Rapport: coordination pédagogique de l'échange franco-bulgare

ANNEXE

Rapport final – Mme Margarita Vatcheva - Bulgarie

TRANSLATED FROM BULGARIAN

ADDENDUM II - 1

FINAL REPORT

FOR THE REALIZATION OF A EUROPEAN EDUCATION PROJECT – COMENIUS 1

REPORT ON THE COMENIUS PROJECT ACTIVITIES

ACTIVITY 1

EUROPEAN EDUCATIONAL PROJECT

SCOPE

Cultural heritage

Description of the project

Aims: General cultural heritage, formation of the new European citizen

The cultural and pedagogical aspects are the two major directions of our European – French – Bulgarian education language project. The partnership we would like to develop is a reason for us to get to know each other and to find out more about the cultural, historic and language wealth of our two European regions /Provence, the Rhodope Mountains and the Thracian lowlands/. The project fits well within the framework of education and the inter-cultural understanding.

This project, which aims at meetings and exchange of groups around themes like archaeology and ethnology, is developed around inter-disciplinary and language activities that favour creativity and communication /archaeological studios, legends, customs, Internet forum/.

This project also contains reflections upon the organization of school activities / individual and organized activities in the French centers for documentation and information /FCDI/, visits to museums and historical landmarks/ upon pedagogical activities / research for documentation, processing of the information, working with different materials – video and photographic materials/ and using the new technology as a means of communication and presentation of activities / making of web sites/

Activities

The activities on the project began quite a long time before the signing of the contract.

After we decided to apply for the financing of a language project, we looked for a partner. We enrolled in Partbase and we turned to schools whose addresses we could find there, but unfortunately without any success. We suppose that the war that was waged in Yugoslavia at the time was one of the reasons why the candidates for the projects did not take any interest in Bulgaria. The French Institute provided us with a list of addresses of schools in France which work with Bulgaria but they already had partners and were not interested either. Then we turned to Mrs. Fernanda Allemand who had taught French at our school for six years working also as a pedagogical counselor and as the head of the French Center for Documentation and Information with its main office at FLS Prof. Dr. Assen Zlatarov – Haskovo. As a result of her active support we got in touch with College Mignet from Aix-en-Provence, France and we were able to prepare this joint project. Ever since the beginning we had decided that it would be signed between College Mignet as coordinator and FLS Prof. Dr. Assen Zlatarov as partner but that the Bulgarian side would also be represented by FLS Hristo Botev – Kardjali and Comprehensive School Hristo Botev – Ivailovgrad. Right after the theme and the spheres of activity were chosen contacts between the sides began. In May 2002 the Bulgarian students prepared and sent dossiers representing the three towns and regions and the traces left by the Thracian people in our lands.

With the beginning of the school year of 2002/2003 our work began although the project was not financed yet. In November Mrs. Allemand, who had joined the team working on the French side, arrived in Bulgaria to coordinate the activities and the formation of working groups. She helped us to divide the activities. Mrs. Allemand worked for three days in each town from 19^th to 30^th November and brought us the prepared by the French college materials along with short presentations of each student with e-mails and addresses for contacts. The students prepared albums with photographs and statements in which they introduced themselves and Mrs. Allemand took these to our partners in France.

Work groups

Primarily the project consisted of 18 students from Haskovo, divided into 4 groups, 22 from Kardjali, divided into 4 groups, and 10 from Ivailovgrad, divided into 2 groups. Each group had its name and e-mail. The participants were divided into studios: Legends, Archaeology, and Ethnography.

Studios

Studio Legends

The topic of one of the work groups from Haskovo was related to the legend about Orpheus. A lot of sites were visited – Bulgarian and French. The students found the legend represented in literature, music and art and selected materials which were sent to their French partners. They also prepared short presentations for the literature class with Mrs. G. Todorova who gladly helped them with the preparation.

