REPORTS
COLEGIUL NATIONAL ”MIHAI EMINESCU" ORADEA
THE PROJECT ACTIVITIES AND THE RESULTS AVAILABLE UNTIL NOW:
1. Arranging a Comenius corner (in two locations) - October 2013
In October 2013 the project team arranged two Comenius spaces: one in the main office of the college, the other in the building housing the primary grades. Materials provided by the partner schools were exposed together with products made by our students, coordinated by their teachers.
2. Developing a set of questionnaires for students, parents and library worker about students’ reading habits – October 2013
Questionnaire items were proposed in the working group by the project teams from Romania and Bulgaria. Questionnaires were applied to all students in grades III-VI, parents and school librarian. The analysis allowed us an initial assessment of our students' reading habits. Based on these results, we have coordinated activities so as to stimulate reading among young students, to involve parents in reading activities and to identify alternative spaces where children can have contact with the world of the book.
3. Lattices for detecting dyslexic students - November 2013
Obtaining the ability to read and understand texts adequately, students acquire the necessary skills in order to participate in school life, social life, and later on professional life. Briefing in the field of reading is seen nowadays as a key element, which no longer falls only under the domain of acquiring the native language, of reading, but is also based on understanding the text being read, reproducing it, interpreting it. Because dislexia is a frequent learning defficiency which prevents the development of the ability to read, the faster it is discovered, the greater the success. The school's support teacher has applied, in November, some dislexia detection/screening evaluation sheets and grids (by Ian Smythe) to children with CES, but also to the other pupils from integrating classes: IIIrd and IVth Step by Step, putting a diagnosis like this. In this way, 6 pupils with CES from school have dislexia as an associated deficiency, and 7-8 pupils from the two aforementioned classes manifested signs of dislexia, having difficulties regarding comprehending and interpreting the text, even if some of them read relatively well. Through the application of some specific therapies by the support teacher: e.g. the ABA method (Applied Behavior Analysis), the Big brother method (of working in pairs and groups), children, especially those with CES, were motivated and stimulated to read. Dividing a task in smaller parts; teaching such a part until it has been learnt by the child; repeated exercises in a concentrated period of time; support and rewarding it, when it was necessary; utilizing rewarding procedures, using modern and attractive didactical means, but also using elements of applied didactic, e.g. the Meixner method, in which the child cuts up, glues images, associates silables, and then the adequate words and sentences, has stimulated dislexic children to read, making considerable progress in comprehending the text. In conclusion, dislexia is a learning disorder that must not be ignored, but which does not represent an insurmountable obstacle.
4. "Librarian for a week" - permanent activity
During 2013-2014 school year, fourth graders are challenged to take, each week, the role of the class librarian. Together with their teacher, Mrs. Viorica Porumb they have arranged their own class library, collecting books recommended for their age, preparing each book’s individual statement and the inventory of the volumes. Now, each student takes on all the responsibility of completing the loan records and organizing reading activities in the classroom.
5. "Oradea is reading – Urban Lectures" - permanent activity
The National College "Mihai Eminescu" became the partner of "Oradea is reading - Urban Lectures " team. The project has a social stake because its main purpose is the stimulation of reading in public spaces. Significant involvement in organizing campaigns to encourage reading brought the volunteers from our college team to a different status: they themselves are now a part of the social initiative group "Oradea is reading- Urban Lectures ". Thus, first of all, for the edition which took place in November 2013, books in Romanian, Hungarian, English, French, German language were collected by the members of the Students Council. Then, all volumes were exhibited at the County Library "George Şincai" and donated during the event "Open Day" from November 29th , 2013 to all those who visited the stand of the college. Now, the volunteers coordinated by Romanian teacher Laura-Teodora Ardelean gather their forces for the next round of the campaign, the spring-summer session.
