Customs and Traditions
CULTURAL DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES


WEB SITE AT: http://utenti.lycos.it/traditions
Coordinating school:

BINDSLEV SKOLE - Bindslev, Jutland - Denmark
Participating schools:

  • Istituto Comprensivo 2 - Suzzara, Mantova - Italy
  • Colégio de Gaia - Gaia, Oporto - Portugal
  • Dr. Nassau College - Quintus, Assen - Netherlands
  • Stängenässkolan - Brastad, Västra Götalands län - Sweden

Anno scolastico 2001-02 - Il progetto è aperto a tutte le classi della scuola media. Il "gruppo Comenius", composto da alunni delle classi terze che lo hanno scelto come attività opzionale, è coordinato da Graziella Seveso e Guido Belletti.
Anno scolastico 2000-2001 - Le attività
Anno scolastico 2001-2002 - Il progetto è aperto alle classi prime (primary group) ed alle classi terze (secondary group) della scuola media. Coordinatori Graziella Seveso e Guido Belletti.
Le informazioni che seguono sono date in ordine cronologico.


Initial meeting in Bindslev, Denmark, in May. Details about the running of the project discussed.

COMENIUS - BINDSLEV (maggio 2000) - REPORT

OBIETTIVI DEL PROGETTO:
· Potenziamento comunicazione in lingua inglese. Uso della lingua in un contesto significativo.
· Analisi delle diverse culture e tradizioni. Differenze tra nord e sud.
· Superamento dei pregiudizi. Non solo differenze ma soprattutto somiglianze.
· Uso delle nuove tecnologie: e-mail, Internet, video-conferenza. Videotapes, CD, presentazioni PowerPoint.

GRUPPI DI LAVORO:
Due livelli
· ELEMENTARE - 11/12 anni (Italia - Danimarca - Svezia)
· SECONDARIA - 15/16 anni (Portogallo - Danimarca - Olanda)

PROPOSTA ITALIANA:
· Gruppo Comenius - classi seconde - circa 25 studenti motivati e con buone basi di lingua inglese - opzionale. Settima ora del mattino per l'intero anno scolastico o due unità pomeridiane per periodi definiti fino ad un massimo di 40 ore annuali.
· Gruppo classi terze o classe terza. Gruppo di riferimento per livello secondario da cui altrimenti saremmo esclusi.

ATTIVITA':
GRUPPO ELEMENTARE
ATTIVITA' PRELIMINARE - Scadenza metà ottobre.
· Presentazioni via e-mail (personali, hobbies, scuola, paese ecc.). Gli alunni potranno poi continuare la corrispondenza e-mail su base personale o di piccolo gruppo.
· Invio di un pacco postale a tutte le scuole del progetto (Danimarca, Svezia, Olanda, Portogallo) con materiale illustrativo (cartine, bandiera, cartoline, libri ecc.)
SECONDA ATTIVITA' - Scadenza 15 dicembre.
Il Natale. Presentazione del Natale e festività connesse (S. Lucia, Epifania) viste in tutti i loro aspetti (decorazioni, canti, cibo ecc.). Produzioni libere da scambiare con le altre scuole e da portare al secondo meeting.
TERZA ATTIVITA' - Scadenza prima settimana di maggio.
Storia e tradizioni locali (feste particolari, case del passato e del presente, lessico relativo a particolari temi, oggetti o utensili del passato ecc.). Produzioni libere da scambiare con le altre scuole e da portare al secondo meeting.

GRUPPO SECONDARIA
Argomenti:
· Moda e cibo
· Etica e morale nell'adolescente
· Usi e costumi, tradizioni e feste
· Storia del Paese legata alla Comunità Europea e diversi atteggiamenti nei confronti dell'Euro
· Intossicanti: droga, alcool, fumo
· La vita in famiglia: le regole non scritte
· La musica nella propria lingua
· La propria città
Procedura:
Ogni scuola avrà 8 gruppi di 2/3 allievi Ogni gruppo si occuperà di un diverso argomento (vedi gli 8 scelti) e sarà in contatto costante con lo stesso gruppo delle altre due scuole. (Qui potrebbe intervenire la scuola italiana con il gruppo delle terze che potrà scegliere uno o più argomenti.)
Scansione temporale:
· presentazione dei gruppi
· indagine all'interno del proprio Paese
· scambio di informazioni tra Paesi
· prodotto finale da presentare al secondo meeting

PROSSIMO MEETING: Suzzara 2-5 novembre 2000
SECONDO MEETING: Assen (Olanda) seconda settimana di maggio 2001.

