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| >>News >> EuroMed Project Meeting in Israel-“THE ART OF LIFE | ||
| We were in Israel between March 26 and April, 2, 2008. From the beginning everything went excellent with many surprises….even at the airport just after we landed…..A hosting family and Michal were waiting for us at the airport. We were very surprised to see the Israeli Art Teacher Michal holding a welcome banner which was in Turkish: HOŞGELDİN ACARKENT HIGH SCHOOL. The organisation was perfect: Rebecca’s opening speech and her activities which promoted our main aim, a real intercultural dialogue; Tammy’s indoor and outdoor activities and ice-breakers that helped Austrian, Turkish and Israeli students to get closer to each other; (the Austrian teachers) Bernhard and Jutta’s string game where all students had to move and work silently and cooperatively; the big surprise pizzas for the evenings; shawarma and falafel with humus; the treasure hunt in a shopping street; free time for shopping; museums in Rishon Le Zion and its history; the Kiddush- traditional Jewish Sabbath ceremony; Caesarea; the Dead Sea; Masada; the history and environment lesson which were prepared for the participant students; my workshop on Ebru (marbling); Michal’s painting workshop for EuroMed t-shirts and the centrepiece of the Art of Life blanket; Jerusalem-the last suffering place of Christ-the Western Wall; the intercultural folklore evening where the Austrian, Israeli and Turkish students taught songs which belong to their own culture in their mother tongue and sang them, and tasted each other’s traditional food; Jutta’s and Bernhard’s closing workshop on Steyr and their school…Now our students have a clear understanding towards the Holocaust.... I am looking forward to the next Dialogue Meeting which will be held in Austria in October 2008, where my students will find a chance to directly observe a foreign culture and discuss some concepts such as freedom, trust, faith and friendship from their point of view with the other participant students. Special thanks to Anna Lindh Foundation for providing us an opportunity to participate in EuroMed Project and for giving us the chance to express ourselves as Doğa Acarkent High School; Rebecca and Barbara for helping us during the whole procedure and process whenever we needed; Doğa Schools’ administrative and Head of Foreign Languages Department İbrahim Soykan for being with us and supporting us from the beginning; our parents for working with us cooperatively; the Austrian teachers Bernhard and Jutta, the Israeli teachers-my lovely hosting Coordinator Tammy and sweet Michal for being generous in providing motivation and spreading deep warmth from their hearts and kisses whenever we needed. Simge SUBAŞI Coordinator of English Native Teachers of Doğa Schools IB Preparation Class English Teacher Interkulturelles Zentrum promotes the development of relations between people of different cultural origin and trains people to carry out practical intercultural work and has been initiating international school partnerships since the early 1990s. The EuroMed School Forum embraces, yet, a new region and, thus, stands for a further step towards cross-boarder cooperation. Currently, the network consists of 17 secondary schools in Euro-Mediterranean countries: Austria, Denmark, Hungary, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, the Netherlands and Turkey. In the 21st century, we are facing rapidly changing societies. Against this background, education becomes even more important in promoting solidarity and a peaceful coexistence. Projects such as the EuroMed School Forum aim at the development of competences and skills, which allow active and constructive participation in the intercultural dialogue. The joint work on common values and interests and – last but not least - the personal encounters are the first move towards mutual understanding and respect between students and teachers from both sides of the Mediterranean, regardless of the nationality, the religion, gender or other possible differences. We wish to thank the highly committed teachers, for doing a great job and for passing on the spirit to their students, who jointly produced high quality products - all this despite strikes, exams and by often sacrificing their free time. Obviously, we are also much obliged to our partner organisations for supporting the project and believing in its importance right from the beginning. Hopefully, the cooperation will continue, the network will continually grow and new bridges are to be built. Together we can make a difference! Warm regards, Rebecca Zeilinger |
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| 23.04.2008 | ||