PROIECTE ȘI PARTENERIATE INTERNAȚIONALE

Sister School Project

        The second stage of the Romanian-Turkish international educational partnership project, Sister School Project, ran from 1st September 2018 to 1st September 2023, one of the objectives being the exchange of students and teachers for educational visits to share ideas and experiences, providing opportunities to develop skills that improve relations between Romania and Turkey. Our Turkish partners visited us twice, and now it was our turn to participate in such an exchange. Therefore, a group of students and teachers participated in the educational visit to Babaeski, Kırklareli province, between 5th to 10th January 2020.
        The first day was devoted to meeting the students and teachers from the host educational institution. The Turkish students prepared informative materials in the form of PPT presentations about their town, historical sites in Babaeski, their high school, and the places we were going to visit in Istanbul, thus helping to explain and understand the cultural and historical aspects of the cities we were going to visit and the country we were in.
         Romanian teachers had the opportunity to learn about several aspects of the Turkish education system by participating in teaching activities, engaging in dialogue with teachers from the host high school, and exchanging information about the curriculum, teaching resources, course materials and teaching strategies, school policy and school events. At the same time, the principals of the two educational institutions discussed and shared their experiences regarding management development. The students spent time with their friends, experiencing a day at school in Turkey, developing their social and communication skills, and practicing their English language skills.
         The activities aimed at developing friendship with different cultures and enriching the students' experience were varied, one of them being the joint artistic program carried out by Turkish and Romanian students. The artistic moment provided by the Romanian teachers' vocal group was particularly appreciated by the teachers from Turkey. They were impressed by the involvement of their Romanian colleagues in all partnership activities and by the support and encouragement they gave to their students.
         During the mobility period, study visits were made to Edirne and Istanbul. The Health Museum and Selimiye Mosque were visited in Edirne, Hagia Sofia and Topkapı Palace were visited in Istanbul. The trip on the Bosphorus was also an opportunity to admire several historical sites along the shore: the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Topkapı Palace, and Dolmabahce Palace.
        The project activities ended with a farewell party organized by the Turkish students for their partners and friends. This meeting gave all participants the opportunity to develop the ability to communicate effectively and appropriately in different situations using English. The students became more aware of their own culture and more informed about their partners' culture. Intercultural awareness provides them with the knowledge and skills necessary to enable them to establish links with other cultures, to present and represent their own culture to others. The relationship between different cultures enriches not only people but also societies.
 

Top three Genetically Modified (GM) crops grown in India and Romania

      At the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year, we established contacts with schools registered on British Schools Online through the British Council Schools Partner Finder with a view to carrying out collaborative projects. "Top three Genetically Modified (GM) crops grown in India and Romania" is a project carried out in partnership with Vriksha Global School in India, with the aim of studying the different types of genetically modified crops grown in India and Romania and learning about the process behind these crops, their advantages and disadvantages.
       The participants in this activity were the 9th B graders. They gathered information about the different types of genetically modified crops, the species that contain genes that make them resistant to herbicides, insects, etc., and evaluated and analysed different traits used in the production of genetically modified crops. They determined the top three genetically modified crops and created PowerPoint presentations: The Top Three GM Crops Grown in Romania, The Advantages of Using GM Crops, and The Disadvantages of Using GM Crops. Through a Skype conference, students from both schools presented their work in turn, and at the end they had a discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of genetically modified crops.

Self-Introduction

     Another collaborative project was carried out by the 4th A graders together with their partners from The Mann School in India. It involves monthly meetings via Skype video conferences on different topics. During the first meeting on the topic of Self-Introduction, each participant answered the following questions: What is your name? What is the name of your school? How old are you? What is your school logo? Where is your school located? Which grade are you in? This meeting was followed by others, namely: My Family, My School, My Favourite Dish. During each Skype video session, each participant presented their family members, school, classroom, favourite subject(s), favourite school, extracurricular, and extracurricular activities, and favourite dish, using drawings and collages. These activities gave students the opportunity to learn new things about their partners' families, lifestyles, daily schedules, school activities, favourite and traditional dishes, and what healthy eating means to them. They also gave them the opportunity to develop their English communication skills in real-life situations, to socialize with their partners, and to use new forms of communication and technologies effectively and efficiently.

