ERASMUS Strategic Partnership ”Skills for Life: Literacy...

Project site: http://sll-erasmusplus.eu/ 1

ERASMUS* Strategic Partnership

”Skills for Life: Literacy” (SLL)

Newsletter No. 3

November 2015

SKILLS FOR LIFE: LITERACY

The partnership will take place between September 2014

and August 2016 and involves 5 European schools:

Liceul “Stefan Procopiu” (Romania, Vaslui) - coordinator

Foreign Language Secondary School

(Bulgaria, Pleven) –partner

5th General Senior High School of Aigaleo

(Greece, Aigaleo) – partner

Yildirim Beyazit Anadolu Lisesi (Bursa, Turkey) – partner

ISISS Cicognini Rodari (Prato, Italy) – partner

Changing lives.

Opening minds.

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The newsletter contains:

Part 1: Information about the third transnational meeting of the partnership, which took place

between 29th

Otober and 1st November 2015 and was hosted by the 5

th General Senior High School

of Aigaleo, Greece.

Part 2: Information about the local activities held by our partners during the first year of the

project.

PARTICIPANTS’ NAMES

Teachers

Mrs Croitoru Daniela

Ramona, Mrs Mazga Doina,

Mrs Bărdiţă Carmen, Mrs

Toma Loredana, Mr Mehmet

Yener, Mr Alaattin

Dagdeviren, Mrs Ulku

Yildirimli, Mrs Asli

Demiroren, Mrs Sylviya

Zlatanova, Mrs Gergana Danova-Stoyanova, Μrs Tanya Ilieva, Mrs Aneliya Ilieva, Mr Mario Di

Carlo, Mrs Natalia Mauro Nicolino, Mr Antonello Baccelliere , Mrs Paola Riggio, Mr Ioannis

Mavros, Mrs Marina Karavota, Mr Panagiotis Gkotsopoulos, Mrs Alexandra Marini, Mrs Ioanna

Moromalou, Mrs Grigoritsa Polyzoi, Mrs Vasiliki Choleva, Mr Konstantinos Kapous, Mrs Eleni

Koumparou, Mrs Despoina Sioula.

Τhird Project Meeting (29th October-1st November 2015)

“5th General Senior High School of Aigaleo” – Athens



Students

Taner Altin, Doga Yildirimli, Sandra Quagli, Marianna Gori, Simona Mariotti, Stylianos Vainas,

Konstantina Ioakeimidou, Christina Karapiperi, Aggelos Kollias, Agapi Kourpa, Lamprini

Charmantzi, Eirini Grapsa, Marianna Mpasmpani, Eleni Pavlou, Georgios Psourogiannis, Achilleas

Spanos, Ioannis Giannakakis, Panagiotis Vouniseas, Despoina-Ariadni Lianou, Charalampos

Kondylis, Ioannis Margaritis, Afroditi Mpoukoura, Alexia Lampropoulou, Stefania Mpenou, Sofia

Georgiopoulou-Papachristopoulou, Ioanna Zygioti, Christina Kaouni, Antonios Marinos, Eleni

Monemvasiou, Panagiota Gkesoura,Theofanis Dermos, Panagiotis Manios, Eftyhios Ntamparakis,

Sermias Konstantinos, Christina Chatzianagnostou.

establishing the final form for Module II (“Writing Strategies” of the guide "The teaching of

Life Skills with Literacy" (A Training Manual);

discussing the third module: "Speaking and Listening Strategies" (Oral Communication);

presenting an example of good practice: activity with students;

discussing the work plan for the guide "Think Literacy: Cross-Curricular Approaches"

("Literacy Lessons"), the second intellectual product of this partnership;

monitoring the project progress and accomplishing the tasks by the partners and interim

evaluation results;

revising the work plan according to the monitoring results and establishing the work plan

for the next meeting;

setting the date of departure for the meeting in Italy;

meeting evaluation;

team building activities, cultural activities.

Main objectives of third project meeting



Getting to know each other and team building;

Example of good practice: “The myth of the cave by Plato and its meaning for us”;

Intercultural activities among students, who presented their countries to the students of the

other countries;

Work group: Students answering a questionnaire about Business Writing;

A short visit to TEI (Technological Institution of Higher Education)

Work sessions with the following agenda:

Rules for a good implementation of the partnership;

Activities organized by each partner during the first year of the

project;

Monitoring the progress made by each partner regarding the tasks

established during the second project meeting;

Discussions regarding the final form of the second module

(“Reading strategies”), part of the guide The teaching of Life Skills

with Literacy;

Oral strategies suggested by the Romanian team, which constitute the

starting point for the partners‟ activities and structure of the third

module “Oral strategies”;

Establishing the tasks for the third project meeting.

Opening the meeting

On the first day of the transnational

meeting, the teachers and students were

welcomed by the Headmaster of the 5th

General Senior High School of

Aigaleo, as well as by the Mayor of

Aigaleo city, in the school auditorium.

Activities:



Interim evaluation results

There was a thorough, systematic and transparent analysis of the results of the Interim

Evaluation Questionnaire, as it had been submitted by all partners.

In that evaluation, all the partners expressed their views on the following criteria:

Objectives of the partnership,

Impact and benefits on participants

Management and Coordination

Communication between partners

Evaluation

Dissemination

Quality of results and outcomes of the project

Project implementation (strengths, satisfactory aspects as well as weaknesses and

difficulties).

Strengths/satisfactory aspects:

Project activities can be applied to target groups of different age.

Project activities can be used in classes as well as in extra-curriculum activities.

The project deals with one of the most urgent issues nowadays: that of literacy.