The last season's campaign ”Oradea Is Reading” was held in 1 December Park, on Saturday, May 17, 2014, starting at 6 p.m. The teacher was very enthusiastic and eager to meet again the passionate readers from Oradea. In order to reconcile all tastes in literature, the students collected books at "Mihai Eminescu" National College. They managed to collect 150 books of literature in Romanian, Hungarian, French and English. The collected volumes were delivered to people during the event that took place in the park.
6. "Foreign Languages Reading Club" - permanent activity
The partnership with the Faculty of Letters in Oradea and The County Library "George Şincai" in Bihor involves organizing a reading club in Romanian, English, French, German and Hungarian for primary school pupils. The activity is held on the last Wednesday of each month. If, at first, there were adults who read to the children, the new thing is that now the ones who are addressing them are high school students and students of the Faculty of Letters. Also, two meetings - one in December and one in June - are dedicated to reading competitions. The project team wants to bring the little readers closer to the idea of the book and the library. The central objective is to train students to visit the library, both accompanied and on their own, to borrow books now and after, as they grow older, to study in the reading room.
On December 16th 2013 the second edition of The Reading Contest in Romanian, Hungarian, English and German was held. The team coordinated by Laura-Teodora Ardelean- Romanian teacher- was responsible for the Romanian language section of the competition. There were chosen text fragments from “The Roademult Family” by Florian Cristescu, they were divided into sequences on which a question was formulated. During the reading of twenty primary school students enrolled in the competition, the jury focused on: reading accuracy, expressiveness, fluency, adapting to the situation of communication, the understanding of the text. The winner received a book of stories from the library "Gutenberg", which was the sponsor of the competition. All participants were given the opportunity to make free pass County Library "George Şincai".
26th February 2014 edition of Reading Club was dedicated to Eugen Ionescu. The students read excerpts from the book entitled "Stories 1,2,3,4" written by Eugène Ionesco. The well-known playwriter wrote the book for his daughter, Marie-France. The four stories were illustrated by Etienne Delessert. The reading class had several stages: reading the story, a discussion about the text message, a short break during which children learned to make origami, reading some excerpts by the children of fourth grade. The activity was coordinated by Laura-Teodora Ardelean and supported by students at the Faculty of Letters Oradea and at the Faculty of Social Sciences, along with the highschooler of 11th grade, from ”Mihai Eminescu” National College Oradea.
7. “The Childhood Tales” - 9th of December 2013
The students from class II-B, supervised by elementary school teachers Ioana Borza and Ramona Brezovszky, and from class XI-E, supervised by Romanian and Literature teacher Sorina Duică, in collaboration with Humanitas Library Oradea, have participated in the Literature Contest “The Childhood Tales”. The contest was held by well-established rules and had as goals to increase the interest for literature to the young children and to improve the communication abilities. Therefore, the six participants, elementary school students from class II-B, split in two groups, had available three weeks to read, under the close supervision of their teachers, eight stories. The students from class XI-E came up seven questions for every team. On the day of the contest, the two teams competed against eachother to answer correctly to the questions given and to win the most points.
8. "Carnival of literary person" - 9th of December 2013
"Carnival of literary person" is an activity that reminds us of the beautiful days of Winter and its celebrations. It was organised by Maths teacher Adriana Luca, Romanian teacher Monica Dumitraş, followed as judges by Maria Hulber and Laura Costa. Very enthusiastic and very cheerful, the young actors of classes 6 A and 6 B, encouraged by their parents, presented their role in a theatre play, with talent. The play's end was spoken in English, because that's the international language of the project. The students received 14 diplomas, and the most beautiful outfits will be featured in a calendar made by the Comenius project. The most talented kids will play in a theatre play in Romanian, but also in English, when the partners of the National College "Mihai Eminescu" will visit, in March 2015. The photos that were taken during the activity will be included in the 2015 calendar, that will serve as final product.