Coordinatrice Progetti Comenius
Graziella Seveso


Coordinating meeting in November in Suzzary, Italy. A meeting where we discussed current problems in the project with each other. We clarified expectations from each other and set specific deadlines in the project. Plans for the future of the project were also discussed.

Comenius - Suzzara 2/5 nov. 2000 - Report

Accordi generali
· Continueranno le presentazioni via e-mail, anche su base personale
· I pacchi saranno spediti dalle 5 scuole a tutti i partner
· Si utilizzeranno videoconferenza e chat
· Per il progetto si auspica un coinvolgimento delle scuole in quanto istituzioni - POF
· Richiesta d rinnovo da mandare all'agenzia nazionale entro 1 marzo
· Scambi tra scuole (culturali - sportivi - di insegnanti - di alunni) anche al di fuori del progetto
· Prossimo meeting Assen 10/13 maggio 2001
· Meeting dei presidi richiesto dalla scuola olandese per le stesse date
· La scuola portoghese prevede l'aggancio il prossimo anno scolastico con il progetto primarie
· Non è possibile l'estensione del progetto alla scuola elementare

Gruppo primarie
Primo progetto - Il Natale (fine 15 dic.)
· Ogni scuola si occuperà di più argomenti relativi al Natale. Non è necessario che siano gli stessi tra le tre scuole
· Le e-mail continuano aggiungendo dettagli su scuola, casa, paese
· Si tenterà sia la videoconferenza sia la chat con ICQ
· Il prodotto finale verrà scambiato tramite pacco e utilizzando il sito Comenius (materiale inviato in Italia per l'immissione in rete)

Secondo progetto - Storia locale e tradizioni (fine 30 apr.)
· Interviste ai nonni (oltre 50 anni) relative a:
· Lavoro
· Cibo
· Casa
· Numero di componenti la famiglia
· Scuola
· Tempo libero
· Prodotto finale in Internet

Nuovo progetto - Pupazzi (prossimo anno scolastico)
1. Entro il 15 sett. Gli insegnanti prepareranno il sito:
· Italia - Pinocchio
· Danimarca - Sirenetta
· Svezia - Pippi Calzelunghe
Ogni nazione preparerà le pagine relative al pupazzo, l'autore, i film/libri/cartoni animati ecc.
Il materiale sarà inviato a noi. Belletti preparerà il sito unendo i tre pupazzi su una unica homepage.
2. Seconda fase (fine 31 ott)
· Presentazione via e-mail del nuovo gruppo Comenius
· Zainetto con pupazzo ed altro materiale tipo giochi, libri ecc. che rappresentino il paese di provenienza più un diario che deve essere scritto dagli alunni delle scuole partner
· Lo zainetto sarà spedito:
· Pippi in Italia
· Pinocchio in Danimarca
· La Sirenetta in Svezia
3. Spedire lo zainetto all'altra scuola partner dopo le vacanze di Natale. Alla fine gli zainetti torneranno alla scuola che li ha inviati per prima.
Gli studenti dovranno portare a casa il pupazzo e lo zainetto e tenerlo per una notte. Il giorno seguente lo riporteranno a scuola e scriveranno una pagina di diario allegando foto, disegni di ciò che hanno fatto con il pupazzo.
Gli alunni non principianti in lingua inglese faranno anche l'esposizione orale dell'esperienza ai propri compagni di classe.
Il sito sarà aggiornato da Guido con il materiale inviato dalle scuole.