Traditional Romanian Food and Clothing

 Jamalkhan Kusum Kumari City Corporation Girls' High School Rahmatgonj, Chattogram, Bangladesh was our partner in another collaborative project, the aim of which was to learn about some cultural aspects related to traditional food and clothing in Bangladesh and Romania. Participants in this activity were the 7^th graders and the 9^th A graders. In the PPT presentation entitled Traditional Romanian Food, the seventh-grade students provided details about the foods used in Romanian cuisine, the dishes served at the three main meals of the day, as well as those cooked on different occasions: Christmas, New Year, Easter. The ninth-grade students highlighted several aspects related to the geographical location of our country, climate, flora and fauna, natural fibers used in the manufacture of traditional clothing, and described the Romanian national costume in the PowerPoint presentation entitled Traditional Romanian Clothing. Through a Skype conference, students from both schools presented their work in turn, and at the end they had a discussion about the materials they had viewed.

2018-2019 School Year

eTwinning Project

"Hello, I am Charlie from London!"

      The "Hello, I am Charlie from London!" project, based on the book of the same name by Stephane Husar and Yannick Robert, carried out on the eTwinning platform gave the 3rd A graders the opportunity to create their own books inspired by it, talking about themselves, their families, their cities, and their daily routines, and the tasks they completed gave them the chance to express themselves in real-life situations. The partners were students from Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Serbia, and Ukraine.
     The project activities brought together students and teachers from different cultural backgrounds and education systems, uniting participants who speak different languages and communicate using different codes. After reading the book "Hello, I am Charlie from London!" and discussing the objectives of this project, the students were eager to create their own book, but also to read their partners' books. Each book was presented in Twinspace. Reading their partners' books online and voting for the best book on https://www.tricider.com/ were the most interesting activities for them. In terms of results, this gave students the opportunity to consolidate their knowledge of English and their language skills through a series of activities, to develop their critical thinking, and to be challenged to rethink and reevaluate their own opinions about their personal skills and abilities.
     The "Hello, I am Charlie from London!" project helped students develop self-awareness, feel part of a European community, and make new friends to discover differences and similarities between other children's lifestyles, increasing their motivation to study English. We would like to mention that for the outstanding results gained in this project, we received the Natio.

The Sister School Project

      The second stage of this partnership ran from 1st September 2018 to 1st September 2023. This time, on 21st January 2019, a group of twenty students and five teachers arrived in Hălăuceşti. During the first day of the visit, the students and teachers from the two educational institutions introduced themselves and provided details about their schools, localities, and some aspects of their culture.
      Once again, the Turkish partners expressed their desire to learn about some aspects of the Romanian education system. The demonstration lessons they attended were full of excitement, had a strong impact on the participants, and sparked curiosity and sometimes amazement. Participation in these teaching activities was very interesting and useful from an educational and social point of view for everyone involved. The Turkish partners were able to compare their own education system and draw a number of conclusions, one of which was that, although they share a common basis, the two education systems can differ greatly.
      Among the activities designed to enrich the students' experience and raise their awareness of cultural diversity, we mention the presentation by students from Turkey of the Ebru painting technique, which consists of creating a pattern from colours floating on the surface of water. Paper is placed on this surface, absorbing the paints floating on the water and thus transferring the pattern. After learning the technique and with the help of their partners, our students created several paintings of this kind. The joint art program carried out by the students from the two partner high schools demonstrated that young people, regardless of their origin, are talented and share a common interest in dance and music. By bringing together aspects of the two cultures, all students had the opportunity to increase their knowledge of their partner's culture in terms of people's lifestyles, values, attitudes, and beliefs, and how these are manifested or expressed.
     This time, study visits were made to Voroneț Monastery, Suceava Fortress, the Union Museum in Iași, and the Palace of Culture in Iași, where all four museums were visited: the Museum of Moldovan History, the Ethnographic Museum of Moldova, the Ștefan Procopiu Museum of Science and Technology, and the Art Museum. The project activities ended with a surprise farewell party organized at Muncel Camp by the students from Hălăucești for their partners and friends from Turkey.

 BSO Projects

Dressing in the Colours of the World, Schools Online Collaborative Project

     The project was aimed at primary school pupils and was carried out in partnership with Dayanand Anglo-Vedic Public School, Jasola Vihar, New Delhi, India. As part of the project, students identified the national costumes of India, Japan, Turkey, Spain, the Netherlands, and Romania, learned about the various types of fibers used in creating the costumes and their relevance to the climate and soil of the respective country, analysed the relationship between climate and national costume, and evaluated different types of plant and animal fibers available in various countries. They also researched national costumes, gaining new knowledge about style, colour combinations, and the materials used in their manufacture. At the end of the project, a traditional costume parade was organized where students presented the costumes they had made, with the help of their parents, from reusable materials.

