Music, vehicle of cultural identity
Comenius project 2012-2014
Petra Martinková, teacher
I have only positive feelings about this project.
I met nice people, colleagues from other countries, I learnt a lot about their countries, habits, educational system and especially music. Our students practised English and I can feel they are motivated for further studies.
As a teacher I tend to judge the students from a narrow point of view and it is really useful if you can see them in different situations – not only in the lessons. Then you can appreciate their abilities which otherwise would be hidden from you. I discovered their musical talent and how successful they can be in other fields of life.
Our school is situated only a few kilometres from Comenius´ birthplace and we were proud to be able to visit his museum and show our guests interesting moments of his life and work – especially because it is a COMENIUS project.
Francisco Garrido and Lourdes Farré, parents
We were lucky to have at home a charming girl as “Pupu”. Our son and she developed a wonderful friendship which made as consider her as one more in the family. This experience has been very useful for Francesc because he has used his passion, the music, to travel and discover a different culture but also to make him realize that he has a good level of English which he has improved. Europe has become the home of all the countries inside and we have the need to know the English not from the United Kingdom, we need to learn the English from Europe.
Jana Matějíčková, student
This project gave me a lot of experiences. I improved my English and I could try what life in Lithuania is like. I recall my stay there very often. People there were very friendly; I like them and the country!
Maria Miquel, student
I think this project has been very interesting, as they participated many countries from all Europe. I had so much fun in Italy, where I went, and in Lleida, the first time they came. When they told me we were going to do a project I was so happy, and I’m glad for having been able to participate on it.
Dagmar Šarounová, teacher
All the project meetings were great! Actually, the whole project seemed to proceed very well. What I really appreciated was the cooperation not only among teachers but mainly among students. I guess they made good friends which helped them improve their communicative skills in fact. I personally liked the atmosphere of our workshops!
Ngo Thi Tra My, student
It was pleasure for me that teachers chose me to this project and so I could visit Spain. This visit gave me great knowledge about Catalonian community and I'm really proud, we are still in contact with my new friends from Catalonia.
Lubor Černobila,
deputy headmaster
From the point of view of a teacher and participant of the project, I find the course and results very positive. The whole project was a great asset especially for students who communicated with their partners in English. The communication worked not only during project meetings and during fulfilling the tasks but also in the meantime when the students communicated (and they still do that) informally as friends.
Marta Amarillo, student
Amelia: I think that this has been a great experience for my daughter Marta, working in a project like Comenius not only has given her the opportunity to travel and visit new places but also grow as a person and start having responsibilities as looking after someone you are in charge of.
Karel Milička, headmaster
The project has fulfilled all our expectations, it helped and motivated our students and enabled them to visit other countries. It started mutual cooperation and friendship. We feel the project has broadened the European dimension of our school.
Barbora Černobilová , student
My exchange student is from Italy. Maria is very talkative, kind and friendly. She kept saying she likes my family and Luhačovice. She will miss me and I will miss her, too. We hope we will be able to see each other in summer. I think that the educational exchange is great. My English has improved a lot.
Francesca, student
This experience has helped me to grow up and I have learnt new customs, new words. I had lots of fun and I made friends as well… I hope that I can participate in a similar project again.
Miriana, student
This project helped me a lot to know how people with different cultures and traditions live. I hosted a Lithuanian girl who has learnt many Italian and Neapolitan words.
Sílvia Cantons, teacher
Taking part in this project was very interesting. We got to know people from very distant countries such as Lithuania or not so far as the Czech Republic or Italy. We have learnt about all of them and from all of them, and this cultural diversity has made the project much richer. Traveling to the different countries has made the discovery more exciting and vivid, we learn more about a place when we visit it. I also want to point out that the project is a really good opportunity for our students and teachers to practice foreign languages in a motivating way, as we realize what we learn in the classroom is really useful.