Studio Archaeology

Four groups – two from Haskovo, one from Kardjali and one from Ivailovgrad worked in the field of archaeology. The explored and visited sites were: the Thracian tombs near the villages of Mezek, Svirachi and Dolno Lukovo, a dolmen near the village of Pelevun, the fortresses Kaleto and Lyutitsa, the Roman villa of Armira, the Turkish bridge in Harmanly, the Thracian settlement of Perpericon near Kardjali. The groups visited the museums and worked with materials provided by the museum specialists. The participants in the groups visited the same sites and took pictures. They were accompanied by their instructors and specialists – teachers of History and museum specialists. The group from 10^th grade from Kardjali made an album on the topic about the Roman villa of Armira, collected published materials and articles, prepared photographic materials and an album about the history of the site.

With the prepared photo materials, the collected records and the presentations the students made exhibitions which, after they were shown in all three schools, were sent to France. Each group worked in its region and the gathered facts were shared with the other groups during the work meetings. This division enabled us to cover more sites for less expenses.

Studio Ethnography

Three groups, one from each town, had the purpose to learn about customs that were characteristic of their region, to meet elderly people who knew them in their authenticity and particularity and with the help of the ethnographers from the museums to find out the characteristic features of the regions. The group from Haskovo learned the custom of Irminden /May 1^st/ which is celebrated in this region only and the students from Ivailovgrad found out more details about the very extraordinary way of celebrating Lazarovden in the village of Svirachi. The group from Kardjali working in this studio looked for materials connected with March 1^st and the making of the martenitsa. The legend about the martenitsa and several martenitsas were sent to the French students in College Mignet.

Work Meetings

For the better coordination of the activities the following meetings were held:

November 2002 – meetings of Mrs. Allemand with the students from the three schools to form the groups and choose the topics to be worked upon

December 2002 – a meeting in Kardjali / 3 instructors, 12 students/ and visit to the Thracian settlement of Perpericon

March 2003 – a meeting of the instructors in Haskovo to get acquainted with the requirements of the contract and to coordinate the further activities.

Start of the preparation for the trip to France.

May 2003 – a meeting in Ivailovgrad /3 instructors, 9 students/ visit to the Villa of Armira and coordination of the program for the welcoming of the group from France.

July 2003 – a meeting of the instructors in Haskovo to report the results and prepare the materials for the report.

Forum

For a better exchange and for the possibility for everyone who would like to join the project to get acquainted with it, Mrs. Allemand made a web site www.cipe-lapasserelle.net/echanges , where she presented the project, the schools working on it and the forum for contacts. While the Bulgarian group was visiting France two workshops were held. There the students were instructed how to register on the forum and how to post materials, messages and e-mails to the other participants. After returning from France the students visited the forum regularly to write some materials, to send e-mails or messages, to write about their impressions from their visit to Aix or from what they had read about the topics that they were interested in. apart from those working on the project other students from the classes studying French also registered on the forum. Some of them to get to know the children that they were going to welcome during their stay in Bulgaria, others to start writing letters to their peers. The forum which still exists and which we will surely continue to visit and constantly feed with materials is one of our greatest accomplishments. It very much helped the kids to discover one another and left no borders or prejudices between them.

Language exchange

Visit of the Bulgarian students to Aix-en-Provence, France – March 29^th – April 9^th, 2003.

The group arrived in Aix-en-Provence on 31^st March 2003 in the late afternoon and the students were accommodated with host families.

The first day of the stay was spent visiting College Mignet and preparing the exhibition about Bulgaria prepared by several Bulgarian schools and all the materials that our students had prepared on the project. We were shown a film about the historic and cultural monuments and natural sights of the district of Provence. At 5 p.m. we were invited to a cocktail party by the administration of the college after which our exhibition about Bulgaria was opened. It comprised all significant sights, traditions and customs. It was visited by the students of College Mignet, the parents of the participants in the project and representatives of the Bulgarian – French Association of South France. This event was covered by the local press.