The project is clear, applicable and useful for our work. The products focus on current

issues and can be shared with teachers from other schools as well as other educational

institutions.

Development of relationships of mutuality and solidarity among the partners.

Confirmation of the common destiny of our peoples in the framework of our European

dimension.

Joint efforts to deal with common problems and difficulties in the field of education despite

any differences. Culture bridges between nations

Working in an European dimension and meeting collegues coming from a lot of different

countries with various cultural backgrounds.

Sharing ideas, opiniond and good practicies.

Implementing new teaching strategies and methods with the students.

Weaknesses/problems and difficulties

The strict curriculum for the University exams does not leave enough room for the

employment of innovative approaches and techniques, although it has been widely

acknowledged the fact that immediate action should be taken to cope with the literacy

crisis. Given that, there should be a more systematic employment of new methods by all

teachers in the school community.

Difficulties in communication and lack of discussion and feedback among the partners, a

fact which has negative effects for the management and realization of the programme.

There is no cooperation and communication among the participating students of the

different countries relevant to the objectives of the programme.

a certain lack of responsibility of the partners in terms of comunication between meetings;

implementing the project requires much time.

partners come from countries with different cultures, work in different institutional contexts,

have different working styles, speak different languages, have different views and

experiences on the implementation of European projects, have different needs and

expectations. Sometimes these issues can not only promote intercultural tolerance and the

exchange of ideas, experiences and methods, but sometimes it can generate some

difficulties in understanding some workloads;



Some difficulties dealt with obvious differences in the annual schedule which we hadn't

taken into account during the planning phase of the project.

The lack of time was sometimes an obstacle to the implementation of the activities.

The huge amount of work and the difficulties to put togehter the objectives of the core

subjects and the ones of the project have sometimes mad the work hard.

Work session about Intellectual outputs

The Romanian team made a presentation of the contribution that have been created by

each partner so far for The guide "The teaching of Life Skills with Literacy" (A Training

Manual): Module I: Reading Strategies and Module II: Writing Strategies.

As for Module III: Speaking and Listening Strategies (Oral Communication), there was a

short introduction to Oral Communication. Oral skills – both speaking and listening – are at the

very foundation of literacy. Classroom talk helps students to learn, to reflect on what they are

learning, and to communicate their knowledge and understanding.

So, in the end, the guide "The teaching of Life Skills with Literacy" (A Training Manual)

structure is the following:

Short introduction

Module I. Reading strategies

Module II. Writing strategies Part I: Writing exercises for developing creativity

Part II: Writing skills: essential skills for school and career

Module III. Speaking and listening strategies Annex: Short descriptions of some reading, writing and communication strategies.

For the guide "Think Literacy: Cross-Curricular Approaches" ("Literacy Lessons") the Romanian

team has thought of proposing 10 activities under the theme of “European Union”. Such a theme is

connected to history, geography, economy, civic culture etc.

The main activities for the second year A. There will be 2 transnational meetings, one in Italy (17-20 March 2016) and the second one

in Bulgaria (28-31 May 2016). After each meetinh, we will realize: the minute (meeting report), the

meeting evaluation report, the newsletters.

B. Working on Intellectual outputs and testing some of the proposed exercises and activities.

C. Dissemination activities (newsletters, articles, seminars, up-date the project site etc.). Each

partner holds the responsibility to promote the project and its outcomes in their own language using

their own channels of dissemination, on social networks like Face-book, discussion groups, mailing

lists, etc.

Dissemination tools: posters, flyers, project site, newsletters, articles, events (informative

seminar, workshops, exhibitions, eTwinning platforme etc.).

D. Evaluation activities and Final Report.



Example of good practice with students

The Greek partner offered an example of good practice with the help of the Greek students

and those coming from Turkey and Italy. The activity title was “The myth of the cave by Plato and

its meaning for us”

The objectives of the activity:

teaching students to read between the lines and comprehend the hidden meaning of the

text;

leading students to understand that what they consider to be true may be misleading them; if

so, they have to reconsider their beliefs and values;

guiding students to realize the importance of education for the welfare /benefit of the whole

society;

helping students to make the connection between the myth and today‟s life and reach to

conclusions regarding themselves and their duty to get free of prejudice and mental

blindness;

improving students‟ ability to write short texts in order to express their opinion regarding

specific aspects of a given subject.

Methods: Teamwork, Exploratory method, Worksheets.

Steps:

The activity was based on a myth from Plato‟s “Politeia” (meaning organisation of the city) and the

students had to understand the symbols of the myth and the “bonds” that imprison people and

hinder them from the truth.

1. - The teachers have chosen this subject in order to familiarize students with one of the most

important philosophers worldwide and his theory about the importance of education for the welfare

of both the person and the community. Moreover we wanted students to reflect on the possible

dangers of taking things for granted without thinking about them.

2. - At first, two students read the myth aloud in a theatrical manner while the other students were

watching some photos accompanying the myth and a short video from the documentary

“Forbidden education”. In this video the educational system of Argentina was presented to have a

lot in common with the conditions in the cave of the myth.

3. - Then the students worked on a crossword puzzle: they had to find out the key words from the

text of the myth which was handed out to them, so that they would be able to retell the myth with

the help of those words.

4. - Later on, they were handed out different worksheets for each group: they had to read short texts

regarding various aspects of the myth and answer questions about them. The questions aimed not

only on understanding the text but also on deeply thinking about their state of mind and the role of

the Media and the intellectuals/teachers in either imprisoning or liberating them.

5. - After appr.20 minutes, they presented their findings to the whole class, so that everybody could

have a clear understanding of all aspects of the myth. Since they had started working in the English

language as their means of communication, they finally made their speech in English with the

collaboration of all the members of their team.