Marta Amarillo parents
The Comenius project is one of the best experiences I've had. I loved the fact that I could visit another country not as a tourist but living there as a family from the country does. I also got to meet new people I've become friends with and that have given me another perspective to life. One of the things I liked the most is that it wasn't only two countries as it usually is, four countries were involved and I loved that because you could experience cultures and traditions from more than one place, and that enriches you. Overall, an amazing experience. Not only the trip but also the other activities we got to do in our own country.
Pere Piñol, student
The truth is that what a project like that makes isn't making you learn English. In fact, what you do is perfectioning your language and learn to use it to talk, so it's a great opportunity that you don't usually have in high school. You also learn the culture from the place and, the most important; you have fun and create good memories for yourself and the others.
Federica, student
This experience has helped me to know new things about a city different from mine. It helped me to grow up and to learn English better. I have also learnt how people live in a different city and in a house with a new family and new friends. It has been a wonderful experience and I hope that I will do again a similar experience.
Maria, student
Comenius project helped me to make new friends all over Europe. It has been the most beautiful experience that I have ever had with my class mates. Thanks to Comenius I met Barbora (the girl I hosted and the one who hosted me). She is such a beautiful person: she is friendly, kind and very nice. She made me feel very good. We talked all the time about everything and she also gave me advices that I followed. Now we are really close, I miss her so much… I hope this summer we will meet again!
Karolína Jurigová, student
In my opinion our visitors liked our country. We visited important places, introduced our culture and we also made new friends. I believe our guests enjoyed their stay here. I practised playing a Catalonian song and I enjoyed it.
Pere Piñol, parents
Projects where the students can participate and share experiences are very positive. They are interesting, as they promote relationships between people from other countries, what makes them practise a different language of the one to which they are used to, and use the knowledge from classes and their formation.
Laura Purroy, student
Travelling is one of the best ways to learn. And making this project has given us a lot of wonderful lessons! Maybe, my family wasn't the perfect one, they didn't live in perfect conditions like us, but that have made me realize my luck!
Lubor and Markéta Černobilovi, Barbora´s parents
We remember our visitor Maria every day. She tried to help with everything and what’s more, she cooked for us a typical Italian dinner – spaghetti pomodore fresco. Maria was always smiling and “the house was full of her”. We are happy she felt at home in our place. It was really amazing to see and hear how our daughter communicated with Maria in English.
Mariarosa, student
It has been a great experience because I made friend with some guys who opened my mind like the project wanted us to do. I think I have been very lucky to meet a correspondent like Maria because she is very kind and her family treated me like a daughter. I liked very much this project also because it involved music as the vehicle of people's relationships and I like music particularly as a language to express yourself.
Jana Šuráňová, deputy headmaster
In my opinion, this project was rewarding experience for teachers and students from all partner countries. They could learn a lot about education in other EU countries, their customs, music, common life and so on. Students worked together, spent free time in families abroad, have obtained new friends and improved their English, of course.
Alba Campo, student
After making this travel, I can say it was one which I will remember all my life, as I lived so many experiences and also so many anecdotes to explain. I spent four days in a country I’ve never been before and where I could live in another life style, it was so good!
Martina Šopíková, student
Project Comenius allowed us to visit amazing Spain and recognize their different culture. At the same time we got an opportunity to use our communication skills in English language and we also learned a lot of new things. The best is that we met new friends.
Sara, student
I think everyone should do this experience, because it's very important. I learnt to be more open minded, I also learnt some things about the country I visited and I made new friends! It was such a beautiful experience and I'd really like to take part in such a project again!
Maria Miguel parents
We think it has been a great way of making friends In different countries, when they came to Lleida We were so happy of them being so nice, and it has also been a great job of cohabitation. They treated Maria very good there in Italy, as so we did with Maria Rosa here in Spain!
Lucie Vrlová, student
In my opinion the survey we made was very interesting. I hadn’t had any idea what my parents or grandparents used to listen to or who the idols of their generation were before I asked them. I think people all over the world like music and it is one of the things which can connect people. Translation of some lyrics was very difficult for us because songs can be full of metaphors and expressions which have special meaning in our language. However, it was a challenge and we did our best.