A part of the second day was spent in CDI of College Mignet. The students were divided into groups and Mrs. Allemand showed them the Internet site cipe-lapasserelle. A part of the students visited regular classes with their correspondents from France. After lunch, together with the French students we visited the Gaelic settlement le Site d’Entremont located near the city. This was a guided tour in French and we were acquainted with the life and traditions of the ancient Gaelic people.

The third day was devoted to the so-called Roman City of Nimes and the Roman aqueduct Pont du Gard. We got to Nimes by bus. The programme included a visit to Le Jardin de la Fontaine, le Temple de Diane, la Maison Carree, le Pont du Gard. While exploring these historic sights we were told about the epoch, the architectural characteristics, the purpose of the sites. The students were tremendously impressed by the grand Roman aqueduct le Pont du Gard.

On the fourth day the Bulgarian group accompanied by Mrs. Allemand visited the town of Marseille by bus. The program supposed a boat cruise to the palace of IF but because of the strong mistral we were not allowed to use a boat. In Marseille we saw the cathedral of  Notre Dame de la Garde which rises high above the city. In the afternoon we had free time to explore Mraseille.

The fifth day of our visit to Aix was devoted to the host families. The Bulgarian students talked exclusively in French and many of them visited p[laces and sights that were not included in the programme.

On the sixth day, the last day, the group visited the beautiful natural reservation of Camargue. Located between the two arms of the Rhone River. The students were charmed to see the natural beauty and the animals that roam these places. They talked with their French friends all day long.

On the seventh day we left for Bulgaria. On our way back we visited Nice and Monaco. There we saw the oceanographic museum.

Visit of the French students to Haskovo, Ivailovgrad and Kardjali – June 7^th – June 19^th 2003

Visit of the French group to Haskovo

As students from three schools in three regions took part in the project, the programme for the stay of the students from Aix was managed so that they could visit the three towns.

The group arrived on 7^th June, late in the evening /11p.m./ at Sofia Airport where the instructor from Haskovo was waiting for them. A bus was

provided. In spite of the late hour /2:30 a.m./ the thirty families were expecting their guests.

The first day – Sunday, after they rested and had lunch, accompanied by a part of the participants in the project from Haskovo, the guests visited the tomb near the village of Mezek where the students from Studio Archaeology and Mr. Popov – a teacher of History – presented to them the history and the legends about the tomb. The guests also visited the fortress of Kaleto, the best preserved medieval fortress in Bulgaria and the old Turkish bridge over the Harmanly River.

On the second day the French group visited FLS Prof. Dr. Assen Zlatarov where they were officially greeted by the school authorities. The students and their instructors visited FCDI, the French language classrooms, the exhibition The Thracian Treasures and talked to their peers studying French. Every participant in the project was given a file with materials and a work notebook. In the afternoon the guests were taken on a short excursion to the city of Plovdiv where on a guided tour they were shown the old Town, the Amphitheater and the Roman excavations.

On the third day of the stay of the guests they were taken to the Old Bulgarian capital of Veliko Turnovo. During their stay there they saw the ethnographic studios in the market of Samovod and the medieval hill of Tsarevets  - the lecture was given in French. On their way back to Haskovo the group visited Daskalovata house in the town of Tryavna and got acquainted with the history of the art of woodcarving.

The fourth day was devoted to an ethnographic workshop in Paskalevata house. After seeing the exposition presenting the way of life of the Bulgarian people during the Renaissance period, the students were divided into studios. Under the instruction of specialists from the ethnographic department of the museum, Mrs. Bachvarova – a teacher of Art and the Bulgarian kids they learned how to make Martenitsas, survachkis,  Lazar wreaths, to paint Easter eggs and to draw on pottery.

In the afternoon the group left for Ivailovgrad where they were awaited by their correspondents from Comprehensive School Hristo Botev.

Visit of the French group to Ivailovgrad

On the fifth day of their visit the French guests were officially welcomed in CS Hristo Botev and after they were shown around the school they visited the exposition The Old Town in the ethnographic museum. In the afternoon accompanied by the group of ‘Archaeologists’ they visited the Roman villa Armira, the Thracian tomb in the village of Svirachi and took part in the

presented together with the students from the local school custom Lazaruvane.

