etc. Participants were also given gifts that represented the cultural specificity of each country (eg. from Slovenia these were: hand made lace, Neanderthal flute replica, honey, sea salt, painted beehive panels). Also at the reception ceremonies host schools presented their cultural heritage through songs and dances.

Contacts with partners were held at meetings and via e-mail, Skype, exchanges of products and photographs, materials, video-conferences between groups of peers from partner countries and coordinators.

Parents were involved at all levels and stages of the project. Working with parents and also grandparents has achieved very good results in many ways – first by presenting the project at parents meetings and lectures on the developing of emotional and social intelligence at children. International and intercultural dimension was emphasized by presenting the Turkish tale in a leaflet. Parents helped us in the implementation of video-conferencing, recordings, taking photos, collecting proverbs, contributing gifts for visitors, dolls - including travelling character, translating texts into English, preparing presentations of activities and presenting partner countries to groups of children. Some parents also attended the lecture at the meeting in Slovenia. Families were also hosting travelling characters and reporting about it. Their contribution to project was very active while producing books about good behaviour in different situations (at home, at the library, at grandparents, on the road, in the theatre ...), which they did together with their children. Parents wrote the text and children illustrated it. The interest that parents showed for the project was immense. It was reported at parents meetings, that they had often discussed all aspects of it at home, too.

Contacting partners through video-conferencing was implemented from the outset of the project. All participants were extremely attracted by this way of cooperation.

Both, the children and the teachers have had the opportunity to see and hear each other. Before the conferencing children had some introducing activities. They were looking for information about the partner countries and learned about them.

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In this context, various activities were held: exhibitions, drawing flags, reading traditional stories, illustrating, learning greetings in the languages of partner countries, etc.

On the other hand, they tried to show something that would be interesting for children from another country, like making a real snowman for the children from Portugal that haven't got snow in winter. Each videoconference was an interesting experience, either in terms of behaviour and forms of communication, witnessing communication in foreign languages as well as experiencing non-verbal communication. Children noticed cultural differences, even different clothing.

Organizing the international meeting in October 2009 together with a partner school in our town, was one of the most demanding tasks in this project, because we wanted to make our visitors feel well, present our kindergarten, our work, our town, the country and also give the necessary emphasis on the topics. The aim of the meeting was to reflect and discuss how we can promote developing emotional/social intelligence in children, to exchange ideas and make a detailed plan of activities and the final product of the 2nd year of the project. VIP guests were invited - representatives of local communities, school authorities...We were honoured with the presence of the First Lady of Slovenia, Mrs. Barbara Miklič Türk , the honorary patron of our project. Among other, she attended our videoconference with a school from the UK.

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Chapter IV – Specific activities Turkey – Naşide Halil Gelendst İlköğretim Okulu The impact of hosting a meeting We were very excited to launch the project in Turkey and we hosted the first meeting.

As hospitality is a very important part of Turkish Culture, we prepared for the meeting very thoroughly. We were worried because we needed to reflect the spirit of the Project. The year of the Project was at the same time The Year of Mevlana Celaleddini Rumi. (The Great Turkish Philosopher and Piousman). This was very relevant to the aims of the Project. So we decided to make a study that reflected the philosophy of Mevlana. We prepared some PowerPoints and booklets for our Project team in order to introduce them to him.

We gave some information to our students about our partners and their countries, and taught them greetings in the languages of our partners. The visitors from Romania provided a big opportunity for our students to improve their English speaking skills. Our students and Romanian students made good relationships and friendships. They also found good opportunities to taste their traditional meals and saw the family relationships first hand . The students found the experience a great opportunity to express themselves and get to know another culture. In order to involve the families with our Project we organized a charity meeting for poor people.

The families made big effort to be the part of this activity and it made us so happy.

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They also had an opportunity to show off their handmade work and traditional Turkish meals. Besides all these activities we have shown our cultural heritage and our country.

Impact on Students This project had a huge impact on the 10 students that travelled to Malta and Slovenia. These children were chosen from the Comenius team from the school. They were the best English speakers and the ones who had worked hardest on the project.

