Základná škola Ožďany

2007/2008

Comenius - 3nd year

In the school year 2007/2008 we continue working on the "Customs, traditions and culture of our region" project. All of the partner schools succeded in applying for the renewal of the project for this year and so we can continue working all together.

We have started the third - the last year of our project that has become part of our everyday school activities and a natural part of school work. At the beginning of the school year we had to raise to the occasion of a hard, but nice task. It was our turn to organize a project meeting for our partner schools. From the first days of the school year everybody lived with this task - the management, teachers and other employees but first of all our pupils, as the responsibility to welcome children from partner schools was theirs.

The time of the meeting 15th – 19th October was comming so the school was doing its best. Everyone was given a task- to decorate the school, prepare the program of the Accademy, to prepare invitations, refreshment, to guide the foreign delegation, organizing sport activities... Parents of our pupils helped a lot - in particular the 27 families who offered to "adopt" foreign pupils for the time of the meeting.

Delegations gradually arrived from the 14th October to airports in Bratislava and Budapest. From there they came to Rimavská Sobota, where the teachers had their accomodation in a hotel and families came to pick up children to the bus station. Of course, the first meetings were shy and hesitating, but during the week the relations changed and very nice friendships were made. Tears appeared in all eyes when it came to saying goodbye after the meeting - it was like saying goodbye to a family member.

The programme of the meeting was really colourful because we tried in a short time to show as much as possible of the beauties of Slovakia. The mayor of Rimavská Sobota, MUDr. Štefan Cifruš prepared a reception for us in the official room of the town hall. He warmly welcomed our delegation and wished us all good luck in our further work and also wished the foreign partners a pleasant stay. We spent the rest of the day in Rimavská Sobota guided by a guide from the TIC and in the afternoon we visited the Gemer-Malohont Museum.

The next day we went on a whole day trip to Banská Štiavnica. With our guides we walked in the historical centre of this beautiful town. In the nice sunny weather we all listened with interest to stories from its past. In the afternoon we visited the depths of the Earth - we visited the mining museum. We went down fully equipped with helmets, coats and lamps to experience the feeling as if it was for real. We walked in the tunnels that had been made by the hands of miners many years ago. We could see tools they had used in the past and also those that can be said to be modern. It was an interesting experience not only for the foreign delegation but also for those of us, who have not seen this before.

Wensday belonged to Ožďany only. We showed our partners our school, they could watch lessons and there was also a work meeting. I this we evaluated the work done in the previous year of the project and we set the details of the tasks for this year. At the same time we set the dates of the final project meeting - 27th May - 1st June 2008 in the country of our coordinator, Poland. In the afternoon there was a reception at the mayor´s office with the mayor of Ožďany, Mr. Ján Ďurčák. Then we visited Hrnčiarske Zalužany, where Ms. Bakšová showed us the manual production of pottery typical for this region. At the end of the day there was the Accademy. It took place in the Cultural House in Ožďany. In it our pupils showed a colourful programme - folk dances, songs and games, modern and classical dances, songs and scenic dances. Also pupils from the Italian Sasso di Castalda took part. They showed us how they can dance čardáš. The work and effort of our teachers and pupils were rewarded by a huge applause. Also there was a disco for the children and refreshment and dinner for everyone afterwards, offered by the mayor.

The next day we went on a trip again - Betliar castle, Krásna Hôrka castle and the Domica cave - this all we visited and showed our foreign partners. The biggest succes was probably the cave. None of the partners has ever seen something like this before and so we were walking through different halls of the cave with eyes wide open and the whole tour seemed to last only 5 minutes. In the last hall, the so called Concert hall, we made a wonderful end of the trip - each delegation sang a song in their own language.

The last day of the meeting was a bit more relaxing than the previous ones. We spent it in Lučenec. In the morning we visited the Pedagogical and social academy and after this meeting there was some free time for shopping. When we returned to Ožďany a delicious dinner was waiting for us - guláš and traditional halušky. All plates were empty in a moment and the cooks got an aplause. It was time to finish the last paper work and to our sadness the meeting came to its end. On Saturday early morning it was time to say goodbye and for the visitors time to go. They all left full of impressions and nice experience, most of all children and there were tears in all eyes. It was an exhausting week for everybody, but we can for sure say "It was worth it!"