3rd International meeting of the European Erasmus program +KA2 entitled “Quality-3C?” at Chania
The works of the 3rd international meeting, in the framework of the European ERASMUS +KA2 program, entitled “Quality-3C Child ( cheerful, courageous, creative child)?”, that took place in Chania from 3rd to 5th April 2017 ended successfully.
In detail, on April 3rd, representatives of teachers of various educational Institutes of Estonia, Croatia, Portugal and Latvia visited the Chania Directorate of Primary Education and followed by a courtesy visit to Region of Chania. There, the vice Governor, Mr. Voulgarakis, welcomed them warmly and discussed with them not only about matters that relate to education, the history of our island but also about our common home, Europe and its future.
Later, the representatives went to the 2nd Nipiagogio of Chania to attend one of the two (2) study tours included in the programming of the international meeting in Chania. More specifically, the Nipiagogio’s headmistress, Mrs Helen Vretoudaki, along with the pupils of her class made a microteaching under the topic “Development of narrating skills through the retelling of stories” using the appropriate pedagogical tools and educational means. The director of the Chania Directorate of Primary Education, Mr. Emmanouil Miliarakis, the School Advisor of the pre-school education Mrs Popi Kassotaki-Psaroudaki and members of the two pedagogical teams of the Greek participation were also present. Later on, the School Advisor coordinated the procedure of the groups’ reflection and feedback regarding the aforementioned microteaching. The visit ended with a ceremony full of music where the young pupils accompanied by the guitarist, Mr. Antonakopoulos, a pupil’s father, sang the song “Hello, Mr. Menexe” of Odysseus Elytis’ poetry, part of the collection “The sovereign sun” while the little pupil Catherine Kalaintzaki was playing the violin in front of the visitors. Before the teachers’ leaving, they were given gifts, such as wax cream and bouquets made from herbs and flowers from the school garden, as it is an eco- preschool where the infants learn how to take care of the environment and their school’s garden, even from the very first day. It was followed by a guided tour in order for the visitors to see the Old Town of Chania and its history throughout centuries. After finishing lunch, the works of the first day of the international meeting were made at the hall of ‘Dilovo’, at CAM.
On the next day, April 4th, the representatives visited the 11th Nipiagogio (pre primary school) of Chania, which is, from the Greek side, the second participant of the European plan along with the Chania Directorate of Primary Education who both were the coordinators of this international meeting. There, the headmistress of the 11th Nursery school of Chania, Mrs. Scordyli Maria, parents, pupils and the headmaster of the 11th primary school (where the Nipiagogio is housed) offered them a warm welcome under the sounds of cretan musical instruments and cretan songs played both by the pupils and the teachers of the Musical school. The dancers of the cultural association, “Viglatores”, danced cretan traditional dances with mastery and valiance, making the attendees enthusiastic. Later on, parents from the theatrical team of the Parent-Teacher Association and the 11th primary school of Chania presented a theatrical adaptation of a part of S. Exiperi’ s book, “The Small Prince”, demonstrating ,in this way, the cooperation between the parents and the educational community.
Afterwards, the teachers attended a microteaching about the graphic organizer and specifically about the “Venn diagram” by the preschool teacher ,Mrs. Helen Vlisidi, concerning the planning of a differentiated approach to knowledge and namely of the diversification of the information’s processing. Through the learning area of natural sciences, the pre schoolers and the teacher acting as their assistant, tried to distinguish the morphological and other basic features of birds and insects, processing the information with the help of “Venn”. Following this, there was a small-scale training by the Pre-School Education School Advisor, Mrs Popi Kassotaki-Psaroudaki, during which the parents of the children were present and provided all kinds of assistance to the participants.
On the same day, at noon, the Sisterhood of the Chrysopigi Monastery of Chania showed their hospitality to our foreign guests by offering them a high-quality meal and a small gift (soap) of the wonderful organic products they themselves produce while, at the same time, touring the monastery. In the afternoon, at the 11th Elementary School’s Hall, the work on the implementation of the European School Program continued.
On the last day, April 5th, the work of the 3rd Transnational Program was completed in CAM with the participants making a necessary formative assessment of the meeting’s objectives and carefully planning the next steps towards the Estonian Conference in June 2018. Then, the archaeologist, Eftihia Protopapadaki, offered teachers an interesting and comprehensive tour of both the Archaeological Museum of Chania and the archaeological excavation of Kidonia at the Old Port.
In conclusion, apart from the successful implementation of the objectives of this transnational meeting held in Chania, the foreign participants enjoyed the high level of Cretan hospitality as a result of the excellent collaboration and courtesy of the operational bodies, organizations and individuals.