Involvement in the project improved their English and their knowledge of different cultures giving them a new perspective on the world. They experienced different education systems and made new friends with whom they regular communicate with on the internet. This was their first opportunity to visit a different country.

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The impact of teachers visits Teacher visits were very useful and productive for our teachers. Learning the cultures and education systems of their countries, as well as visiting their schools provided our teachers with a different point of view and inspiration. These visits enabled us to see the weak points of our educational system and our school.. We have shared our impressions with our management and other teachers and we also thought of what can we do differently in our school. In our visits sometimes we were surprised by common aspects of all our cultures. It was a great pleasure for us.

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Chapter IV – Specific activities UK Birmingham – Yarnfield Primary School Eurobuddies This after school club has been running for the duration of the Comenius project.

Every Tuesday between 3.15pm and 4.30pm a group of children aged between 7 and 11 years meet in order to discuss the project and work to understand the similarities and differences between the partner countries.

This activity has developed into an extended learning opportunity with children and staff working informally together. The favourite activities have been; exploring food from different countries, a trip into Birmingham city centre to visit the international Christmas market and hosting a party for Cecec (our visiting Slovenian character).

Children and staff would recommend this activity to our partner schools.

E – book Working with the more able children from Year 5 (aged 9 – 10 years), the Deputy Head teacher and the ICT technician produced an e-book which was published on the school’s web-site.

The rationale behind this was to advertise Comenius to parents and pupils, raising the school community’s awareness.

The content of the book was entirely independent, making little work for teachers and raising the self-esteem of the pupils. This activity worked within the UK remit of producing work for community cohesion. Yarnfield, being a multi-cultural school in a culturally mixed part of Birmingham aims to celebrate and promote acceptance of diversity.

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Big Book In order to share behaviour strategies with our partner schools and reinforce it within Yarnfield it was decided to write a ‘Big book’. The book has been put in the school library where it is a popular choice of children of all ages.

Working with children from across the primary age range (from 5 – 11 years) the deputy head withdrew more able children in order to collaborate on the book.

Children were given themes which reflected the behaviour policy of the school; both rewards and sanctions. Pupils then wrote about their theme and took a photograph to illustrate their work.

Having the books colour copied and bound gave this work status. Working across the age ranges developed a lovely working atmosphere. Younger pupils gained a great deal academically from working with the older children whereas older pupils benefited socially. Books were given to partner schools during the meeting in Italy.

This activity was successful in the quality of the product and the cross age mix of pupils. The member of staff involved will repeat the activity.

Sing a Year at Yarnfield In order to share our school culture with our European partners Yarnfield produced an audio CD. This CD presented a representative sample of songs from across the academic year. Some religious festivals were included as were songs representing the school’s ethos.

Children from the whole school were involved in this activity, from Nursery to Year 6 (aged 3 – 11 years). The CD was made available to parents too. Partner schools were presented with a copy of the CD during the meeting in Italy.

Behaviour flowers Following our visit to Italy, it was decided to take on one of the many display ideas used in Milan. The special needs department, both lower and upper school, made ‘behaviour flowers’. Children were given the subject for the centre of the flower e.g. good manners. They then produced petals with examples of good manners.

This was very successful. The flowers were displayed in the school entrance and were given a high profile. Visitors, pupils and parents commented on the good quality display. Pupils who had contributed to the display had a sense of achievement and their self-esteem was boosted. This group of pupils needed to feel valued and this activity met this particular need.

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Video Conferencing As a requirement of the Comenius project is to involve the use of ICT as a communication tool it was decided to link with partner schools via video conferencing. The objective was that children will communicate with others across Europe, building awareness and understanding.

Yarnfield linked with Lewes, Sussex and Ovens, Ireland.

The initial links had limited success due to the shyness and inhibitions of the pupils.

This was overcome with the provision of a tight structure and improved preparation.

Once again, the school inked the Comenius activity with existing work (global communications) in order that staff did not become overburdened.

A member of staff, working with children with English as an additional language, took the lead on this activity. Pupils were encouraged to think of questions for their conference partners. They rehearsed the questions within the group before the conference link. After this procedure had been initiated the links were increasingly successful. The Yarnfield pupils were able to use their newly required English language skills for a real purpose and they enjoyed learning from children in the linked schools.