The sixth day was spent walking around the beautiful place by the Byala River and visiting the churches in Dolno Lukovo and Ivailovgrad.

On the seventh day, after a hike to the medieval fortress of Lyutitsa and the Roman Bridge the guests spent the afternoon with the host families and on the next day they left for Kardjali.

Visit of the French group to Kardjali

The French students arrived in Kardjali on June 15^th – eighth day at about 3 p.m. and right after they were welcomed they were accommodated with their host families.

In the morning of the ninth day the participants took a walk to the natural sight of The Stone Wedding located 3km far from the town. There they

heard the legend about this place. In the afternoon their correspondents from Kardjali showed them their high school, their classrooms, the library, the sports facilities. The students who had worked on the topic of Archaeology accompanied the French students to the town historical museum. There under the guidance of an archaeologist they saw the sections of Archaeology and Ethnography. The official welcoming by the high school authorities was at 5p.m. and each participant in the project was given a t-shirt with a label “La passerelle” and the logo of the high school.

The tenth day included a visit to the Thracian settlement of Perpericon. The visit was done with an archaeologist who talked about the excavations that have been done so far. The guests were impressed by the view and the grandeur of the place. All students made notes of the story told by the archaeologist. In the evening we gave a folk concert with the participation of groups from the Home of culture in the town and students from the high school.

In the morning of the last day the students took part in workshops to summarize what they had seen during their visit to Bulgaria. In the afternoon they were taken on a boat trip with the Emona ship on the waters of the Kardjali Dam and were shown the natural sights of our region.

On June 19^th the French group left for Sofia and from there – back to France.

Results /products, reports, newspaper, photographs, exhibitions, audio and video products etc./

• CDR presenting the project and the participants in it

• CDR presenting Bulgaria and Kardjali

• CDR presenting the work on the project in Ivailovgrad

• Videotape with e record of the restored custom Lazaruvane

• Files with materials and work notebooks for all the participants in the project

• Folder Ivailovgrad – the ancient land of Orpheus

• Exhibitions: Ivailovgrad – the ancient land of Orpheus, Bulgarian Historic Heritage and Traditions, The Treasures of the Thacians, The Thracian Tombs and Excavations in Mezek, Svirachi and Perpericon, Provence

• Photo albums

Methodological approaches

What subject areas were involved in the project?

Gathering of information about the cultural and historic heritage of the region

Preparation of dossiers, folders, photo materials about the researched archaeological sites or traditions and sending them to the partners from College Mignet – France

Preparation of exhibitions that visited the four schools included in the project

Meetings with sources of information for the description of authentic customs and traditional holidays, characteristic of the region

Visits to archaeological sites

Organization of work meetings between the students from the three schools to coordinate the activities, to get to know one another and to exchange materials and information

How was the work on the project integrated into the normal class work?

The students from grade 8 taking part in the project prepared a presentation of the legends of Orpheus and Euridice and showed it to their classmates in their literature classes.

During the French and Civilization classes in FLS Prof. Dr. Assen Zlatarov the students were given time to translate the gathered materials, to present them to their classmates and to prepare them to be sent to the students of College Mignet.

During the French classes in FLS Hristo Botev, Kardjali, with 9^th and 10^th grade, the participants in the project presented to their schoolmates the prepared materials on the project: about Perpericon, the Roman villa Armira, the St. John Predtecha Church in the area of Gledka, the legend of the Martenitsa. Before leaving for France we saw the tape with the film about the district of Provence. Some students searched through the Internet for information about the city of Aix-en-Provence and showed it in class.

How was communication with partners maintained during the project?

Contact between the students from the three Bulgarian schools was maintained mainly by means of the Internet, telephone conversations and meetings during visits of representatives of the work groups.

Contact with the students from College Mignet was maintained mainly through e-mails and the especially created web site with a forum.