Gruppo secondarie
Considerate le difficoltà di inserimento del gruppo delle classi terze in un progetto già avviato si decide che:
· Le classi terze lavoreranno su due argomenti scelti tra quelli proposti
· Alcuni alunni scelti dalle tre classi formeranno il gruppo Comenius che si relazionerà con le scuole partner.
Argomenti scelti:
1. La vita in famiglia: le regole non scritte
- Come è formata la famiglia
- Le attività economiche
- L'abitazione e la privacy
- Le abitudini condivise
- Gli anziani e la memoria
2. Moda e cibo - (eventuale)

Fasi di lavoro:
· Discussione in classe dell'argomento
· Produzione di un questionario da sottoporre alle classi terze
· Confronto dei prodotti tra gli alunni del gruppo Comenius
· Il gruppo proporrà ai partner 4-5 domande concrete sui due argomenti per un confronto
· Realizzazione finale del prodotto - breve video

Proposta per il prossimo anno scolastico:
Se la nostra scuola farà parte del gruppo secondarie, una possibile semplificazione delle attività dei 4 gruppi potrebbe essere rappresentata da un lavoro a coppie.

Coordinatrice progetti Comenius
Graziella Seveso
Lorenza Rondini


Coordinating meeting in Assen, the Netherlands to be held in May 2001.
A meeting for the involved headmasters has been discussed. No concrete plans have been developed so far.
At the coordinating meeting in Suzzara in November a videoconference took place between Denmark and Italy. It was moderately successful. An introduction has been made between students in each level. The primary group has exchanged boxes of concrete material. The secondary group have made the initial work on their project.
The actual project is taking place in Jan-Feb. 2001. The secondary group has exchanged video films, traditional and digital photos. The final product is to be shared in April- May of 2001. E-mail is used as a means of communication both between students and teachers.

A coordinating meeting in November 2001, possibly in Lysekil, Sweden.
A coordinating meeting in May 2002, in Gaia, Portugal. Possibly a headmasters' meeting.
A number of activities similar to this year but set up in a slightly different ways. Italy wants to join in not only on a primary level but also on a secondary level. This year the project will be organized like this: Secondary: Holland - Denmark. Secondary: Italy - Portugal. Primary: Denmark - Sweden - Italy. Outside of this breaking into three groups we still exchange certain parts of the project between all five countries like we have done this year. Each country has received and sent boxes to represent their own country to each of the participating countries. Each in our own country we have had a number of meetings with teachers at our own school who have been involved in the project.

Comenius Study Meeting Assen 9-13 May 2001 - Report

Primary Group: Sweden, Denmark, Italy and Portugal.
Next school year Swedish students will be 10 and Danish students 12 year olds.
Portugal is supposed to enter the project.

September 2001: prepare a web page with: Picture of the puppet - Short description - Information about the author - Story summary (with links)

1st November:
1) - Students E-mail presentations: personal identification, family, friends, house, town, school.
2) - Send: Rucksack with: Puppet - Diary - Typical toys.
Every school gives the puppet to each student to take home. The students take it back to school and write a diary page describing what they did with the puppet, enclosing pictures.
The schools mail to Italy some pages and pictures to put on-line in the site.
The content of the rucksack will be brought to school by the students.
End January 2002 Puppet exchange
End April 2002 second Puppet exchange

Pinocchio to Denmark Sweden Italy
Pippi Long Stocking to Italy Denmark Sweden
Mermaid to Sweden Italy Denmark.

Secondary Group: Italy, Portugal, Denmark, Holland
Six topics:
· Music, same period
· Youth culture
· School, what's life like?
· Refugees and Immigrants
· Sport as a way of life
· Intoxicants: ethics and morals of adolescence.

End of October: video presentation of students within the Comenius Group. Find a spokeperson for each group with e-mail address.
Products may be videos, CD, web pages. First product: March 1st.
Deadline May 1st.
Next study meeting May 2002 Gaia. Headmasters meeting, same date.
Graziella Seveso - Belletti Guido

Anno scolastico 2001-02 - Progetto approvato 01-ITA01-S2C01-00202-2
Il progetto non è stato approvato dall'Agenzia Nazionale Svedese per la Stängenässkolan di Brastad.

Comenius Study Meeting Oporto 1-5 May 2002 - Report

Evaluation
Overall the impression was that the communication during this year's project for the secondary group has been poor due to many factors. The primary group has been a positive experience again. Holland points out that the building of web-sites has been a positive thing for the project. Portugal says that our visit during their annual exhibition is important to them, so our actual visit has been good for them. Coordinators in all the countries must be more accurate about communication.
At this year's meeting these were two students from Holland present. They represented Holland very well and they stated that their participation at the meeting in Portugal had a great impact on them. We all hope that their visit will be a motivating factor for next year's students.