This activity was extremely successful and will be repeated in future years.

Organisation of a meeting The initial Comenius meeting was held in Birmingham. Unfortunately, the member of staff who organised this meeting retired before the project became active.

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Chapter IV – Specific activities UK Lewes – Wallands CP School Wallands is a mixed primary school of 470 pupils in a small town in Sussex. We have a largely middle class intake which serves our local community with a Language Unit attached to the school which brings pupils from all over the county with Speech and Language impairment. We decided to join this project to widen the pupil’s exposure to other cultures and give them a sense of becoming global citizens.

Rights Respecting Schools Award At Wallands we have always believed in the importance of fostering social and emotional intelligence. Comenius helped us focus on why it is important and look at the ways we facilitate it. We decided to work on the project in our “Family Groups”, which are mixed age classes that work together on personal and social education.

We worked on the project in those sessions and that helped the children and staff to feel that we were working on our whole school ethos.

At the beginning of the second year of the project we decided to work on a UK based award organised by UNICEF which is called “Rights Respecting Schools”. It tied in so well with the aims of the project and fulfils some of the project aims for us on improving pupil behaviour and helping them truly understand why empathy is important. We taught the children the difference between wants and needs (sorting pictures into categories for younger children). They learnt that needs become rights and we worked on UNICEF’s “Rights of the Child” and the rights that all children in the world deserve. We then worked on the rights that are important in our own classes and the children devised their own class charters with what they felt should be their rights in the classroom and the responsibilities they had to ensure all children got their rights. From these class charters children from each class and some teachers have now worked on a whole school charter. Now the rules of our school are meaningful for children and they are starting to talk in terms of respecting others rights. Working on the award has involved us becoming more outward looking and has developed work on more ethical issues such as fair-trade.

We were able to bring this into the project and working with the visiting characters from other countries. We had a whole school focus on the concept of fair-trade and what individuals can do to make a difference in the world.

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The Impact of hosting a meeting When we hosted a meeting at our school in February it had a very positive impact on the school community and pulled us all together in a common goal. We spent a long time preparing for it with the children teaching them about our partner countries. We linked each year group with a country and taught them how to greet them in their own language and created a display about their country using what they had learnt. We tried to connect it to what the children were learning. Eg. The year group who were connected to Slovenia learnt about Slovenian rivers as that was their topic at the time. We decided to involve the whole school in the project though doing whole school work on social skills and citizenship education in our schools “Family Groups”. These are cross year group classes that meet for half an hour once a week. As the children are working in mixed age groups (from 6 to 11), they learn from each other and bullying is reduced as they become friends and protect each other. Hosting a meeting meant learning songs across the school to perform to our visitors and working on the project during whole school assemblies and family group times. It created a forum to talk about behaviour and other cultures that otherwise wouldn’t have been there.

The impact of video conferencing Video conferencing has enabled our children to have direct contact and has given them motivation to work on the project and learn about other cultures. They have been keen to show our partners their work, For example our children composed a Comenius dance to Michael Jackson’s “Heal the World” about making the world a better place. They were so excited to perform it via video conferencing to our partner schools in Malta, Romania and Malta. They have watched traditional songs from Ireland and Romania and this has opened their eyes to different cultures. When teaching the children about our partner schools and countries, they have had an opportunity to ask children directly about their lives and culture and that has made what they have learnt come alive for them.

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For example, they learnt that Maltese people eat a pastry called Pastizzis and the children made them and were then able to talk to the children in Malta about how often they ate them and if they also cook them at home. Most striking for us was talking to children from a school very different to ours in another part of the same country and our children learning about other cultures in our own country!

The Impact of Teacher Visits

It has been so beneficial to our teachers’ own professional development to work on something at school and present and share how it went with professionals from very different cultures and institutions. Our ICT skills have been especially enhanced. We have had the unique chance to experience life as a teacher in eight countries and disseminate that experience to colleagues in our own country. In Lewes we were stuck by how much the children gained from their awareness of their rich cultural heritage. It made us aware of how much of traditional songs and dances how been lost to this present generation. We are more focused on what we need to preserve for future generations.