What use was made of information technology?

New information technology was used. It was a major means of communication between the participants in the project.

The forum working since April was visited not only by the participants but also by their schoolmates who were attracted by the opportunity to get in touch with their peers, to voice their opinion or to share what they have learned on a given topic, included in the project and to meet the students they were going to welcome later in their homes during their visit to Bulgaria.

New information technology helped to maintain constant contact between whole classes and they are enthusiastically adopted by students because they are different from the traditional methods.

A lot of sites giving information on the work topics were visited and explored.

Three CDR presenting the region and the work on the project were made.

What types of mobility were carried on within the project?

Five work meetings of the teachers and the representatives of the work groups from the three Bulgarian schools were carried out within the project.

The work groups visited the following archaeological sights: the Thracian tomb of Mezek, the Thracian settlement of Perpericon, villa Armira.

The language exchange was carried out as follows:

From March 29^th to April 9^th 2003 – 30 students and three teachers visited their partners from College Mignet in Aix-en-Provence

From June 7^th to June 19^th 2003 – 29 students and three teachers visited Bulgaria

IMPACT OF THE PROJECT ON THE PUPILS

Number of the boys participating in the project – 27

Number of the girls participating in the project – 63

Used languages – French, Bulgarian and partially English

Getting acquainted with the foreign culture – getting acquainted with the historical and cultural heritage of the Gaelic people and the Romans in France and of the Thracians in Bulgaria.

Getting acquainted with some folk traditions in the region.

Broadening the knowledge in a given field – all participants in the project study French and the contacts and the research enriched the students’ knowledge not only regarding language but also regarding culture. The work on the project gave them knowledge in fields that are not included in the school subject matter and the curriculum of the Bulgarian schools. Some particularities of the regional folk traditions were discovered.

Including children with special needs – no

 IMPACT OF THE PROJECT ON THE SCHOOL

Number of teachers included in the project – apart from the instructors of the three groups from Haskovo, Kardjali and Ivailovgrad in the work on the project were included teachers of French, Literature, History, Computer Technologies, Art – total: 14

Level of cooperation among colleagues – very good cooperation was carried on among the project instructors and their colleagues. The colleagues teaching History, Computers and Literature gladly responded when the students needed their specialized help.

Level of cooperation with the colleagues from the other partner schools – very close contacts were maintained among the colleagues, project instructors in the three Bulgarian schools and the French college. Mrs. Fernanda Allemand played a vital part for the swift and smooth cooperation. She knew the participants in the project and was able to prepare everybody for an easy start. Our previous experience in participation in coordinated projects of FCDI under the instruction of Mrs. Fernanda Allemand and also after she moved back to France played an important part for the good cooperation among the partner schools, too. Now, after the finalizing of the project, we continue to keep in touch with our French colleagues as some new ideas have appeared to be worked upon in the future.

Contribution to the methods of education – the main contribution of the project was in the field of teaching French as a foreign language with the help of new technology. Especially useful was the work in the forum, and for the students interested in information technologies – the making of the sites. The research activity and the systematization of the materials gave the students new skills – to be able to analyze information and to work individually while choosing information and making decisions.

The aims that the forum achieved can be formulated as follows
1 – stronger motivation for learning the foreign language

2 – better processing of the newly learned information and the possibility to let the others know about it

3 – getting acquainted with another country and culture

4 – integration of European values in school life and development of the axis East – West

5 – improving the language, communication and research skills

6 – making contact before the language exchange and meeting people

Additional school activities that facilitated the development of the project – along with the project FLS Prof. Dr. Assen Zlatarov realized a language exchange with The High School of Agriculture in the town of Carpentras. The trip to France was carried out cooperatively, which enabled more students to take part in the exchange. Some of the participants in this project took part in the exchange in Carpentras.  where they had the chance to visit historical sites.

