Comenius Project“Tea Garden”

Objectives:Promoting foreign languages learning;Increasing intercultural awareness;

Evoking citizenship feeling as well as the sense of national identity in the United Europe - strengthening of the contribution of education throughout one’s life in social integrity, active citizenship, dialogue;Strengthening of the role of education throughout one’s life in creating European citizenship spirit that is based on understanding and respecting human rights as well as democratic principles;Shaping the attitudes of tolerance - encouraging respect towards other nations;

Stimulating learning through cooperation;

Effective use of communication and computer technology;

Contribution to a wider participation of people at different age in the process of learning by involving parents and institutions supporting the school development in the cooperation;Incorporating parents and units supporting school development in the project;

Increasing the level of education;

Encouraging students’ and teachers’ creativity;

Incorporating the project in the pedagogical school programme.

Impact

Develop environmental awareness and sustainability by active involvement, by investigation, observation and recording all the processes;Develop the students' sense of personal responsibility towards their own environment so that when they become adults they will take part as active citizens in the resolution of global issues;Enable the students to realize that there are many different countries in Europe, each with their own culture, traditions, and attributes, but with a common interest: protect our planet;To encourage the learning and development of modern foreign languages by both students and staff through creating plenty of opportunities in which they can use their linguistic abilities in meaningful context.

Subjects and approachPlanning and planting a Tea Garden with two common Tea specimens in each country. ( to investigate growing conditions and harvest. To exchange the results and do some graphics where every partner understand how it´s going on.Research for recipes of cookies usually eaten at tea time.

Compare climate and environment as far as the growth of plants is concerned.

Get to know flora from different countries.

To supply a cooperation among the students from each part of EuropeTo give the practical knowledge as well as theoretical knowledge.

Although the shared language will be English, the project will include the learning of simple phrases in each partner language and much of the work produced will reflect this. The project will celebrate the diversity of the partners and their languages. A joint dictionary using all partner languages will be produced using a variety of topics

The main curriculum areas to be covered will be: English, Arts, ICT, Sciences, Maths, Geography, History, etc. Schools will then correspond by letter, email, video conferencing and produce DVDs and books for exchange. Much use will be made of the partner languages and European dictionaries will be produced to include the weather, trees, fruits, etc. Scientific and mathematic work will play an important role in this project as pupils will be able to plot, collect and analyze data of how different plants, trees, fruits etc grow in different climates of the partner countries. A joint recipe book will be produced for exchange

The final products will be recipe book and dictionary.

No

Approx. date

Description

1 Sep-Dec 2011

European day of Languages -celebration Tea garden Dictionary in the mother languages of the partners and EnglishComenius link in the schools websitesComenius Corner in every schoolsWeb Site / Web BlogExchange Christmas cards

2 Jan-Mar 2012

Dictionary of things related to the tea in each countryDesigned project logoInternational days of Forest, Water and Meteorology -materialsVideo conference

3 Apr-Jul 2012 Plant the 6 Tea GardensOpening ceremony of the Tea Garden-documentationDVD with the report of the first year international meetingsCookie recipes from each country

No

Approx. date Description

4 Sep-Dec 2012 Register and exchanged information about the growth of the gardens.Exchanged data about traditional and typical trees of each region of each countryEuropean day of Languages -celebration documentation

5 Jan-Mar 2013 Measure & data collection - present results in the WebsiteVideo conferenceWorld days of Forest, Water and Meteorology -celebration materialsCD with all the scientific work

6 Apr-Jul 2013 Recipe book which includes information about teaObserve, compare & investigate best conditions for plants growth (sciences focus)Harvest some tea plants.Exchanged tea plants which were harvest.

7 Apr-Jul 2013 DVD with the report of the 2nd year of international meetingsSome teas and cookies making from the recipe bookTea garden Celebration

Effective cooperation will be ensured by staff from all participating schools attending the transnational meetings. When the students and the staff return to their home countries they will disseminate results, experiences and projected outcomes of the project.

All partners will have common tasks and in additional each school will have individual roles and tasks which will include: exchange postal cards, blog and web information, video conference between each partner school.Everything produced will be recorded/copied and sent to each partner school, and it must be kept as evidence of each school.

Through cooperation and teamwork, all schools in the project shall ensure that the deadlines of tasks will be respected, not to undermine the progress of the project. This progress will be monitored by the head teacher of each school.

All the schools involved in the project organize a programme for the transnational meeting during the project. All partners will be responsible also for at least one specific task set during the two years:

The coordinating school (Portugal) will be responsible for:

• All actions prior to the project and plan its two years;

• Lead international meetings, provide agendas and control the time of intervention of each partner;

• The administration of relevant forms, for their own agency and partners;

• Producing the questionnaires at beginning and end of the project.

Germany will be responsible for:

• Analysis of Scientific results about the growth of the six Tea Gardens.

• Collecting pictures and record the DVD of the international meetings for the first and second years of the project.

Italy (Istituto Comprensivo di Dinami) will be responsible for:

• Collecting the recipes and types of tea to build the recipe book.

• Coordinating shared resources for European Day of Languages each year.

Turkey will be responsible for:

• Collecting the terms for the dictionary.

• Coordinating shared resources for Forest, Water and Meteorology World Days each year.

Poland will be responsible for:

• Creating the web Blog.

• Controlling the evaluation of each transnational meeting.