Sister School Project

       The Sister School Project is a collaborative partnership between "Bogdan Vodă" Theoretical Highschool, Hălăuceşti and Şehit Ersan Yenici Anadolu Lisesi Babaeski, Turkey, with a view to developing mutual understanding, friendship, and promoting a better understanding of the economy, culture, history, environment, and customs of the two countries and the schools involved. Among the key principles underlying this partnership are: recognition and respect for the educational needs of each school, open communication, collaboration based on trust and mutual respect, and appropriate and realistic expectations. The objectives are to strengthen relationships, understanding, and appreciation between teachers and students, increasing cultural awareness and respect for cultures, developing English communication skills, and developing an international perspective within schools, aim to enable students to become citizens with the ability to function effectively in cultures with different perspectives and belief systems.
      The first stage of this partnership took place between 1st September 2015 and 31st August 2018. On 25th January 2016, a group of twenty-five students and five teachers arrived in Hălăuceşti. On the first day of the visit, the students and teachers from the two educational institutions introduced themselves and provided details about their school, locality, and some aspects of their culture.
Experiencing the teaching-learning process in Romania was another activity included in the schedule of the Turkish partners' visit, which took place between 25th January and 31st January 2016. The Turkish partners, both teachers and students, showed interest in the topics presented, were open-minded, enterprising, and willing to learn more about us and Romania. The questions that followed generated discussions that took place at the end of the activities, opinions were expressed concisely by both sides, bringing the participants in this project closer together and establishing personal relationships both within and outside the partnership.
      This was followed by visits to SC. ROMPAK SRL, Pașcani, the "A. I. Cuza" Palace in Ruginoasa, the Ruginoasa Cultural Centre, which houses a veritable ethnographic museum dedicated to local values and traditions, the "Anastasie Fătu" Botanical Garden in Iași, the "A.I. Cuza" University in Iași, the Metropolitan Cathedral in Iași, the Cathedral of the Holy Virgin Mary, Queen, in Iași, and the Monastery of the Three Hierarchs in Iași. During these study visits, the students had the opportunity to talk to each other, discussing the music they listen to, their passion for art, science, physics, chemistry, their way of life, traditions, and customs.
      The first year of collaboration represented an opportunity for the teachers involved to develop their teaching skills through an exchange of experience, to interact directly with colleagues from the partner school, an extremely interesting opportunity to broaden their professional horizons through direct knowledge of an educational system different from the Romanian one. This experience was also interesting and useful for the students, contributing to the development of their interest in acquiring new knowledge, communication skills in a foreign language, the effective and efficient use of new forms of communication and new technologies, socializing with project partners and transferring knowledge, and the formation and development of cultural and historical awareness.

The Culture Exchange Program Agreement

      The Culture Exchange Program Agreement is a collaborative partnership between Bogdan Vodă High School in Hălăuceşti and Cheery Children's Education Centre in Nairobi, Kenya. Promoting a better understanding of the culture, history, and customs of the partner countries and schools, developing tolerance towards different cultures, English communication skills, teamwork, socializing with project partners, promoting our school, region, and country and our partners, increasing motivation to learn a foreign language are just some of the aspects considered in this collaboration.
       The activities carried out during the partnership gave our students the opportunity to develop their intercultural skills and acquire new knowledge about the culture, way of life, and education system of our partners. The students presented their country, providing details about its geographical position, climate, relief, flora and fauna, their locality, school, lifestyle and daily routine, etc., through drawings, posters, collages, and PowerPoint presentations. They also exchanged letters, greeting cards, etc. There were frequent Skype meetings where both students and teachers had the opportunity to discuss various pre-determined topics.
 

2014-2015 School Year

The Career Project

     The project was based on MOOC (Massive Online Open Courses) modules and was developed by David Winter and Laura Brammar, collaborators at the University of London, with the aim of providing guidance and personal development, allowing high school students to explore their personality traits. The choice of this theme had numerous objectives, such as strengthening self-image and clarifying incentives, abilities, skills, competencies, and values. Nine high schools in Greece and three in the EU were involved in the project.
      The project encouraged an integrated approach to the learning process, giving students the opportunity not only to use the knowledge and techniques learned in different subjects - English grammar, how to write a letter of intent in English, information and communication technology - but also to organize this knowledge in a personal way. They worked in groups, thus promoting the value of collaborative learning, with cooperation involving the participation of all students in completing a task on a specific topic. At the same time, working in groups gave them the opportunity to improve their communication skills, tolerance for others' opinions, democratic decision-making, conflict resolution skills, and acceptance of others. The partners communicated in the Twinspace workspace, discussing the tasks set for each module.
      Collaboration was a necessary condition for achieving the objective of student creativity. The active participation of all partners in each module and in the final task illustrates this aspect. Romanian students actively participated in the Skype conference organized as part of the event held in Athens, with the aim of disseminating the project results to participating teachers and students.
      In terms of the project's results, it gave students the opportunity to consolidate their knowledge of English and their skills in using it through a series of activities. They also benefited from using ICT knowledge and skills, which facilitated effective communication and collaboration in an environment simulating real-life conditions. At the same time, the project helped them develop critical thinking, as they were put in a position to rethink and reevaluate their own opinions about their personal skills and abilities.
     In the same way, teachers cooperated closely, opening up the possibility of collaboration on future projects. Learning with and from others was particularly important in helping participants appreciate the value of a joint effort. The Career Project was a real-life tool that helped participants develop self-awareness and familiarize themselves with modern trends in career guidance. Lifelong learning became a reality through our joint efforts. We would like to mention that this project received the eTwinning Quality Label and the European Quality Label.