The targets of understanding a demanding text by using a foreign language and working with

teammates from other schools, with a different background, age and learning styles and habits seem

to have been fulfilled.



Intercultural activities and work group

Also, the students were involved in different activities with the view of discovering the

partners‟ culture and civilization by answering a questionnaire about the Business Writing, which is

a very important skill for young people looking for a job in real life.

In the computer lab of Greek school under the supervision of the IT teacher and the

coordination of the students‟ activities by five Greek students, the students had the opportunity to

introduce themselves and get to know each other better and present their country.

In the second work session, the students were divided into seven teams of five students

each, in order to work on a Business writing questionnaire. That activity was directly related to the

aims of the meeting, that is the implementation of the writing strategies, and more specifically the

second part of the second module which has to do with real life skills. (Part II: Writing skills:

essential skills for school and career).



ROMANIA

A. Activities with students

From October 2014 to June 2015, the students from ”Ştefan Procopiu”

High School took part in the following activities:

Filling in a questionnaire on their attitude to reading; 80

students were questioned and the results were posted on the highschool webpage.

4 contests were held up, with the aim of stimulating reading among students. The students

were awarded diplomas and books. The general objectiveof all the 4 contests held within the

project ”Interactive Reading” is to facilitate teenage reading by means of interactive

strategies (such as ”rewrite the end of the story”, ”continue the story”, ”writing a dialogue

with a character”, ”crosswords”). By taking part in these competitions, the students develop

transversal key competences (critical thinking, communication, team work, problem

solving, creativity)and also learning competences (techniques of intellectual work,

summarizing information, making connections etc.).

14 activities during classes of History, Geography, Literature, Counselling, and Sociology.

6 extra school activities.

The objectives of the activities with students:

improving correct, conscient, fluent and expressive reading;

developing students‟ ability to read, speak, and listen in order to better communicate with

others;

developing students‟ ability to understand, describe and select information, facts and main

ideas from a text;

improving the ability to deduct and interpret information, facts, ideas from a text;

encouraging students to make connections between texts and their personal experience;

developing students‟ abilities to take part in different communication situations with a

favourable attitude towards communication;

developing abilities to interpret situations and actions, to express opinions, and to recognise

the cause-effect relationship;

improving moral positive qualities;

develop their critical thinking.

The chosen texts represent the starting point for further discussions on: self-motivation, decision

taking, values and virtues, love, money, generosity, admiration, communication, cooperation.

The student worked in teams, which led to developing some important skills such as: cooperation,

communication, relationg to others, accepting others‟ points of view, active listening.

Strategies for reading and text comprehension were applied. Some of these strategies are to be used

before reading (”Anticipation”, ”Tea Party”, ”First Lines”, ”Think-Pair-Share”), others while

reading (”Say Something”, ”Reading between Lines”, GIST Method, ”Think loud”, ”Jigsaw”,

”Reciprocal Learning”, ”Ask questions”) or after reading (”Scale”, ”Somebody wanted,

but...so...”, ”It says–I say–And So”, ” 5-4-3-2-1 Strategy”, ”3-2-1 Strategy”, ”1-2-3-4-5 Pyramid”).

Part II. Local Activities Held By Our Partners During The First

Year Of The Project


http://www.freeflagicons.com/country/romania/fluttering_flag/


Some strategies consist of organising information using graphic organisers (”Venn Diagram”,

”Fishbone”, ”Ideas Tree”, ”Story Map”, ”Chain of Events”, ”Spider Web”, „ Frayer Model”).

The activities held till April 2015 were mentioned in the newsletters no. 1 and no. 2.

On May 27th, 2015 33 students and 8 teacher took part in the activity entitled ”About Choices

and their Consequences”. The short story analysed was ”The Lady or the Tiger?” by Frank

Richard Stockton.

Steps of the activity:

1. Warm-up: activating prior knowledge

▪ The teacher asks the students to think of a moment in their life when they had to take a tough

decision. The students share their own experience.

2. Anticipation Guide

▪The students, divided into 6 groups, had to agree or disagree on the quotes given.

3. MeetingFrank Stockton

▪ The teacher gives some information about the writer of the short story, Frank Stockton.

4. Students’ reading aloud ”The Lady, or the Tiger?” and the Word Wall The students are asked to write the unknown words on post-it notes. After reading the text,

the students will stick the post-it notes on the flip-chart, thus making a Word Wall. The teacher

explains the meaning of the words that the students do not know.

5. Understanding the text through ”Asking Questions”

6. Team Exercise

The students were divided into 5 teams. Each of them received a working sheet and solved

their task on a flipchart: Team no. 1 - ”Think-Pair-Share”:“The Princess‟s Dilemma”, Team

no. 2 –”Somebody wanted, but... so...”, Team no. 3 - ”Story Map”, Team no.4 - G.I.S.T.

Method, Team no. 5 –”The Most/The Least ImportantIdeas and Information”, Team no.6 –

”5-4-3-2-1 Strategy”. Each team presented their work.

7. Conclusions

The Moderator presented some conclusions on decision taking.

8. Assessment: Exit Slips

The Moderator assessed students‟ answers and activity.

The students reflected on the activity, what they learned and wrote down their thoughts on a

post-it stuck on the flipchart.



On June 16th, 2015 38 students and 7 teachers took part in the activity ”About Virtues”. The short

story analysed was”The Model Millionaire” by Oscar Wilde.

Steps of the Activity:

1. Warm-up: activating prior knowledge by filling in The Tree of Virtues

The Moderator asked the students to write down a post-it note 3 virtues considered by

them to be very important in man‟s life. The post-it notes are put on a flipchart. The

moderator read them, thus offering the opportunity for further interesting discussions on

virtues.