9. Reading on Stage: “Little Match Girl” after Hans Christian Andersen - 10th of December 2013
The activity's objectives held with the pupils of IVth class were: to familiarize pupils with the stage presentation of a literary masterpiece; to stimulate the interest for lecture; to develop self-knowledge and self-esteem, including CES included pupils (3 children), together with their classmates; to identify self abilities in creativity, as well as their colleagues. Previously this current activity, after the reading of the masterpiece suggested by the teacher and the analys of the text, followed the adaptation of this one by teacher Porumb Viorica, together with the kids. Therefore, the outcome was the stage presentation of the text, in which the roles were distributed by the children, according to the principles of alternative of Step by Step. Every pupil accepted their favourite role by common approval by the others or negociating. The costumes and decor were borrowed from Theatre "Regina Maria" which we are partners with and completed by children and their parents. The recording and subtitling were realised by a team of experts and the DVD's design and translation were made by student Oros Stefania, from class Xth E, and teacher Oros Luminita. Recording sequences were included in the final product, common with all the other partner schools, containing examples of best practices in lecture teaching.
10. "How to find/choose a book" - 20th of February 2014
5th and 11th grade students from “Mihai Eminescu” National College in Oradea were involved on 20th of February 2014, in a special activity organized at “Gheorghe Şincai” County Library. They have participated happily on this event which had the purpose to explain the circuite of the books into the library. The librarians did their best in order to get the pupils familiarized with the sections of the library. After that, the students felt free to search for documents in the library catalogues and they were told about how to obtain a library pass. The students were invited to read along with the librarians, the teachers and some of the parents implied in the activity. The teachers who organized and prepared the event in the county library were Magda Botezat - English teacher and the head teacher of the 5th graders and Alina Trif - Romanian Language and Literature teacher and the head teacher of the 11th graders.
11. “We are smarter with 100 days!” - 28th of February 2014
On 28th of February 2014, elementary school students from preparatory class, coordinated by elementary school teachers Silvana Bistriceanu and Adriana Popa, participated in “We are smarter with 100 days!” activity. The activity celebrates 100 days from the start of school, time where the little ones (around 5-6 years old) learnt the alphabet and learnt to read. The methods used in teaching reading and writing were highlighted, the main method being the analytic-synthetic-phonic method, which responds specificity to the Romanian language, a phonetic language. We prepared a huge “magic” top hat, from which were “extracted” 100 tasks for reading and writing, placed around a drawn sun which suggested the 100 happy days spent together. The tasks were split in 10 categories, following: 10 words that are always written in lowercase (writing), 10 children celebrated their birthday party in the passing days (written with capital letter!), 10 celebrations (reading), 10 inventions used by children in daily activity (writing), 10 objects they’d like to invent (writing), 10 feelings (reading), 10 mathematics tasks (the children have learnt to count to 31 and to recognise the numbers), 10 jobs they’ve learnt about (reading), 10 games and songs. After that, the children presented separately their personal collections of 100 objects.
All these activities took place in 4 hours, with frequent breaks. The following 3 hours (the children study at school from 8 am to 3 pm) were sacrificed by celebrating, with pizza, cake, top hats, glasses and the number 100, created by the children. The whole activity was filmed and included in the project's datebase to serve as final product.
12. "Children Reading to Children" - Activity series held on 19th of March 2014, 2nd of April 2014 and 8th of April 2014
a. In a real fairytale moment, with words written on the wallpapers for the children, Humanitas Library was Wednesday, 19th of March, host of the meeting regarding the beautiful tales of childhood. Class II A students, step by step, from National College “Mihai Eminescu”, were encouraged by their older schoolmates from class X B (coordinated by Romanian teacher Ramona Tatar) to enter into the magical world of literature. Accompanied by elementary school teachers Lavinia Corodeanu and Mirela Bar, the little ones participated in a literature contest featuring the childhood’s tales. Everything was held under the watch of the highschool students of which outfits were inspired from the fascinating childhood literature. Whether they were Minnie Mouse, Cinderella or Pocahontas, they knew how to entertain the young ones through a captivating lecture and questions about the tales. The participants were split in four teams, each one answering questions written by the highschool students. Surprising enough, the children not only knew perfectly well the tales, but also possesed the art of writing correctly and understandable. The children’s answers impressed the judges by their accuracy and details. The children were enthusiastic to participate in such a fun activity about books, taking place in a library. Humanitas library was a welcoming host of an activity that encourages children, from youngest to oldest, to dedicate themselves to literature.
