Il nostro contributo

AN INTERESTING EXPERIENCE (by Giuseppe 4th B)

My school is involved in a project which is called Comenius,  together with schools from different countries: France, Poland, Nothern Ireland, the Netherlands and, of course, Italy.

A couple of times a year, some teachers from the different countries met all together to discuss about already done work and to plan the new work.

This year, the first meeting was organized by my school, in Sora.

The Polish teachers brought with them five students whom were hosted by Italian families. My family and I decided to put up a Polish boy, too. The evening in which he was to arrive, I was a little frightened because I didn’t know him and because wasn’t sure to be able to cope with him. Mum and dad, instead, were more tranquil, even if a little excited.

But, in spite of my fears and my insecurity, the day after I was already friend to him. Przmek, this is the name of my Polish friend, thanked my family and me for our hospitality bringing us chocolate bars, fruit juices, a box of vanilla cakes, typical polish biscuits and a kind of fruit dish.

Even if Przmek didn’t know Italian cuisine at all, he did appreciate our dishes and really enjoyed my mother’s “lasagne”.

In the afternoon we went to the mountains in the surroundings of Sora. I rolled about on the soft snow and Przmek also enjoyed himself very much.

At home, together with my friend Riccardo and another Polish boy, Milou, we challenged one another in a football match, around a billiard table: Italy VS Poland! Unfortunately for us, Poland was the winner.On friday morning, we went with all the teachers, pupils, headmistress and some parents to the City Hall where the Mayor of Sora wished to welcome our European guests. At the send it was nearly moving to sing all  together the European anthem!

The trips to Rome and to Naples and Pompeii were  enjoyable and everybody was very excited.

Thanks to English language I was able to communicate with Przmek as neither he nor I knew a word or the other one language.

To me this was an experience not only amusing and exciting but also very instructive. After it I understood that people, even if have different habits and customs are in many ways very similar.

European countries, besides, share altogether not only a huge spiritual and cultural heritage but also essential values such as friendship,  peace and respect of the others.

THE SPORTS’DAYS               

Every day, before the end of the school year, we also have the Sports’ days that in Italian are called “Giochi della Gioventù”, which exactly means “Youth Games”.

They usually last two days and are kept in the town stadium.On the first day, there is the opening which is a big event in which all the children of the schools belonging to the 3^rd Circolo, “Achille Lauri”in Sora and “Gianluca Catenaro” in Pescosolido , take part.

Every year we decide a particular topic of the games and all exhibitions are to stick to it. For instance last year, since it was the year devoted to water, we adopted this as main topic and all the pupils exhibitions had to deal with  water.

This year, our 19,^th the games will be inspired to “School subjects”, as, starting from next September, the school reform will come into force.

The opening of our “Youth Games” is preceded by the school young majorettes and “sbandieratori” .The “sbandieratori” are probably something unique in Europe It’s a  tradition which   dates back to the Middle Ages when they, waving coloured flags in noteworthy ways, used to open the pageant.

As in our town the opening of the games is regarded as an important event, all the most important people such as the Mayor, the bishop, some councillors, the divisional director of education as well as our pupils’ parents and relatives, come to the stadium to assist to it.

The day after the real games in which all our children try to challenge one another in races of skill, speed, strength and quick reflexes are performed. They also play little tournaments of football, basketball and volleyball.

Needless to add that all our children enjoy the games and think of them as one of the most exciting event of the year.

OUR COMENIUS: 1^st YEAR EVALUATION

And so, our first year of the project is already gone! As coordinator in my school, I can say that everything worked properly.

First of all, the group of teachers who are in charge of the project, and not only them, got on very well together and always kept in close contact by E-mail and by phone either in matters regarding the common work or in other ones.Secondly, every school respected their deadlines even if t sometimes meant working to a tight schedule.

The two first year study visits were moreover very interesting and productive as well as enjoyable and amusing. They also were useful to “get to know each other”, like the title of our project itself says.

Last but not least, the students from all our schools, enjoyed working together. They also liked pen-pal correspondence and every time they looked forward to receiving a new letter from their European mates. But, above all, what surely gave strength to the project work was the visit of the five Polish pupils to Italy.. The  italian students, as well as the Polish ones, did enjoy having their peers at school and at home.. They all “saw” their friends, spoke with them, lived a few days together and shared some experiences with them.

Through this occurrence, they also really could try to “get to know each other” and could come closer to the idea of Europe.

NORTH vs SOUTH

In this article, we want to propose some ideas to think about. They aren’t about cultural differences,  they are

about simple things that you can note by your own, when you travel to these countries.. Here there are some opposites between North and South. You can easily check and add many more

The first evident thing is the climate difference which is a very decisive one as it determines that in the South, nearly 8 months a year you can live “outdoors”, doing things in the streets, meeting people at squares, bars, parks. In the North you have to spend a lot of time at home. Can we also assume that people’s behaviour is influenced by that different way of living?

Climate determines the food, and then the “culinary culture”. It’s not the same heritage if you for hundred of years have olive oil or butter, horticultural products or not. Even smells are not the same in a hot or in a cold climate. Are we what we eat?

Vineyards are not very usual in cold climate. Then they drink beer and spirits. People from South Europe usually don’t know how to drink so much beer and tough spirits as their North friends do, and these ones don’t know how to manage with wine without getting drunk.

Climate also determines working. Working (at school for example) with 18°C, is not the same as working with 35°C.

And humour. Why people in South Europe are usually noisier and

body language is more expressive there? re Italians rude for that?Just look at an Italian subject or a Spanish one on a real cold and rainy day

The differences in welfare state are still quite big. It’s maybe for this reason that family is something very important in the South. A North European boy or girl starts living on his or her own as soon as possible. In the south it’s not like that. Children would rather prefer staying with their families as longer as they can!

The same we can say about elderly people care. What in the North is done by the State, in the South is assumed for the family.

Well, with this article we pretend to provoke everybody to say what you think about. We’ll be interested in your ideas.

home