Summary of the article announced in  the newspaper  of Kretinga District,
                                             „Svyturys“  ( Engl. „Lighthouse“) ,  Lithuania

 

History Lessons in Greece

 

Kulupenai M. Valancius Basic School has completed the third part of the Erasmus+ Project
„Learning about our countries – we are united in Europe“ – „Our History“.
 In October, the students, Vilius  Dirzininkas, Tomas Viskontas, Vykinte Kelpsaite, and Valdas Jasinskas, participated at the international teachers-students‘ meeting  organised by the 7th Gymnasium of Rhodes, Greece.  The students were accompanied by the headmaster of the school, Vidas Kelpsa,   scholl accountant Andzela Juciene, and English teacher, the Project coordinator, Nijole Montrimaite. During the meeting in Rhodes, the activities performed by the students earlier were discussed and the planned tasks were performed. The Project intellectual output, CD „Talking Monuments“, was presented by the Greek team.

On the first day, in 7th Gymnasium of Rhodes.

 

The history that unites us  (Kas mus vienija istorijoje)

The Project participants collected the materials about the history of their countries and uploaded them on etwinning, TwinSpace. The students  revised history facts and learned new things. The Greek students presented the facts about the Olympics in Greece, the Alexander the Great, and the Colossus

of Rhodes. The Turkish team  added interesting facts about the Ottoman Empire, and the Polish students found the facts common in Lithuanian and Polish history. All the teams presented their most interesting and famous  historic monuments. The students of Kulupenai introduced their partners to Vilnius Cathedrale, Trakai Castle, and Kernave Mounds. Analysing the history of our partner countries, we could understand how similar was  their way to democracy and freedom in our countries. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The participants of the meeting in an ancient stadium of Rhodes.

 

„Treasure Hunt“ in Old Town of Rhodes
( Istorinių „lobių medžioklė“ Rodo senamiestyje)

The Greek teachers organised the day of unconventional history learning in the streets of the Old Town of Rhodes. Five international teams of students and teachers had to perform the tasks  while taking different routes in the town. The students had to find the signs of history in the buildings and streets, and to give comments to their peers. For each task performed, they were given a part of a puzzle that was the picture of „the treasure“. In the end, the students had to recognised „the treasure“ and find it at the Archeological  museum of Rhodes, or the  Grand Master‘s Palace museum.   All „the treasures“ were found: coat of arms of a Greek burgher, Laocon and his sons, Rhodian two-drachmas coin, Helios head sculpture, Aphrodite/Venus „bathing“ sculpture.
The lessons under the skies of Greece were continued in the city of Lindos where Acropolis was visited. The Greek students introduced the participants to the history of this ancient city and the island  of Symi.

Lithuanian students in the city of Lindos.

 

History facts and legends on stage  (Scenoje istorijos faktai ir legendos)

According to the meeting programme, each country team had to present a programme based on their history facts  or a historic legend. The Turkish team performed   the part of their history – „Çanakkale Battle-1915“.  It was  a tragic  story about a young soldier who went to war. The Polish puppet show described the begining of the Polish history – the historic legend  „Lech, Chech and Rus“, where the three brothers went to look for the land to have their country. An impressive performance of the Greek students "Τhen me-now him" reminded nowaday   problems of  reffugees.  Kulupenai school students performed the „Legend about Gediminas Castle“.  The partners were introduced to the history of the beginning of the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius.  The Bulgarian  school  gave a presentation about the main facts of Bulgarian history. All the schools issued the leaflets  with the content of their programmes for  all participants to have.
 All the five schools were given a  CD with all  the programmes performed .

Lithuanian students playing the „Legend about Gediminas Castle“.

 

Thank you ... and what‘s in the heart ( Ačiū...ir kas lieka širdyje)

During the third students – teachers‘ meeting  in Rhodes, we learned more of  the history of the Project countries. We understood the history is more than  articles or pictures in our history books. The greatest ‚thank you‘ goes to the Greek teachers and students for their enormous contribution to the Project part „Our History“  implementation. We are grateful for the hospitality of the Greek host families, teachers and  students. The  Greek music and a famous syrtaki dance  gave us bright moments of friendship and communication. Besides the activities completed and the history lessons under the skies of Greece, we were awarded with warm relationship  that  did not end  after the meeting.

 Nijole Montrimaite
Project Coordinator
Lithuania