IMPACT ON THE WIDER COMMUNITY

Involving the parents – the parents of the students took an active part in the project and especially in the preparation and realization of the two trips. Parent meetings were held before the Bulgarian kids left for France and before the French group came to Bulgaria. As the French children stayed for five days, respectively in Haskovo, Kardjali and Ivailovgrad, 90 families welcomed them. After the visit many of them shared their satisfaction with their children’s stay in France and with the welcoming of the French students. They had prepared a lot of presents and traditional meals. They also introduced them to their relatives and showed them around the region.

Involving local companies and organizations

The work with the local museum specialists was very rewarding. They readily and willingly took part in the work and provided the necessary materials. They gladly took the groups to the archaeological excavations in Perpericon and villa Armira. The specialists from the ethnographic department conducted several workshops, including some with the French children, to let the students know more about the traditions and customs of the region.

The FCDI located in the territory of FLS Prof. Dr. Assen Zlatarov provided its premises, library, telephone, computers and Internet connection for the needs of the project. The documentalist of the Center was constantly available and served as coordinator between the partners timely forwarding any newly arrived information. The French Institute, represented by Mr. Menier, responsible for the region, gladly provided for the needs of the project the necessary literature and video tapes. 

The services of local advertising agencies were used for the production of the folder, the files and the work notebooks.

Tourist Agency Sarnela prepared and carried out the trip to France very professionally and also provided us with all the necessary transport service for while the French group was in Bulgaria.

• Production of t-shirts with labels “La passerelle” and the logo of FLS Hristo Botev by a company from the town of Kardjaly

• Participation of the folk groups from the Home of culture in Kardjali in the concert given especially in honour of the French guests

• Introducing other local schools to the project – together with the students from the school in the village of Svirachi we restored the custom of Lazaruvane and its authentic and specific for the village version was shown to the French students

SUPPORT OF THE PROJECT

Support provided by National Agencies – the greatest support was the financial support and the provided information connected with the realization of the project and the reporting of the activities

Support provided by representatives of the local school authorities

On behalf of the authorities of the three schools we had full support and ensured conditions for undisturbed work.

The methodical specialist in foreign language teaching in the regional Inspectorate of education was acquainted with the project and periodically received information about its development.

What obstacles did you encounter?

The first obstacle was connected with the finding of a partner for the project. We got in touch with many of the candidates in the “partbase” but most of them had already commenced work or were not interested in a project including Bulgaria.

We were also pressed by the relatively late signing of the contract and the financial support was given as late as February 2003. All the activities, the

prepared materials and their posting to France from September 2002 to February 2003 were paid by the teachers and the students themselves.

On the project we could use only funds for the public transport which barely exists any more in our three towns and we did not need it because the distances were short. On the other hand, the students paid all the expenses for the trips outside the towns, for the work meetings and for the welcoming of the French students.

How was the project evaluated?

On the side of the participants in the project – tremendous pleasure from the accomplished work and desire to make more contacts and to work more in the future.

How was the work of the project disseminated?

At the beginning of the project the students and the teachers working on the project gave an interview to journalists from Darrik Radio and the local cable TV stations. After the visit to France the students shared their experiences in the mass media. The press in Kardjali and in Aix also covered the event. The French guests shared their impressions with the local TV stations, too.

Materials that illustrate the results of the project (publications in the media etc.):

• An article in the Provence newspaper from April 9^th, 2003

• Articles in The New Life newspaper, Kardjali, after the trip of the Bulgarian group to France and during the visit of the French participants in the project in Kardjali.

• Recording in the local radio station in Kardjali of three participants in the project and their instructor.

At least three copies of the final products created on the project (booklets, CD, videocassette etc.) must be attached

• CDR presenting the project and the students working on it – 3 pcs

• CDR presenting Bulgaria and Kardjali – 3pcs

• CDR presenting the work on the project in Ivailovgrad – 3pcs

• Video tape with a record of the restored custom Lazaruvane – 3pcs

• Files with materials and work notebooks – 3pcs

• Folder Ivailovgrad – the Ancient Land of Orpheus – 3pcs