There are also two branch

schools in the village Kokra

(with only 6 students) and in

Jezersko (with 36 students).

Most of our students are

commuters. They come to

school by bus.

Dear friends, we are pleased

to be a part of this Comeni-

us project. We are aware we

can learn a lot from you and

we are happy to be your

hosts you next spring. Come

and meet us, our school, our

village and our country!

Slovenian Comenius Team

You are reading the second

issue of our newsletter. Stu-

dents and two teachers

from Matija Valjavec Prima-

ry School put quite some

effort in it in the last

months. We wrote the arti-

cles, gathered the articles

from other participants, put

in the photos and designed

the pages. And this is the

final version. We like it and

we hope you'll enjoy reading

it.

About our school

Our school is located at the

foothills of a great Slovenian

mountain Storžič that is

2132 m high. It was built in

1966 and completely reno-

vated in 2004. There are 340

students and 35 teachers at

school. Besides all the tech-

nical stuff we have a dentist,

who takes care of our stu-

dents’ dental health.

We are very proud of solar

cells which are spread all

over our roof and with them

we contribute to the produc-

tion of green energy. 65,000

kWh of electricity is pro-

duced in a year.

We are surrounded by beau-

tiful nature and our students

spend a lot of time outside

in the school yard, even

when it snows or rains. They

come before the lessons

start in the morning, during

the main break and after the

lessons finish. They play

football, basketball or just

walk around and sit on the

benches.

Next to the school there is a

newly built wooden energy-

efficient kindergarten with

140 children and 16 teach-

ers. We have two small kin-

dergartens in the nearby

villages in Bela and Jezersko.

Welcome to the second Comenius Newsletter!

Issue 2

Special points of

interest:

Welcome

Devil's forest

An interview

with Davo Karni-

čar

Holland

Luca's

reflections

My trip to

Almelo

Penicuik High

School

Dear friends

Hockey Match

Recycled sports

materials

Active breaks

Eco farm

May 2013 Comenius Newslatter

In Potoče near Predd-

vor there were living

two farmers. They

were arguaging all the

time, because of the

forest under the

mountain Zaplata.

Once, one of the far-

mers said: »If the

forest isn't mine, let

the devil take it! «

That night was a very

strong storm with lig-

htning and thunder.

In the storm the devil

came and took the

forest on his sholders.

He was running over

the mountain Zaplata.

Suddenly, the church

bell ranstarted to ring

early in the morning.

He was frightened, so

he dropped the forest

in the middle of the

mountain. This forest

is very special. Becau-

se of it, the mountain

got the name 'Zaplata',

which means a patch

and the forest is called

the Devil's forest.

Marija Okršlar, 7.a

tle, my parents taught

me to ski and later on I

learnt about mountain-

eering and alpine climb-

ing with the help of my

older brothers and sister.

So I started to set goals –

I knew I was good at ski-

ing and climbing, so I

combined the two sports.

And my goals became

higher and higher. That

is why I skied from the

highest mountains in

Slovenia, Europe and

1. What do mountains

mean to you?

I can't imagine my eve-

ryday life without moun-

tains. They are a great

opportunity for spending

our free time.

2. Why did you decide

to ski from the high-

est mountains of all

the continents?

I had a special luck be-

cause I didn't have to

think which sport to

choose. When I was lit-

last, the highest moun-

tains in the world.

3. How did you feel

when you were skiing

form the highest

mountain in the world

– Mount Everest?

Every time I ski from a

high mountain, it is dif-

ferent than other sports,

where we are relatively

safe. In football, for ex-

ample, we score a goal

and we have time to be

happy. But when skiing

Devil's forest

An interview with Davo Karničar, a world-class extreme skier

Page 2 Issue 2

Students returning from a field trip to Zaplata and the Devil's forest

A view to our village and

our school from Zaplata

Zaplata

Davo Karničar

we must be focused all

the time and we mustn’t

do a wrong move. Only

one mistake can be fatal!