A Special Woman in our Community

      As part of the project, the 10th A graders identified and selected a woman who is special in terms of her contribution or status in our country. They researched the role, status, contribution of women in different career fields, and their responsibility in the community. They gave a brief presentation of the woman at various points in history, focusing on the one they considered to have had the most significant impact on life, culture, and education: Sofia Ionescu, the world’s first female neurosurgeon. Important things about her medical work were mentioned, as well as the awards she received at home and abroad in recognition of her successful work.
       Developing English communication skills, digital skills, teamwork skills, socializing with project partners, sharing info and knowledge, interacting and cooperating with students from Taiwan were some of the main goals of the project.

2013-2014 School Year

Sustainable Culture Heritage Development

      Based on the definition of culture and UNESCO, the 9th A graders identified, selected, and presented the main cultural objectives belonging to world cultural heritage and Romanian cultural heritage, the main sources of pollution worldwide, the sources of pollution with the greatest impact on the natural and anthropic environment worldwide, the elements of the natural and anthropic environment included in the phenomenon of sustainable development, the most representative elements of the Romanian environment included in the phenomenon of sustainable development, etc. Our students actively participated in the Skype conference organized by the project initiators and coordinators, with the aim of disseminating the results to participating teachers and students.
      Among the main objectives of the project are practicing and developing English communication skills, digital skills, teamwork skills, socializing with project partners, transmitting information and knowledge, communicating, interacting, and cooperating with students from participating countries, namely Taiwan, the Philippines, South Korea, and Romania.

Meet Me Through My Writing

     The project was carried out in collaboration with students from a school in Croatia and aimed to development of literacy and language skills through writing poems, prose and dramatic texts through which they can meet the individual's interests, fantasies, desires, dreams, attitudes about life and everyday living situation. The students wrote a letter to a pen/e-friend introducing him/herself, talking about his/her likes and dislikes, interests, hobbies, school, about homeland ("Homeland in my eyes" - prose or poetry), and writings on free subjects: family, school, love, hobbies, interests, etc. They also exchanged Christmas cards and wishes. The 8th A graders had the opportunity to learn about new culture, school system, and make new friends.

We Can't Forget Our Past

       The project was carried out in collaboration with students from Bulgaria, Italy, Latvia,  Lithuania and Poland and it aimed to create a cultural-historical consciousness, to help students acquire the concept of time and change, recover and rebuild its past, past civilization in fashion, traditions play in technology, consider the popular traditions, rebuild local identity, get children interested in the historical memory, to encourage pupils to use new technologies efficiently and effectively, to socialize, to develop their commutative skills, to become more confident when using English. The project was only on two particular areas: the game and fashion.
       The activities carried out by the 4th A graders were meant to make the pupils aware of the fact that the game is the basic activity of childhood, to give them the opportunities to play the games of their parents' childhood, to know and to describe the clothing, to compare and contrast children's clothing of today with those of the past: school uniforms, folk costumes worn on special occasions, everyday clothing, and so on.

Culture And Cooking

       This project was about exchanging information about culinary tradition giving the students involved to opportunity to know people and culture from another country. It was carried out by the 8th A graders and it was conducted in collaboration with a school in Poland. Our students prepared short article on the following topics and posted them on eTwinning: Romanian everyday cuisine - popular dishes, drinks and ingredients, Romanian regional cuisine - different tastes in different part of the country, Romanian hospitality - how do we receive guests and how should one behave during a visit, Romanian sweets and cakes, The Lent, Romanian Easter/Christmas cuisine, Romanian customs and traditions at Easter/Christmas, Celebrating Easter/Christmas. The project ended with a presentation about the culinary tradition of the partner country and a traditional meal.

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