Interpreting Seneca‟s saying: “If you live according to the dictates of nature, you will

never be poor; if according to the notions of man, you will never be rich.”

2. MeetingOscar Wilde

The teacher gives some information about the writer of the short story, Oscar Wilde

3. Reading aloud”The Model Millionaire”.

The teacher used ”Read and say something” method while reading. The students stopped

reading to ”say something” (a comment, a prediction), to ask a question or to make a

connection to prior knowledge or personal experience.

4. Team exercise

Each of the 6 teams received a working sheet and solved the task on a flipchart: Team no. 1

- ”Word Wall”, Team no. 2 –”Story Map”, Team no. 3 - ”Think-Pair-Share” (TPS):

Commentingupon quotes from the text, Team no.4 - ”Think-Pair-Share” (TPS): Finfd the

moral, Team no.5 – Interpreting quotes, Team no.6 – ”Double-entry journal”.

Each team presented their results.

5. Conclusions

The Moderator pointed out some aspects regarding virtues and generosity.

At the end of the activity, the teacher can challenge the students to think about their moral

traits and opportunities of being generous to other volunteers.

6. Assessment: Exit Slips

The Moderator assessed students‟ answers and activity.

The students reflected on the activity, what they learned and wrote down their thoughts on a

post-it stuck on the flipchart.



B. Dissemination activities

5 leaflets with information about the project, literacy, reading, etc. which the students

received.

a site for project dissemination in Romanian language.

11 newsletters posted on the highschool site, on educational sites, on the site for project

dissemination in Romanian language.

4 articles in the local newspapers.

taking part in 4 national symposia with articles about the project.

general presentations of the project at activities held in our highschool.

C.Assessment activities

INITIAL EVALUATION

Steps in the initial evaluation:

• November 2014: drafting the initial test;

• 16th Decembrer 2014: testing the students;

• December 2014-January 2015: correcting the tests, assessing the answers.

Number of participants: 64

FORMATIVE EVALUATION by means of:

discussion with students;

analysing students‟ behaviour during the activities;

analysing the results;

INTERIM EVALUATION

Steps in the interim evaluation:

• May 2015: drafting the interim questionnaire (for students and for teachers);

• June-July 2015: completing the questionnaires by students (39) and teachers (20);

• August 2015: summarising and analysing the answers;

Here are some of students‟ opinions expressed during interim evaluation:

This project helps us developing our thinking and own interests.

The strategies used during the project activities were helpful for other subjects, and now I

can read more easily, understanding the texts more easily.

I think the project activities has had a beneficial impact upon my professional and personal

development, as I have improved my reading skills.



I have learned that I have to listen to others’ points of view, to look for sollutions together

with my team, and to work with my team mates for better results.

I have learned to work in a team and to accept different points of view.

I have becoem aware of the fact that my opinions are accepted and not criticised, since each

of us has a different way of approaching a subject.

I have become more interested in reading.

I have more self confidence and I want to find out more about literacy, writing and

communication.

I was pleased meeting other people and finding out what they think.

Team work is very important, as it helps us listen to other opinions.

I have become more responsible with each meeting and I have noticed my colleagues want

to express their opinions and to learn more.

Communication among team members was very good.

Everything I have done so far helped me understand myself better.

All these meetings have had a strong impact on my character , as I listened to others’

opinions and I realised that my decisions weren’t always the best.

All activities were interesting and useful, as I have learned something from each of them.

D. ACTIVITIES FOR ATTAINING THE INTELLECTUAL PRODUCTS

Between October 2014 and August 2015, the Romanian team proposed:

A selection of more than 40 methods and reading and comprehension startegies presented

at our first project meeting;

10 activities for the Module ”Reading Strategies” of the Guide ”The teaching of Life Skills

with Literacy" (A Training Manual): Our Relationships with Others: “About Admiration

and Envy”, “Aesop‟s Life Lessons”, “Let‟s explore life with Guy de Maupassant!”,

“Choices”, “Virtues”, “Wisdom”, “Appearances”, “Decision taking” (The three ways),

“Self-motivation” (The story of the lazy potter and of the dumb wise man), “Values that

might guide us in life” (The master and the ant).

Exercises for the Module ”Writing Strategies” of the Guide”The teaching of Life Skills with

Literacy" (A Training Manual).

On Monday, October 5th, 2015, we celebrated World‟s Day of Education at The Teaching Staff

Resource Center, Vaslui. Students and teachers from ”Ion Mincu” Technical Highschool and

”Ștefan Procopiu” Highschool, which run ERASMUS+projects, financed through The European

Commision.The objectives were:

students‟ being informed about the meaning

of the World‟s Day of Education;

promoting the values and importance of

education among the students;

promoting the role of educators/teachers in

passing knowledge and character building;

getting informed about the objectives of

Erasmus+programme: promoting education,

professional development, promoting youths

and sports in Europe;

students‟ presentation of the activities and

Again To Work!


https://drumuricatretine.wordpress.com/2012/10/31/maestrul-si-furnica/


outcomes of ERASMUS+projects.

The students and teachers from ”Ion Mincu” Technical High School were handed out the project

leaflet. The activity was mentioned in 2 local newspapers.

On October 8th, 2015, more than 70 students and 7 teachers took part in the first activity of the

strategic partnership ERASMUS+ ”Skills for Life:

Literacy” (SLL), held at The Students‟ Club. Steps

of the activity:

1. ERASMUS+

programme –general

presentation

2. Strategic partnership ”Skills for Life:

Literacy” (SLL): period, partners, aim and

objectives, motivation.

3. Let‟s remember: what we have achieved and

learnt during our first year of project.