The sense of concentra-

tion is the only sense we

feel while skiing of a

mountain. We can jump,

be happy, clap our hands

and relax only after we

end that journey.

4. Did anybody inspire

you for extreme ski-

ing?

I got a lot of inspiration

from your previous head

teacher, my older broth-

er Luka, who had done it

before and he taught me

a lot. And when I was

your age or a bit older I

was reading books about

people who did that

sport in France. The

combination of skiing

and alpine climbing be-

gan to develop early in

the parts near Mont

Blanc. So while I was

reading these books, I

started to dream that

one day I would do the

same. But the basic mo-

tivation came from my

home and my older

brother.

5. Have you ever

thought about giving

up, have you ever felt

homesick?

That is something that’s

always present. When

we are safe at home,

when the mountains pre-

sent themselves in the

best light, we are brave

then and we set new

goals. We want to go to

the mountains. But

when we go, fears ap-

pear. When we realise

we’ll have to put a lot of

effort in it and for a long

time, there are some con-

cerns. Have we decided

for the right thing or

not? But if we have set

the right goal, then the

ending is a happy one. It

is the same for all the

things in life. The more

we try and the harder a

way seems to be, the

happier we are in the

end.

6. Which achieve-

ments are you most

proud of?

That we are here togeth-

er now and we can talk.

Extreme skiing is con-

nected to great dangers

which we can’t have an

impact on. I’m very

proud that nature gives

me a good luck and that

I deserve it. We have to

give all our efforts, have

the proper equipment, a

fit body and the right

timing for making deci-

sions. But when moun-

tains are concerned, we

have to have good luck,

too. Good luck that some-

thing doesn’t move on

the mountain or that we

are in the right place at

the right time. In other

sports we talk about

sports luck, but in this

sport we talk about the

luck of staying alive.

7. Have you had any

injuries?

Yes, several of them, but

not in this sport. Except,

I’m missing two of my

fingers on my left hand. I

was told this was not an

injury because it was a

process. In my first try to

ski from Mt Everest it

was too cold, I didn’t

manage to ski and two of

my fingers froze.

8. What qualities are

necessary for a top

sportsman?

A top sportsman must be

a complex personality.

He or she takes care of

both, the knowledge in

the mind and the

trained, fit body. Both

must be balanced. All

sportsmen learn tech-

nique well, they practise

every day, but still, only

Comenius Newslatter

Davo Karničar

Stran 3

Lea, Maruša, Nejc and Kristjan with Davo Karničar

The more we

try and the

harder a way

seems to be,

the happier

we are in the

end.

one wins a competition.

And mostly, the winner

is the one who succeeded

to show all his

knowledge with his met-

al power. A top sports-

man must be a healthy

person, mentally and

physically. Sportspeople

who often win are emo-

tionally and spiritually

balanced people and they

have trained their bodies

to perfection.

9. How much time do

you have between the

hikes and expedi-

tions?

I have a lot of time, be-

cause each expedition is

costs a lot of money. In

this sport, one part is

adventure, exploration

and the other one is

sport. There are numer-

ous things we can’t de-

termine in advance. In

athletics, for example,

the conditions never

change, but in extreme

skiing there are plenty of

variables which can’t be

determined precisely.

10. Has your family

ever tried to stop you

or have they encour-

aged you?

I was extremely lucky

that my parents never

opposed. They always

gave me some advice.

Now that I’m a parent I

see how hard this is. My

parents loved me and

worried about me, but

they never prohibited

anything. That was a

special luck for me.

11. What are you do-

ing at present?

I’d like to pass on thirty

years of experience to

other people. To people

who want to learn more

about what the nature

can offer and what to do

in the woods on snow.

That is my priority, but I

also want to visit new

mountains. There are no

limits in my sport, only

numerous mountains all

over the world.

12. You are one of a

few Slovenians whose

name appears in the

Guiness Record Book.