b. On the 8th of April 2014, a new activity of the series "Children reading to children" was held at National College "Mihai Eminescu", included in the "Learn to Read and Read to Learn' Comenius project. This time, older students from class IX A, coordinated by their head teacher Maria Hulber, read historical stories to children from class II B, Step by Step, coordinated by elementary school teachers Ioana Borza and Ramona Brezovszky. Thought this session, we encouraged dialogue, to challenge their interest for Romanian historical literature, to stimulate children's imagination and pleasure of reading, to initiate a communication and creativity exercise. In a warm atmosphere, needed for a reading session, the young ones listened to exciting stories about Romanian rulers' affairs in the Middle Ages, such as Gelu, Basarab Voivode, Mircea the Great and Stephen the Great. The heated discussions taken place after the reading was finished helped the children choose their favourite ruler. The challenge to imagine a different ending for each story told by the older students proved that narration can be an "opera aperta", welcoming imagination, creativity and feelings. The two generations had fun interacting though games (such as recognising famous stories, finding new titles for stories). Finally, the young students appreciated the choosen stories and the interaction they had with the older students.
c. On the 2th of April 2014, the students read excerpts from the book entitled "Stories 1,2,3,4" written by Eugène Ionesco. The fourth grade students from ”Mihai Eminescu” National College attended to this activity, being accompanied by Maria Ciutan. The reading class had several stages: reading the story, a discussion about the text message, a short break during which children learned to make origami, reading some excerpts by the children of fourth grade. The activity was coordinated by Laura-Teodora Ardelean and supported by the highschoolers of 11th grade, from ”Mihai Eminescu” National College, Oradea.
13. "Parents read to their children" - 9th of April 2014
Parents and children from class VIth B read together, creating one of the most touching activities coordonated by Mrs. Adriana Luca, the Headteacher of the class. Stefan and his mother, Mrs. Maria, presented a dialogue to their colleagues in class 6 B. They were so involved, they communicated throughout the text by giving their own meanings to the friendship messages in "The Little Prince”. Mrs. Simona, Marco’s mother, presented the novel "Great Expectations” to the children and she read the most important paragraphs which describe children’s behaviours and feelings. Mrs. Daniela presented dear memories from her childhood; she read about "Winnetou" and "Old Shatterhand" and Indian’s lives around 1880. Mrs Maria, Victor’s mother presented to the children books connected with communist penitentiaries and novels written during the detention period, trying to educate children from a frail age the civic consciousness. The photos will be included in Parent's Guide, a common final product that will be created by the lead partner school from Budapest, Hungary, in December 2014.