4. What are we planning to do in the second

year of project?

5. Awarding the most active students (40

students were offered diplomas and books).



BULGARIA

1.October 2014

Selection of the teachers for the project team.

2.November 2014

Designing a test for initial evaluation and criteria for the selection of the students.

3.December 2014

Organising the first meeting with 40 primary school students and 60 high school students.

We made general presentation of the project and initial evaluation.

Making a presentation with the results of the initial evaluation.

4. November\December 2014 – April 2015

Activities for developing the first Module from the Training Programme for students "The

teaching of Life Skills with Literacy" (A Training Manual): "Reading Strategies".

Encouraging reading (September 2014-January 2015). 24 students, aged 9, took part in the

National Initiative for Encouraging Reading. The aim of this activity is to acquaint students

with some contemporary authors of children‟s books and motivate children to read for

pleasure.

A Magic Pearl (February 2015 – April 2015). 23 students, aged 8, discussed and voted for

the best Bulgarian book fo children in 2014 in the national contest.

Books-Travellers (February 2015 – April 2015). 24 students, aged 10, took part in the

contest for paintings, based on books they had read, organised by Bookcrossing Community

Bulgaria.

On March, 30th

, 2015, 23 students, aged 7, together with their parents took part in the

activity „We read together with….‟. A parent and a child read a book together and presented

it in front of the class. The teacher and the parents shared positive experience in reading

comprehension.

On April, 21st, 24 students, aged 8, together with 12 students from the College of

Pedagogics in Pleven took part in the reading marathon „We read together with future

teachers‟. The college students helped the children to answer the questions prepared by the

teacher and did dramatization of some fables.

December 2014–April 2015: 23 students, aged 10. Acquiring reading comprehension skills.

Developing skills on reading comprehension with the implementation of interactive training

methods.



19.03.2015. In Honour of Our Alphabet. A role play at the Regional Library. 23 students,

aged 8, played roles of their favourite fairy tales characters. Children and parents took part

in some reading games.

April, 2015. Establishing a library in our classroom. 23 children, aged 8, brought books they

had read and shared their opinion and feelings in the group.

January 2015 – April 2015.ACTIVITIES WITH 10TH GRADE- 60 students, aged 17.

ENGLISH CLASSES AND READING SKILLS

FORMAL AND NON-FORMAL LEARNING

PRE-READING UNDERSTANDING

Strategy: decoding titles and understanding context clues. The students have to speculate on

the meaning of the title and come up with ideas about the content.

Outcome: make reasonable assumptions based on the title message and form expectations

about the text.

PRE-READING UNDERSTANDING

Strategy: updating knowledge on the topic and sharing knowledge within the group.

Students have to ask each other what they already know about the mean and add new facts.

Outcome: students develop skills for sustainable learning and identify gaps in their general

knowledge.

READING AND UNDERSTANDING THROUGH QUESTIONING AND DOUBT

Strategy: reading aloud and emphasizing; selective reading. One of the group reads aloud a

paragraph and the listeners have to ask questions on the text.

Outcome: students develop skills for pronunciation and intonation; skills for questioning the

meaning and doubt the credibility of the information; the reader develops selective skills

through choosing what to emphasize.

READING AND UNDERSTANDING THROUGH QUESTIONING AND DOUBT

Strategy: reading aloud and emphasizing; vocabulary boost. Students ask questions about

the meaning of words and phrases; use electronic resources to access information and build

up dictionary skills.

Outcome: students learn how to use words in different context and socio-linguistic context.

POST-READING UNDERSTANDING THROUGH GROUP DISCUSSIONS

Strategy: reading to yourself and analysis of message.

Students read the text to themselves and then fill in a questionnaire based on the text.

Outcome: develop skills for critical thinking.



5 April 2015-June 2015: Activities for developing the Second Module from the Training

Programme for students "The teaching of Life Skills with Literacy" (A Training Manual):

"Writing Strategies".

Activity 1. May, 2015. Creative Writing. Composition with supportive words. 23 students,

aged 9-10 wrote a composition on the topic Unforgettable summer. Using the Brainstorm

method, the students chose several words they assossiated with summer and wrote their

compositions. Group discussion.

Activity 2. May 2015. Interrogative Sentence. Interactive methods. Teaching students

through games and everyday activities. Second Grade students.

Activity 3. April – May 2015. Using the shared writing model. Here a model of modelling

is provided – that of supporting composition. Crytical analysis and evaluation of good ides.

47 students, aged 9-11.

Activity 4. April – May, 2015.Transformations as a means of stimulus for young learners.

This activity enables students with the ability to discriminate: the learn why one character is

positive and another is negative. 23 students, aged 8-9.

Activity 5. April – May, 2015. Releasing a newspaper in the classroom: News from the

classroom. The students acted as journalists and editors and wrote articles about the current

events at school. 23 students, aged 9-10.

April –June, 2015. Activities with 127 students, aged 15-17.

• Creative Wtiting. The students‟s compositions and poems are disscussed and evaluated

and a brochure is in the process of releasing.

• How to write informative letters? Developing skills on adequate correspondence.

• How to write descriptively: samples from students descriptive writing tasks.

• How to evaluate and give appreciation to students. Training with teachers.

6. Three presentations with activities for the development of the first and second module were

created. They can be seen on the project page of the school.

Dissemination activities

Аctivity 1. 11.2014. Organizing a meeting with school staff/teachers and admistration to inform the

colleagues about the start of the project, its goals and objectives, tangible and intengible results

after the implementation of the project. PowerPoint presentation. Following the meeting, the

teachers informed their students and students'parents at teacher-parents'meetings about the positive

influence of the implementation of the project and motivated them to take part in the project

activities and dissemination of the results.