What does it mean to

you?

My goal was never to be

in that book. That is a

sort of confirmation for

my work.

Thank you very much

for your answers.

Holland

a train to Almelo.

When we came there,

our families were

waiting for us. Stu-

dents stayed with

their host families and

teachers stayed in a

hotel.

I spent a week with

the Post’s family.

Their house was very

nice. My host was Iris

Post. She is as old as

me and she has a

younger brother Jul-

ian. Her mother Astrid

was very friendly with

me and she talks ex-

cellent English. They

have a dog called Lu-

na.

Page 4 Issue 2

Mrs Mateja Sajovec,

Mrs Petra Lesjak, Vita

Knavs, Vid Tavželj,

Ana Ogris and Meta

Mekuč went to Hol-

land to attend a meet-

ing for Comenius pro-

ject.

We stayed there from

5th to 9th March.

On Tuesday at 7.30 we

met in front of our

school. Then we went

to Marco Polo airport

in Venice by van. We

had to use the airport

in Italy, because the

tickets are much

cheaper there than

tickets from the Slove-

nian airport.

When we came to

the airport, we wait-

ed for the plane.

Then we flew from

Venice to Schiphol

airport in Amster-

dam.

The view from the

plane was beautiful

– at first we could

see mountains, but

then they disap-

peared, because in

Holland there aren’t

any mountains or

hills. We saw a lot of

windmills – they are

typical of Holland.

After we landed we

went to the train

station and we took

We saw a lot

of windmills

– they are

typical of

Holland.

In Holland we woke up

at half past six. We ate

breakfast. Then we

prepared lunch – we

ate it at school. Usual-

ly we had a sandwich

and a little chocolate.

Then we went to

school by bike. Almost

every student in Hol-

land goes to school by

bike. They are very

popular there. The

first and the last day

we attended some les-

sons at school. After

school we did some

other activities. In

Holland people go to

bed quite early.

First day at school we

had presentations

about the lifestyle in

our country. We talked

about our nutrition,

free time … It was in-

teresting to hear how

people in other coun-

tries live.

After school we went

to Almelo and did

some shopping there.

Then we ate dinner in

a restaurant called

Zenderen.

On Thursday we visit-

ed the city of Amster-

dam. We drove there

for two hours by bus.

We went to Nemo sci-

ence centre, on a boat

trip, shopping ... We

ate potato chips. Then

we walked through the

city and we saw some

interesting old houses

and boat houses - this

means that people ac-

tually live in a boat.

When we came home

we went to sleep be-

cause we were ex-

hausted.

On Friday we went to

school and did a group

project about habits of

our parents and

grandparents – we

compared the results

from different coun-

tries. Then we cycled

to Tubbergen. We

were in fitness, played

a game in a gym and

baked our own pan-

cakes. For dinner we

ate a typical Dutch

meal. After dinner we

showed our presenta-

tions to the parents

who came there to see

us, the students and

teachers from the Co-

menius project.

On Saturday we could

sleep long, because we

didn’t have to go to

school. Iris’s mother

Astrid showed me

their village. We saw

the church, the shrine,

the ice rink ...

We went to the train

station in Almelo. We

said goodbye and we

were sad, because we

will probably never see

each other again.

Then we went to Am-

sterdam airport by

train. We waited for

the plane for five

hours, because we

came there very early.

At 8.36 we had the

flight. We travelled

from Venice to

Preddvor by van and

we came home 1.10 at

night.

It was a beautiful trip,

because we saw a lot

of interesting things,

met new friends, had

fun ... And I think our

English has improved,

because we had to

speak English all the

time there.

Meta Mekuč, 8. a

Comenius Newslatter

It was a

beautiful trip,

because we

saw a lot of

interesting

things, met

new friends,

had fun ...

Page 5

Slovenian team in Almelo

My trip to Almelo

parking for 1200 bikes, I

had never seen so many

bikes all together, Dutch

students don't go to

school by car but they

use their bikes and natu-

rally I did too.