Next year
Primary Project (It - Dk - Pt - Se?)

  1. E-mail activity
    October: send the names of the students to Denmark.
    Jane will match the students (Portugal - Italy) for e-mail presentations.
    Send pictures with "first" e-mail
    E-Mail will go on till the end of the project. Any problem has to be quickly communicated to the list (see table #2)
  2. Christmas Project
    Every country will present local Christmas traditions: drawings, recipes, decorations, songs, etc.
    Within the first week of December 2002 each country will mail a package to the others with the typical Christmas cake and all the stuff related to Christmas.
  3. Country Quiz
    Each country will prepare a web page: Italy will also prepare the page for Denmark and Paulo the page for Portugal.
    Starting January 6th, the students will write quizzes (five clues) about their country (Geography, history, art, music, etc.). The quizzes will be eight and at the end of each period the winner and the solution will be on-line.
    Answers should be sent via e-mail and contain:
    · Solution
    · Name of the student(s)
    · School
    · Class
    · Country.
    When ready, all web addresses of the Country Quiz will be e-mailed to the list (see table #2).
    There could be a common logo for all the countries, a suggestion can be a white dove (?).
    The Little Mermaid will be on the Danish web page.
    The schedule of the quiz:
Table #1 - Country Quiz
Quiz # From To
1 06 Jannuary 2003 26 Jannuary 2003
2 27 Jannuary 2003 09 February 2003
3 24 February 2003 09 March 2003 (holiday Dk + Pt)
4 10 March 2003 23 March 2003
5 24 March 2003 06 April 2003
6 07 April 2003 20 April 2003 (holiday Dk + Pt)
7 05 May 2003 18 May 2003
8 19 May 2003 31 May 2003

The teachers in the project

Table #2 - Hall of Fame
Country Teacher e-mail address
Denmark Jane Christensen michael-jane@sonofon.mail.dk
Italy Graziella Seveso graziella.s@tin.it
Italy Guido Belletti gbelletti@tin.it
Portugal Ana Paula lpazeredo@clix.pt
Portugal Paulo Costa oluap@clix.pt

Secondary project (Nl - Pt - Dk)
Six topics:
1 Music in a timeframe
2 Ethics and Morals (Intoxicants)
3 Customs and Traditions
4 My schoolweek
5 Refugees
6 The Supernatural

Deadlines:
ASAP or 14 September: Questionnaire to be received
1 November 2002: Introduction
1 November 2002: Photos of participating students and teachers to be exchanged together with a handwritten message.
1 December 2002: Questionnaire has to be filled out by students
1 March 2003: Product finished. Product is a website presentation with a conclusion
1 May 2003: Additional product made jointly by all three groups to be completed

Who does what?
Jaap makes a schedule for the school year.
Rui sends frame for students to fill in on status of the project
Questionnaire to be made by:
Jaap Music in a timeframe
Jaap Ethics and Morals (Intoxicants)
Lene Customs and Traditions
Rui My schoolweek ( spare time also)
Rui Refugees
Lene The Supernatural

The product will be a Word - file. It is a survey conducted by students in one country by asking students in the two other countries questions.
When the students send a mail they should also send one to the coordinator in their country in order for her/him to know what communication there actually is. Students keep a file with paper copies of the e-mails sent and received. This is their proof that they are communicating.

Headmasters' meeting:
Present were Flemming Starcke-Jensen, Denmark - at the meeting instead of Henrik Frand-Madsen
Klaas-Albert Blom, Holland - head of department
Jose, Portugal, headmaster
The headmasters discussed the differences in the educational systems in our countries.
There was an agreement that it is important to keep this international contact as long as possible.

Next meeting:
Coordinators will meet in Lysekil in November if Sweden is still part of the project.
The next coordinating meeting which will also be our last meeting while EU funded will be in Bindslev 7 - 11 May 2003.
Graziella Seveso - Guido Belletti

Settembre 2002 - progetto approvato per l'anno scolastico 2002-03 n. 01-ITA01-S2C01-00202-2.