Activity 2. Dissemination with students on the application of the results. On March, 30th, 2015, 23

students, aged 7, together with their parents took part in the activity “We read together with….”. A

parent and a child read a book together and presented it in front of the class. At the start of the

activity the teachers acquainted the parents with the project results and the positive influence of its

implementation on their children‟s literacy.

Activity 3. On April, 21st, 24 students, aged 8, together with some students from the College of

Pedagogic in Pleven took part in the activity „We read together with future teachers”. At the start of

the activity the college students became familiar with the project, its implementation and results on

developing children‟s skills so that future teachers could benefit from our experience.

Activity 4. Establishing a project corner at school. A brief information about the project and

exhibitions with images of the implementation of the project activities are presented on it.

Activity 5. A publication in the local press concerning project activities with 42 German-speaking

students, aged 15-17, who took part in the Library Week-an event which took place from 11.05 to

15.05.2015 in the Regional Library – Pleven.

Activity 6. Making a project computer page on the site of the school.

Activity 7. A lot of activities taken place at the Regional Library–Pleven. The co-operation with

public institutions makes the dissemination of the project implementation and results more

effective.



GREECE

Activities involving students

a. The five READING LESSONS were presented to 10 different

classes of school (in each class there are from 20 to 25 students).

b. The INITIAL EVALUATION TEST was taken by all students of A

and B classes of our school (approximately 200 students).

c. Discussion of the results in classes.

d. Participation of students to competitions of poetry and

novels (10 students)

Our school encourages the participation of our students in competitions of poetry or fiction

which are organized by local authorities or Institutes and are officially approved by the

Ministry of Education.

In this framework, our students of the A and B classes participated in the Pan-Hellenic

Literary Competition of Fiction of the Institute “Kaiti Laskaridi”.

The students‟ stories are on the website of our school in the category of

Literary students‟ creations.

In May 2015, our student Mairi Sini sent her story entitled: “In front of

my mirror” to the 3rd

Pan-Hellenic Competition of Story Writing (about 2500

words).

e. Creation of Internal School Library (2 classes, about 50 students).

At school, we organized internal school library within the class.

Students were asked to bring in books which they would like to share with their classmates,

read them and then return them to their owners. They make a presentation of the story and

the writer.

f. Realisation of a meeting with poets (50 students).

On the 21st of April, three poets were invited to our school to have a conversation with the

students about: “The role of poetry in our lives and the understanding of ourselves

through poetry reading”. The students actually participated in this activity with enthusiasm preparing a poster for this

activity and presenting their own poems.

g. Meetings with students before the trip to Turkey (Powerpoint presentations of Bursa, creation

of a “Did you know questionnaire”, hand-made gifts by our students).



h. Students’ participation in Reading Seminars (organized by the Institute “Kaiti

Laskaridi”) with the following topics:

Teaching of theatrical reading

Exploitation of texts from the website

Text linguistics (use of linking words and the time sequence phrases to achieve reading

comprehension)

i.Writing lessons

Six different writing lessons were taught by the teachers in different classes of our school

(about 100 students). The students were invited to be involved in creative writing

activities, in order to produce essays, short stories, formal letters, articles, poems, comics,

reports or diaries.

They were also involved in making PowerPoint presentations based on research, which is

a real life skill, essential for their future.

Literacy in Ancient Greece

• The metro stations of Athens are mobile museums.

• The metro station of Aigaleo has inscriptions which remind the passers-by of the

importance of literacy in Ancient Athens.

An experiential writing lesson in the metro station of Aigaleo

• Subject: Greek language

• Grade: 1st Grade of Senior High School , A4, 25 students

• Topic: Language and Language Communication

• Task: Text production, “From the inscriptions of Ancient Greece we are inspired, we

comment, we write……..”

• Materials used: inscribed monuments in the displays of the metro station of Aigaleo

• Time: Tuesday 13.10.2015



• Aim of the lesson: to help students understand the importance that the Polis of Ancient

Athens placed on literacy (reading and writing), as a prerequisite for democracy (equal

rights and opportunities to all citizens).

j. A Reading Club in our school

A reading club has been created in our school, in which the students take part in interesting

activities and presentations of books.

Greek authors and poets will be invited to share their ideas and thoughts with our students.

There has been an invitation for collaboration of our school with the reading club of a

neighboring school regarding the reading activities we are going to follow.

k. A Reading Day in the School Library

We have organized discussions among students and teachers about the importance of the

book nowadays. There have been two posters made for that purpose.



l. Book presentations in class

The students are given the chance to pick books from the library that they like and then they are

invited to present them in class (oral presentation or in written form).

Activities involving teachers

a. A special meeting was organized by the headmaster and the members of the pedagogical

team to inform the teachers of our school at the beginning of the school year (27 teachers).

b. During the three following pedagogical meetings which are programmed by the Ministry of

Education, there was analytical presentation of the project‟s progress to the teachers.

c. A regular meeting of the members of the pedagogical team took place every Tuesday, from

12..00 to 14.00, in order to monitor the progress of the project.

d. With the view of welcoming our partners in October 2015, almost all teachers have been

actively involved in the preparations of our school.

e.Realisation of the contribution for the Module I „Reading Strategies”:

Activity 1: Understanding and Solving the Problem of Illiteracy.

Activity 2: “Values” that might guide us in life (text-genuine and fake entertainment).

Activity 3: Ancient History of Greeks /Be an active and thoughtful reader.

Activity 4: Modern Greek Literature.

Activity 5: Modern Greek Language.

f. Proposed 5 writing activities for the Module II „Writing Strategies”.