At school we took part in

an assembly and the

presentations done by

each Comenius partner

school were projected

and commented. Later in

the day we went to clas-

ses and worked together

with our foreign class-

mates, it was quite hard

and embarassing at first

we hardly talked with

each other we were quite

uncoordinated but then

as the hours passed it

became easier to talk

with everyone. I finally

realised that without a

good knowledge of Eng-

lish it is impossible to go

anywhere. I liked the

quiet and relaxed atmos-

phere of the school and

the bright colors all

around.

On Thursday we went to

Amsterdam, time just

passed too quickly there

as we visited the Nemo

Science Center, it

looked like a large ship

anchored on the pier

and the fact that it had

been designed by the

Italian Architect Renzo

Piano, made me feel

good. The boat ride in

the canals around the

city was great and shop-

ping in the centre of

Amsterdam was great

fun. Friday was the day

dedicated to sport and

off we went to Tubber-

gen where we worked

out for hours in a large

sports gym for the en-

tire morning and later

visited the other St

Canisius School where I

made some pancakes

which were not bad at

all for a bigginner. In

the evening we had the

final presentations with

all host families and the

final farewell party. In

the evening I prepared

my little blue trolley

and Saturday after vis-

iting Amsterdam again

we were off for Italy. I

was a bit sad to leave

Almelo and my new

friends but happy to go

home, as for my little

trolley unfortunately it

repoted bad injuries on

the flight home and

won’t be used again.

Tata Davide

Class I A

Alvito

It was 7:30 am of the 4th

of March the day before

our departure for Almelo

and I had just closed the

last zipper,of my little

blue trolley it was ready

and I was ready too ....

but we left ten hours lat-

er.

It was my first time on

an airplain and I must

say I was quite excited

and a bit uneasy.

My friends my teachers

and I met in front of our

school in Alvito ready to

leave for Fiumicino air-

port and of course I had

my little blue trolley.

We arrived as scheduled

to Amsterdam airport

my blue trolly had its

first accident, nothing

serious and we took a

train to Almelo, I was a

bit homesick but when

we arrived at the train

station our homestay

families were waiting for

us and I finally met the

family assigned to me

and my schoolmate Stef

Paus. The next morning

we went to school and to

my surprise in the

schoolyard there was a

Page 6 Issue 2

I had never

seen so

many bikes

all together.

I had never travelled

alone to a foreign coun-

try and the trip to Hol-

land was an unforgetta-

ble experience for me. I

liked everything about it

apart from the Dutch

food …. and some as-

pects on their daily hab-

its that seemed odd to

me. I was impressed by

the fact that the Dutch

students (my peers) are

definitely more inde-

pendent than we are and

that the Dutch schools

are way ahead of us for

certain things: in the

school in Almelo apart

from books all students

used computers in class

and for all their school

work. Dutch students

change classes at regular

intervals and go from

one classroom to another

to follow lessons for dif-

ferent subjects while in

Italian schools our teach-

ers will go from one

classroom to another and

students are in their

home room for the whole

school day. I was also

very much impressed by

the general relaxed atti-

tude of the Dutch par-

ents in their daily rela-

tion with their children,

in our families we are

treated differently, our

parents are overly pro-

tective and they general-

ly have almost complete

control on what we do,

where we go, with whom

etc… my Dutch friends

are more independent

and they rely less on

their parents for practi-

cal things. In my opinion

we should have these

exchanges every year in

order to enable us to

have more contacts with

other students and also

to learn about other

teaching methods. It is

definitely an experience

that I would repeat.

Luca Martini

Classe I B , Alvito

on about our different

trips and activiti-

es. Texts, photos and

short movies will be

shown and discussed.