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Good Behaviour A rainbow that colours our life Lifelong Learning Programme Comenius School Partnership 2008 - 2010 This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Chapter 05 Conclusion

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Chapter IV ‐ Conclusion Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them. James Baldwin

The international school partnerships Comenius project entitled “Good Behaviour – A Rainbow That Colours Our Life” started in 2008 and finished in 2010. We believe our Project, involving children from 4 to 15 years from 8 countries, has been very successful.

Students and teachers have, with the help of project work, improved their knowledge and skills in the field of behaviour, good manners and interpersonal relationships. At the same time, the project has given the participants the chance to develop in the field of teamwork, relationships, learning and teaching foreign languages, planning and carrying out project activities as well as using information and computer technology (ICT).

The quality of project co‐operation and its implementation across ten schools from eight European countries was excellent. Factors which affected the successful outcomes included: the personal motivation of individuals, the support of management, careful planning of project activities, a good project team, integrating the project into the regular activities of the institution, and being continually open to change.

Among the questions which were set at the beginning were the following:  What knowledge and skills are needed in life?  What is the importance of emotional and social intelligence?  What is the role of school in our time of rapid social change?  What are the activities that can help children in kindergarten or school to real understanding of the importance of interpersonal relationships?

We have tried to, at least partially, answer these questions by choosing, running and presenting a wide range of activities. As seen from the chapters of this book, during our two year project, partners encountered many similar approaches, and also a lot of diversity in relation to each activity.

Special value was added by the international aspect of the project with all the benefits that it entails (inter‐cultural dialogue, professional development, communication in foreign languages, the use of ICT, sharing experiences and ideas, learning about the work of partner institutions, mobility of children and teachers).

We feel really happy that we were able to work together, share ideas and learn a lot about each other and from each other.

In accordance with common European values, we linked together to encourage an interest, awareness and a sensibility in each of our children towards artistic, social and ethical values, to engender a sense of responsibility and respect and to enhance tolerance.

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We motivated the children to learn about one another and to promote good behaviour through a variety of activities such as traditional stories and proverbs, a sticker competition, a multilingual dictionary of polite expressions, a travelling character representing each country and learning about good manners, comic strips, a didactical game and a CD of songs.

Working collaboratively under the Comenius remit we were able to:     

Promote European co‐operation between the partner schools Encourage contacts Promote teacher mobility Promote knowledge and understanding Enhance the quality of education

Co‐operation between partners was productive. We managed regular on line meetings and supported each other. We exchanged skills and shared our knowledge and this meant all had an opportunity to develop professionally and personally. At project meetings we planned products and evaluated project work in each partner institution. This was effective and we managed to produce a good variety of pedagogical materials. All partners contributed to these products and promoted specific project aims inside their own institutions.

We used new technology extensively in our final products including videos, Powerpoint presentations, desktop publishing, dvds, pdf creator programmes, e books, the project website and blogs. We all had the opportunity to learn and practise the new technology. Using video conferencing was particularly exciting for those of our children who could not participate in mobilities.

It is hoped that the work accomplished in the Project will serve as an important reference point for each partner school as well as for others who are interested in this topic. It is also hoped that our work will be used as a teaching resource and that co‐operation with partner schools will continue, after the end of the funding period.

After the two year work we can say, that even 340 years after his death the main concepts of Comenius’ theory of education are still valid today. In a passage of The Great Didactic, Comenius wrote: Though these schools be different, we do not wish them to teach different things, but rather the same things in a different manner. I mean, all things which can make men truly men, and the learned truly learned; They should be taught in consideration of the pupil’s age and the standard of his prior preparation, which should always tend gradually upward.... The very sun in the heavens gives us a lesson on this point. In early spring, when plants are young and tender, he does not scorch them, but warms and invigorates them by slow degrees....

The gardener proceeds on the same principle, and does not apply the pruning‐knife to plants that are immature.... Just such a skilful and sympathetic treatment is necessary to instil a love of learning into the minds of our pupils, and any other procedure will only convert their idleness into antipathy...

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“Behaviour is a mirror in which everyone displays his own image.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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July 2010

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