Activities involving parents

• There was one informative letter sent to parents at the beginning of the project.

• There was one letter informing parents about the trip to Turkey.

• There was systematic communication and collaboration with parents with regard to the

preparations for the trip to Turkey.

• Parents were analytically informed about the upcoming event of hosting our partners to

Greece through letters and the school website.

Activities involving other schools, universities

Two Informative letters were sent to schools of our local community, in the third Perfecture

of Athens, as well as to the Technological Institution of Education in Aigaleo, The

Department of Preschool Education of the University of Crete and the Department of

Philosophy in the University of Athens.

After the „meeting with poets‟ activity and the dissemination to the local schools, there was

invitation by another Senior High School of our region for collaboration of the two schools

with regard to the creation of a Reading Club.



Local press

Articles were published in 2 local newspapers of Aigaleo, the school site of our country (the

school. gr site), the site of the Western suburbs of Attiki called “Palmos” and the site of the

municipality of Aigaleo.

about the school‟s participation and the goals set in the Erasmus plus programme initially.

about the trip to Romania and Turkey and the outcomes of the meetings.

about the „meeting with the poets”.

Project site

We were assigned with the creation of the project site.

We also uploaded all the necessary information on the school website for the school

community‟s awareness.

Poster

Creation of a poster for the meeting with poets.

Creation of another poster for the importance of reading books and the school library.

ITALY

The initial phase of the project took place on schedule: some adjustments

were necessary because when the project was approved, the school year

had already begun. Our Institute has set up all the planned activities,

respecting the timetable established and approved by all the project

partners.

October 2014

During the general council teachers were informed of the approval of the project. The

contact teacher of the Institute asked the board to choose participating classes (target

groups) and teachers. (The selection criteria were the following: motivation of pupils and

teachers, knowledge of the project communication language, willingness of the teachers to

implement the project in their classes).

October-November: Selection phase

On the basis of the requests received by the teachers and the selection criteria, a working

group was made of 11 teachers of different disciplines and the computer technician of the

Institute. Some of the teachers were used to taking part in similar projects, since they had

already participated in or coordinated some Comenius projects in the past.

Classes participating in the project were also selected (2 E, 2I, 3 C) and the working group

chose the areas in which the learning units of the project would be implemented, during the

school year 2014-2015.

December 2014-January 2015: Creation and selection of the poster for the project

Our Institute was chosen to make of the poster of the project so it was decided to hold an internal

competition for pupils of the three participating classes, in order to select the best proposal.

Criteria:

The students, in groups or individually, made posters;

The posters had to contain: the project logo, a slogan, the project title, the names of the

schools and of the participating nations;



The images contained in the poster had to be original and not protected by copyright;

It was allowed the use of acronyms.

Proposals for posters were shown at school and during an assembly, all the students were

asked to express their preference, voting for their favorite poster.

Initial assessment

Pupils of the three participating classes took a reading test to assess the initial level of skills

and competencies of the three target groups, and of the working group in general.

The teachers selected two different types of texts, the first was a narrative text: “The

Rebellion of Cosimo" from "The Baron in the Trees" by Italo Calvino and the second was a

descriptive text: "Genes, People and Languages," an article by Andrea Parlangeli, from the

magazine Focus in April 2010.

Pupils were also given a questionnaire to evaluate their reading habits and reading

motivation. The reading tests were evaluated on the following criteria:

Understanding of information based on specific requirements;

Ability to understand, formulate hypotheses and opinions on the basis

of a given text;

Ability to summarize briefly in writing the contents of a text.

Creation of a virtual working space The working group asked the technician to make a group on the Intranet platform of the

Institute, with a system of folders and subfolders in which to place the various materials

produced and to be shared.

Programming the learning units (to be included in the first part of the final product Training

Program for students "The teaching of Life Skills with Literacy" (A Training Manual)) The participating teachers planned five learning units to develop the reading skills:

“Reading and understanding an Expository text” (English, class II I)

“Reading to study” (English, class III C)

“Speaking walls and speaking stones. A dive into Latin epigraphy in order to discover daily

life in Imperial Rome” (Latin and History, the class II I)

“Geodynamic evolution of Mediterranean basin” (Class II I)

“A walk on the dawn of mankind” (class II E)

February-May 2015: Implementation of the five units in the three classes selected for the project;

Assessment of the learning outcomes;

Assessment of the objectives of the project.

May-June 2015: Programming the learning units (to be included in the second part of the

final product Training Program for students "The teaching of Life Skills with Literacy" (A

Training Manual))

The participating teachers planned five sets of writing activities and exercises to go with the

reading teaching units already made, to develop the writing skills:

“Writing a short Expository text” – Letter of complaint (English, class II I)

“Writing a cover letter (letter of application) for a CV” (English, class III C)

“Speaking walls and speaking stones. A dive into Latin epigraphy in order to discover daily

life in Imperial Rome” (Latin and History class II I)

“Writing for Sciences” (Class II i)

“A walk on the dawn of mankind” (Natural sciences, class II E)



June-July 2015: Interim Evaluation of the partnership

Filling in a form (questionnaire) made by the coordinator, we gave our feedback to have an

overall image of the quality of the implementation of the project in the first year.

September-October 2015: Implementation and assessment

Implementation of the five sets of writing activities and exercises in the three classes selected for

the project (The three class-based target groups have remained the same as last year)

Dissemination of the results

Activity 1. September 2014. Teachers' council. The objectives and the working plan of the project

were communicated to all the teachers (about 100) of our school to ask them their willingness to

take part in the activities.

Activity 2. November 2014. Students' general council. (about 900 students). All the students and

the teachers were informed by the work group of the activities already done and of the future

objectives. The contest for the poster was introduced to the students and to the teachers.