Students from the 8th

and 9th grades are

working on different

activities. Art and sci-

ences teachers are lea-

ding our recycled

material project, some

wonderful ideas have

already occurred. P.E

teachers as well as

senior students are

organising games and

physical activities,

youngsters at school

seem to appreciate the

whole thing very much

and are very active

Stóru-Vogaskóli has a

very busy and enterta-

ining time. We are

preparing our annual

festival. Our 200 stu-

dents are working

hard preparing movi-

e s , p l a y s a n d

exhibitions. Parents,

relatives and indeed

the whole community

will be invited at

school on 21st

March. Most of them

will bake pancakes,

muffins or bring some

pastries.

Our Comenius corner

will have a good place

among exhibitions and

everybody will be able

to get some informati-

during breaks. Our

fridge project has the

support of the home

economics teacher as

well as the majority of

the staff at school…we

can also expect a very

long line in front of the

school nurse door

while size, weight and

B M I w i l l b e

taken. Some of us

had the idea to weight

the teachers but the

results could be catas-

trophic and the propo-

sition didn’t get much

support J.

Best regards

Marc

Luca’s reflections

Dear friends

Comenius Newslatter Page 7

Our parents

are overly

protective and

they generally

have almost

complete

control on

what we do,

where we go,

with whom

etc… my

Dutch friends

are more

independent

and they rely

less on their

parents for

practical

things.

In Penicuik High

School, over the recent

months, we have been

very busy. Our school

recently celebrated its

75th anniversary and

opened its doors to the

general public. Former

pupils, from near and

far, were welcome to

tour the school and

observe our lessons in

action. We set up old

style playground

games in the PE hall,

such as hop-scotch,

skipping and elastics.

Modern day games

were also practiced,

and our guests enjoyed

spectating the compe-

titive and lively games

of volleyball and bad-

minton. Everyone

involved in the Come-

nius project took part

in demonstrating the

games and the event

was a great success.

The group of pupils

who will take part in

the Czech Republic

mobility are currently

creating a game of ten

pin bowling with

recycled materials.

They are collecting ten

two litre bottles, which

will be filled with

water and used as

pins and many plastic

bags and elastic

bands, that will be

bound together to

make the ball.

As ‘a healthy mind, a

healthy body’ is the

main theme of this

Comenius project, we

are also looking at

what the ‘ideal fridge’

would contain. Each

pupil in the trip has

taken a photo of their

fridges on an average

day, and these photos

will be compared with

the ideal fridge so we

can determine roughly

how healthy our diets

are.

Possibly the biggest

project was taking

every pupil in 3rd year

and getting their mass

in kilograms and their

height in centimetres,

pulling the informati-

on together and crea-

ting charts to present

the information.

Thinking about a

‘healthy mind, a

healthy body’ has been

interesting and very

exciting. Every pupil

involved had a lot of

fun and we cannot

wait to present our

findings to the Czech

Republic mobility gro-

up at the end of May.

Penicuik High Scholl

Page 8 Issue 2

We set up old

style

playground

games in the

PE hall, such

as hop-

scotch,

skipping and

elastics.

On 2nd March, some

2nd year E.S.O stu-

dents from San Ignaci-

o school, went to watch

a hockey match at the

Palacio de los Depor-

tes sports centre in

Oviedo as part of the

Comenius Project acti-

vities. We went to

watch two ¼ finals

matches: Vilanova vs

Vendrell, and Igualada

vs. F.C. Barcelona.

First, all the group

met at Campoamor

theatre. Then, after all

the children arrived,

we went to the sports

centre. It took us abo-

ut seventeen minutes

to get there. We went

with the two P.E teac-

hers, F. Pañeda and F.

Carro. We all took

some food to eat at the

match: pastries, crisps

and we drank soft

drinks, like Coca-Cola

or Fanta. We loved it!

When we arrived, we

went to our seats, and

a few minutes later,

the first match star-

ted. The first ¼ final

match was Vilanova

vs. Vendrell. Vendrell

won the match 3-2.

Then the second

match was Igualada

vs. F.C. Barcelona.