Comenius Primary Level Report - Bindslev 7-11 May 2003

The meeting started with a deep analysis of the entire project.
School year 2000-01 (IT - DK - SE)

After a presentation of the students via e-mail, every school sent a package to the others (to PT and NL too). In the package: brochures, leaflets, maps and pictures about the Country and the geographical area in which the school is situated. Web pages about Christmas traditions, recipes, St. Lucia, the crib.
Exchange of videos about schools and participating students. PPT presentation "Old Times" (SE and IT) about local traditions. The presentations are on the web site http://utenti.lycos.it/traditions/.
This first year of the project highlighted the problems of computer in Danish and Swedish schools. A problem that is not solved yet and that caused several changes in the planning of the activities. This first year Denmark could not do the "Old Times" presentation nor could Sweden but Sweden sent hand written pages to Italy and Italian students prepared the web pages for them.

Second year of the project 2001-02 (IT-DK-SE even if Sweden was not authorised by its National Agency, they continued working with us).
Project "Playing with Puppets". Rucksack exchange: Italy sent Pinocchio, Denmark the Little Mermaid and Sweden Pippi Longstockings. Each school worked with all the puppets. Web pages about books and authors, pictures, letters and descriptions, diary written by students. E-mail activity.
The use of computers was limited, Sweden could make its own web pages while Italy prepared the pages for Denmark using texts prepared by Danish students.

Third year: 2002-03 (PT-DK-IT).
"Christmas package". Before Christmas each school sent a package to the others with Christmas object, cards and cakes.
Then the "Country Quiz" project started with the preparation of the web pages but it could not really begin as DK and PT had problems with computers.
DK and IT started an e-mail activity connecting the two Comenius groups.
School year 2003-04.
PT-DK and IT decided to go on working together with primary school students.
E-mails of presentation to be sent as soon as we have the Comenius groups of students.
Christmas boxes (deadline beginning of December) with drawings decorations, objects, cakes and anything related with Christmas.
Students should also write a text on how they spend Christmas time in their Country.

Graziella & Guido

Comenius Primary Level Report
Bindslev 7-11 May 2003


The meeting started with a deep analysis of the entire project.

School year 2000-01 (IT - DK - SE).
After a presentation of the students via e-mail, every school sent a package to the others (to PT and NL too). In the package: brochures, leaflets, maps and pictures about the Country and the geographical area in which the school is situated. Web pages about Christmas traditions, recipes, St. Lucia, the crib.
Exchange of videos about schools and participating students. PPT presentation "Old Times" (SE and IT) about local traditions. The presentations are on the web site http://utenti.lycos.it/traditions/.
This first year of the project highlighted the problems of computer in Danish and Swedish schools. A problem that is not solved yet and that caused several changes in the planning of the activities. This first year Denmark could not do the "Old Times" presentation nor could Sweden but Sweden sent hand written pages to Italy and Italian students prepared the web pages for them.
Second year of the project 2001-02 (IT-DK-SE even if Sweden was not authorised by its National Agency, they continued working with us).
Project "Playing with Puppets". Rucksack exchange: Italy sent Pinocchio, Denmark the Little Mermaid and Sweden Pippi Longstockings. Each school worked with all the puppets. Web pages about books and authors, pictures, letters and descriptions, diary written by students. E-mail activity.
The use of computers was limited, Sweden could make its own web pages while Italy prepared the pages for Denmark using texts prepared by Danish students.
Third year: 2002-03 (PT-DK-IT).
"Christmas package". Before Christmas each school sent a package to the others with Christmas object, cards and cakes.
Then the "Country Quiz" project started with the preparation of the web pages but it could not really begin as DK and PT had problems with computers.
DK and IT started an e-mail activity connecting the two Comenius groups.
School year 2003-04.
PT-DK and IT decided to go on working together with primary school students.
E-mails of presentation to be sent as soon as we have the Comenius groups of students.
Christmas boxes (deadline beginning of December) with drawings decorations, objects, cakes and anything related with Christmas.
Students should also write a text on how they spend Christmas time in their Country.

Graziella & Guido

 

 

To see the project go to the Comenius site
Coordinatrice progetti Comenius
Graziella Seveso