Italy (Istituto di Istruzione Superiore “P.Sella”) will be responsible for:

• Managing the video conferences.

• Creating and managing the webpage.

Latvia will be responsible for:* Controlling and deciding the issue

of the project logo.* Controlling the evaluation of each

transnational meeting.

No Description of mobilities and other activities

Destination

start date

1 All activities prior to the beginning of the project (planning).

August 2011

all

2 Diagnosis questionnaires. Celebration of the European day of languages.

September 2011

all

3 First project meeting, ice breaking activities for students and teachers, detailed planning of project activities and concrete tasks for every partner

PT – PORTUGAL

23/24/25 November

October 2011

all + local partners

No Description of mobilities and other activities

Destination

start date

4 Creating a dictionary with tea garden terms.Establishing the Comenius link in all web school pages.Creating a project corner in each school with topical and renewable information during whole project.Creating the web blog.

November 2011

all

5 Creating the Web site.Exchange Christmas cards.

December 2011

all

6 Readjust of some details. Discussion of rules for the creation of the project logo.

January 2012

all

No Description of mobilities and other activities

Destination

start date

7 Video conference about the logo of the project.Choose of the project's logo.Enlargement of the dictionary including terms connected to the subject.

February 2012

all

8 Second transnational meeting. Evaluation of the project. Readjust of some details. Preparing the celebration of Forest, Water and Meteorology international days.

DE – GERMANY

13 /14 March

March 2012

all + local partners

9 Celebration of Forest, Water and Meteorology international days.

March 2012

all

10 Plant the 6 Tea Gardens.Opening ceremony of the Tea Gardens.

April 2012 all

No Description of mobilities and other activities

Destination

start date

11 Third international meeting. Evaluation of the project. Readjust of some details. First year evaluation. Discussion about students certification.

PL – POLAND

9/10/11May

May 2012 all + local partners

12 Exchange cookies recipes.Make a DVD with the report of the 1st year international meetings.

June 2012 all

13 Celebration of European day of languages.

September 2012

all

14 Fourth international meeting. Discussion of formal details about the recipe book and the dictionary. Evaluation of the project.

IT – ITALY (North)

October 2012

all + local partners

No Description of mobilities and other activities

Destination

start date

15 Exchange data about typical and traditional trees of each country

November 2012

all

16 Make Christmas gifts to offer to partners schools.

December 2012

all

17 Fifth project meeting. Planning of the scientific work in order to analyze the conditions of growth of tea plants. Evaluation of the project. Exchange Christmas gifts.

TR - TURKEY

March 2013

all + local partners

18 Make a CD with the scientific work. Measuring data - presentation in the web site. Video conference about scientific work. Make the dictionary.

February 2013

all

No Description of mobilities and other activities

Destination

start date

19 Celebration of Forest, Water and Meteorology international days. Make the recipe book.

March 2013

all

20 Harvest some tea plants.Observe, compare & investigate the best conditions for plants growth.

April 2013 all

21 Last international meeting. Exchange some tea plants which was harvested.Make some teas and cookies from the recipe book and Tea party. Evaluation of the project.

Italy (South)

May 2013 all + local partners

22 Make a DVD with the report of the 2nd year international meetings. Tea Garden celebration.

June 2013 all

No Description of mobilities and other activities

Destination

start date

23 Evaluation of all project.Reports to the National agencies

July 2013 all

24 Publications in local newspapers (after the project meetings)

Sep 2011-Jul 2013

all

Evaluation Surveys at the end of each activity and of the whole project.

Results (of the worked issues) will be summarized by the participating teachers and students in each partner school.

Each new experience will be discussed at teaching staff meeting, to promote the idea of participation in projects like this one; in English lessons to show students advantages of taking part in this project. The project teams of every partner school, administration, students and their parents as well other local partners will be involved into evaluation activities during whole the project.

It is foreseen to use the following form of evaluation: album with photos and description of each stage of the project, report, students’ essays about the project.

In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the project the following actions take place in each partner schools:

September 1st year - students questionnaires to ascertain the levels of knowledge of the partner countries and the different themes to be explored;

June 2nd year - students and staff questionnaires to ascertain changes of European and each one culture and improvements of the six Tea Gardens;

During the international meetings staff will be able to evaluate and analyses strengths and weaknesses in order to make appropriates adjustments to reach the project objectives.

At the final international meeting, we will evaluate the success of the project, by discussing if the objectives have been met, including Eco-schools accreditation.

A final report will be written and shared.

DISSEMINATION AND THE USE OF RESULTS

The dissemination and exploitation of the results is intended to be carried out using the following forms:

-in the participating organizations: Comenius Corner.Link with the course of the project in the schools web pages.Schools newspapers.

-in the local communities:A common internet site will be created to allow local communities to access to the project evolution.All partners, at the inauguration of the garden and the tea party, can invite the whole school as well as other local community partners.Each school should try to publicize the project in the local or national media, if it's possible.

-in the wider lifelong learning community:

The final products recipe book and dictionary, will be edited as massively as possible in order to be distributed to all partners, associated partners, municipalities, educational authorities and organizations in charge of training and documentation.

The materials will be available for the students and teachers from partner countries.

Dissemination of Project results during the two years of the project and afterwards.

Agrupamento de Escolas de Arraiolos Escola EB 2,3/ES Cunha Rivara