Activity 3. November 2014. A dedicated information page on the website of our school was made

to inform the users (students, teachers, families, local population and authorities) of the activities.

Activity 4. May 2015. Students' general council. (about 900 students). The students and teachers

who had taken part in the mobility to Turkey presented their experience and the achieved results.

Conclusions

All the activities we have carried out so far, have aimed at achieving the objectives of the project:

Develop students' skills with regard to reading and writing (speaking and listening will be

cared during the second year) and soft skills: critical thinking, communication and

collaboration with peers and adults, communication in English);

Create strategies to develop the skills of reading and writing of students and to encourage

the pleasure of reading;

Develop the knowledge and skills of teachers with particular attention to programming and

implementing educational activities for literacy;

Promote the exchange of strategies and best practices among European schools.

All the activities carried out, involving directly both teachers and pupils, have found lifeblood in

the enthusiasm of the students and their families, especially in the moments leading up direct

contact with the partner schools and the mobility to Turkey, which (after a selection called among

the students of the three classes target) five students participated in. As planned in the initial phase,

two mobilities were carried out: the first was to the Romanian coordinating school (two teachers

and the head teacher took part in it) and the second was to the Turkish partner school (5 students

and two teachers took part in it).

Despite some initial difficulties and progress, due to the communication of the approval of the

project for the school year has already started, the planned activities were carried out and the

contributions were made to the final works of genius.

Once again, our Institute is open to Europe, experimentation, collaboration and dialogue with



colleagues and students from different backgrounds. As always, we consider the added value of our

participation in the project: the possibility that we offer to our Educational Institution

(management, administration, teachers, pupils and families) to live an unparalleled experience of

research, study and collaboration.

TURKEY

1. Selection of the Project team (October

2014): 12 teachers and 28 students

At the very beginning of the school year 2014-

2015, after we were informed by our

coordinator that our Project was approved we

started to work on it. The first step was to inform the school

community about the Project and create the Erasmus+ Project team. After we had decided on the

teachers it was time to choose our students. First, we announced the Project in the school and

chose students after making several oral communication activities

2. Selection of the Project logo. Project Logo Competition - 9th

February, 2015.

It was Turkey’s duty to design the project logo. For this a project logo competition was held by

the project team.The selection was done by all teachers and students. The result was announced on

10th February, 2015. Students prepared eight different drawings fort he Project logo of SLL. As a

result of the voting, the drawing which got the highest score was chosen and it is now being used

as the Project Logo.


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3. Applying Initial Assessment Test

We wanted to find out the students’ success on what they read. We divided the students into 3

groups. We applied the same initial assessment test to see and compare the results obtained from

our students with those of partner schools students’. We applied the same initial assessment test to

20 students.

4. Introducing School-Educational System

We prepared a Power Point presentation so that the partners could get an idea of our education

system. Students also made a video to introduce

the school.

5. A reading activity for 10 minutes

Every morning at the beginning of the first

lesson, each school in Turkey has to do a

reading activity for 10 minutes together with the

teachers, which is determined by the Ministry of

Education. The aim is to gain reading habit and

do reading not only at school but also at their

homes and together with their families.

6. Visiting the 13th

Book Fair

We had a visit to 13th

Book Fair with more than a hundred students. They could see lots of books,

resources in one place and they also had the chance to meet famous writers and have

conversations with them.

7. Welcoming our partners: 30th

April-3rd

May

We were the host in the 2nd

Project meeting. We were happy to welcome our partners and did

our best to have them spend good time in Bursa. During the work sessions, we did: a

PowerPoint presentation on Module I and a presentation of good practice with students (both

guest and host).



8. Appearing on several local newspapers

After the 2nd

Project meeting, several local newspapers made news about our SLL Project.

9. 4th

Reading Festival

Our 4th

Reading Festival was held at school in May. It was aimed to make reading enjoyable to

students. The students were allowed to read whatever they like the whole day. At the end, our

school’s music band and a local one performed a short gig.

As a reminder of the 4th Reading Festival, students created bookmarks with the help of the

project teachers shared them with all the students, teachers and guests.

10. As a dissemination activity, we prepared an SLL Project corner to make all the students

and guests aware of our Project.



11. Interview with the local TV

12. The local press was invited to the Reading Event. We had the opportunity to make an interview and appear again on the newspapers.

13. Collecting books for Macedonian University



With the cooperation of the University in Macedonia and our school, our students collected books

from their families and other students and sent about 300 books to Macedonia University.

14. Inviting a local writer to school

A local writer was invited to school and students had the chance to have conversations and got

some advice. On 16th May, 2015, a writer was invited to our school to have a conversation with

the students. This activity was very fruitful for students who want to study literature at University

and getting idea for the importance of reading.

15. Competition of Reading Poetry and Story Writing

The Ministry of Education wanted local authorities or

institutions to organize competitions of poetry or story

writing. Our school encourages the participation of

our students in such competitions. One of our students

participated in the “İstiklal Marşı’nı Güzel Okuma”

competition held by District of Education in April

2015 . Muhammed Ali Sevim from class 11-A became

the winner out of 50 schools.



Damla Buyruk from 12-F was the winner in story writing.

16. A trip to İstanbul Okan University–Faculty of Literature

Both the Project team and the other students who are interested in Literacy were taken to

Okan University in İstanbul. They had a seminar in the Faculty of Literature. The propose was to

give students the opportunity to understand the importance of literacy in our daily lives and for

our future.

Material made with the financial support of the European Comission.

The content of this material represents the exclusive responsibility of the

authors and the National Agency and the European Comission are not

responsible for the way in which the content of the information will be

used.


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