Francesc Garrido Farré, student
Going to a country such different from mine as the Czech Republic has been one of the greatest thinks which has happened to my life. I have discovered a new country, I used the music which is my hobby to meet new people and the most important, by learning about many different cultures at the same time, my way of thinking has become wider which I’m sure will help me a lot in the future.
Michaela Ďurďová, student
It was useful experience to give a speech in front of the audience, to make presentation in a foreign language. I am used to doing it in front of my classmates but this time it was a bit different and more challenging. If it were not for this project I would hardly ever visit a TV and recording studio. As I study branch Advertisement in Art, it could be much useful for me in the future.
Chiara, student
I think that everyone should do this experience in life… I learnt a lot of things not only about the country where I went but also about people. Every country has a culture and we must learn to accept each of them.
Ilenia, student
It was a wonderful experience that I'd like to do again. I had a great time when I was in Lithuania.
Iolanda, teacher
Comenius was to me a special adventure! A challenge to prove myself in different contexts and situations. I love travelling and meeting new people: the project was a great opportunity to do it! I also like eating and it was nice to taste delicious food in every country, but above all sharing it with new friends. Music, vehicle of cultural identity was a really important professional experience. I learnt a lot of things with my colleagues and also from the students. Thanks to the project the relationship with them has become closer and closer. Especially with the students, we as teachers had the possibility to see how they learn and behave outside their ordinary class. It was amazing we gave them the chance to travel abroad, maybe for the first time and to stay with new families, Definitely Comenius and projects like this, help people to be open-minded. I felt at easy and welcomed in every country we stayed. It was a great lesson for our students and us discovering new “worlds” and wide horizons. I am very proud I was part of all that!
Lluís Herrera, teacher
A Comenius Project is a great occasion to exchange opinions and points of view about several aspects that concern to our teachers job. Furthermore, of course, a Comenius Project allows both teachers and students make new friends and know new places. This project has been especially interesting in all this aspects. I’m very happy to have been able to live it. Many thanks to everybody for have made it possible.
Ligita, parents
I like students and for me was fantactic time to meet him from other country. At evening time we discussed about music, life, policy, school, speare time, food etc. This few days in my house was really fantasctic.
Inga, student
This project gave to me more knowledge. I got more communication, i learned about Italy traditional, about people. I also learned some words in Italian language. It was a great experience. Italian students are very funny, they know how to make a good conversation between friends and teachers. With their teachers they are very close, they are like very good friends. In my opinion Italy is a great and nice country to visit and to stay there for holidays.
Loreta, teacher
I worked on diferent types of the projects' but this project was very successful for teachers and for students in many ways. They achieved more different competencies such as collaboration, IT, languages, teamwork, communication, music skills. Teachers and students was intruduced with eTwinning platform work. Discovered Czech, Italy and Catalonia, theses countries specific food, culture, music instruments and traditions.
Adele, student
My first time to Italy was wonderfull experiece to me- I found interesting students' life, learned italian word, saw different nature then in my country. And some days spended in the italian family I had possibility to compared it. Found different music styles in theses countries, to learned more about Italian, Catalonian and Czech R. music. visit to LRT was wonderful. In conclusion- it was great Comenius! thanks to teacher!
Rossella Longo, teacher
Thanks to my colleague Iolanda I had the chance to be involved in this Comenius project. I often carry out project funded by the EU but this time it was different because the Comenius is much more than a project, it is a cultural exchange that enriches teachers' and students' experience and make them feel Europeans. We both teachers and students had the opportunity to meet people from different countries, with different habits and customs. During the international meetings we experienced for a while the life of the people who hosted us, and we always felt at home. We worked altogether, exchanged our different experiences not only at school but above all in our ordinary life. A nice and friendly atmosphere made our meetings very pleasant and unforgettable!
Silvia, student
I found new friends, saw a new country, learned more english language, it was very useful. Its great experience and it was wonderful. I had a great time and I'm not regret it.
Ausra, teacher
This project is great! I met with people from other countries, teachers, new friends. I found out more about the participating countries' culture and customs. I visited the Czech Republic. I saw the country as well acquainted with the peoples of the performers, composers, their works 60 - year period.