Barcelona won the

match 1-7. We only

saw the first half,

because it was late.

When we were leaving

the sports centre, Bar-

celona was winning

0-3.

After the first half

finished, we went out

of the sports centre

and our teacher, F.

Pañeda, went with the

children to America

square, because the

children’s parents

were going to pick

them up there. But I

did not go with the

group, I waited with F.

Carro, the other teac-

her, at the entrance of

the sports centre until

my dad arrived.

We had a great time! I

loved going on this

Comenius school trip

because I spent time

with my friends and

my teachers outside

school. Besides, I love

all types of sports

events, like football

matches, or basketball

matches. I go to bas-

ketball matches with

my dad on Saturdays!

It was a good idea too,

because when children

see sports matches

they want to do sport!!

Please, teachers, can

you plan more activiti-

es like this?

Santiago Fernandez

Lacasa

Comenius school trip to hockey match

Comenius Newslatter Page 9

More than 50 kids

from the age of 10 to

14 are working on the

recycled sports materi-

als. Boys of the 8th

class are creating a

billiards table from old

paper. This paper tab-

le has got the same

size as a normal billi-

ards table. We are

wondering how the

boys are going to cope

with billiard cues and

balls and we are loo-

king forward to the

first billiards competi-

tion organised by

them.

Other pupils are

working on table ten-

nis bats made of old

paper and also on ten-

nis racquest made of

paper and wire. Some

children are also

working with plastic

bottles and they are

preparing bowling

clubs. The bowling

competiton will follow,

of course.

Boys are creating foot-

ball and floorball balls

made of paper and sel-

Recycled sports materials

Page 10 Issue 2

lotape. There are inter-

national friendly mat-

ches planned for the

project meeting in our

country in May.

Students from Czech

Boys of the

8th class are

creating a

billiards

table from

old paper.

We have organised

many activities in the

framework of active

breaks. Pupils of the

9th classes were cros-

sing the Pálava moun-

tains, the protected

area with unique

nature. Our school

also organised Healthy

Woods action. Pupils

were cleaning the

woods around the

school area, they were

learning about the

plants and animals

that lived there. They

had discussion about

environmental issues

of their region and

they tasted healthy

food based on natural

products from the

woods. With snow

covering our country

another activities rela-

ted to winter sports

were organised. Pupils

of the secondary school

could try cross-country

skiing on the scho-

ol yard during the

lunch breaks. Children

of the primary school

had a special downhill

skiing course in the

afternoons. To take a

rest from snow, our

pupils took part in the

swimming lessons in

the indoor pool in the

afternoons. Older chil-

dren could spend their

breaks playing chess,

which ended up with

the whole-school tour-

nament. We shouldn’t

forget to mention also

school floorball tourna-

ment named MODY

2012 and sports days

for children from lower

classes.

Students from Czech

Active breaks

Comenius Newslatter Page 11

Pupils of the

9th classes

were crossing

the Pálava

mountains,

the protected

area with

unique

nature..

The class 6a made a very

interesting trip in the au-

tumn. We visited the eco-

farm »Pri Šuštarju« in the

village Hotemaže. The

farmer Primož Krišelj told us

everything about eco-

farming and pointed out its

advantages. He also showed

us the farm where he grows

vegetables (pepper, salad,

beans, carrots, water mel-

ons etc.) and a few animals

(ducks, chicken, pigs). The

dietary expert Martina Mel-

jak helped us to prepare

some dishes from the ingre-

dients they got at the farm.

We prepared a stew, honey

apples with walnuts and

raisins, canapés with cheese

and autumn salad. Every-

body enjoyed the food, es-

pecially the canapés.

We found out eco-farming is

environmentally friendly

and the food is much tastier

and more nourishing.

Students and Maja Šenk

Zidar

Eco farm

Page 12 Issue 2

We found out

eco-farming

is environ-

mentally

friendly and

the food is

much tastier

and more

nourishing.