14. "...and Read to Learn" Interdisciplinary Activity
Students from classes 9A, 9B and 10G from "Mihai Eminescu" National College from Oradea participated Wednesday, 9th of April 2014, on the festivity hall, in an interdisciplinary activity through which they had to accumulate new knowledge about contemporany history through lecture of some memoirs texts. The project, suggested by Romanian teacher Maria Hulber, was based on more communication languages means such as films, photography from archive, historical document, literature, scientific text on the proposed theme. The goal of this educative activity was to try out an interactive method of learning of some pages of communism's history in Romania and to understand the forms of repression and the mechanism of terror enforced by communism between1944-1989. Headmistress Livia Muntean and teacher Dorel Luca honoured us with their presence. In the first stage, the students watched the documentary "Amphitheaters and prisons: a psychologist in communist prisons", retaining the biographical elements of the science man Nicolae Mărgineanu and the context of his detention in the politically prisons in that period. In the second stage, a long debate follow in which Mrs. Livia Muntean presented the stages of communism, how it was installed in Romania, the causes of the waves of repression against political, scientific and cultural elite from this country. The arguments had well put exemples from various documents, written and found by historians. Following, Mrs. Maria Hulber emphasized the role of the complex memoirs of the post-war prisons, thanks to the great information given to the new generation and their artistic value. The reading of a few pharagraphs from Nicolae Margineanu's memoirs, showed the tight connection between confession and history. Finally, the guest teachers answered the students' questions concerned by one of the most discussed issues in the mass-media by ideea which try to convince the children that it was 'better before'. The teachers' explanation emphasized that freedom of thought and expression it's one of the human rights, which can not be restricted, while in the discovery of information by reading their critical thinking is very important for their understanding.
15. "We are reading about wild animals"
Due to the thematic analysis „Wild animals”, the pupils of class II-B together with the teachers from the primary school, Ioana Borza and Ramona Brezovszky, read about wild animals from all over the world. The students were divided into seven groups and each group studied the wild animals on a continent. Every child had chosen an animal to present and to draw; afterwards the entire group drew and coloured the representative continent and attached a hand-made picture of the specific animal. All the information on wild animals were presented in a festive manner when the children expose some masks and accesories they had made together with their parents at home. It was a wonderful activity finalised with children’s making a map of the world singing and having fun.
16. The Journey of the Book
In the “Different School" week (7th-14th of April 2014), the 4th grade Step by Step students from “Mihai Eminescu“ National College, Oradea, visited the West Printing Institute in Oradea. The students had the opportunity to see how books are printed and to discover the road they take from the editure to the library bookshelf. As a result of the interest showed by primary school teachers in what concerns the methods applied by the support teachers for the dyslexic children's rehabilitation, an informational activity held by the support teacher from our school and a specialist from a special school took place in May. Alongside explaining the different pedagogical terms which target learning difficulties, the familiarisation with some methods of approaching dyslexia was underlined. Primary school teachers familiarization with two rehabilitation methods for dyslexic children: Met Davis Method şi Meixner Method.
17. "You should read, too!" - 10th of April 2014
On the 10th of April the 5th grade students were involved in a new interesting project. They had to make different posters, all having the same motto: You should read, too! Due to their creativity and talent, this contest had only winners. The activity was coordinated by their form teacher, Magda Botezat.
18. 23rd of April - World Book Day, Librarian Day, Copyright Day
23rd of April is World Book Day, Librarian Day, Copyright Day. On this occasion I invited the highschoolers and their teachers in the assembly hall of our college for this year's campaign: "Read with me!" The purpose was that on Wednesday, April 23, each student would provide a book to one of their colleagues who attended the event. The volume will be part of a circuit of books in our school, because the one to whom a student gave the book can give it to another student after he /she read it or to return it. Therefore, the request was for everyone to write on the first page of the book name and class. Also, teacher Laura-Teodora Ardelean asked the students to glue an envelope on the back cover of the book in which they may put notes on their impressions about the book.
19. "Remember Lucian Blaga" - 9th of May 2014
9th of May is a day with multiple meanings. Among other things, 9th of May is the birthday of the Romanian poet – Lucian Blaga. To mark this anniversary, the coordinator conceived an activity called "Remember Lucian Blaga". To reach this goal she formed a team of 11th grade students. They read approved sources as Dictionary of Romanian Writers coordinated by Mircea Zaciu, Marian Papahagi and Aurel Sasu. They carried the presentation text and chose photos illustrating each important stage of the author's biography and literary activity. Teacher Laura-Teodora Ardelean coordinated the work of the students and she made the layout of the posters on the panel.
20. Romania and other European countries - 9th of May 2014
During European Union Day, the 2nd grade children read plenty of curiosities about some European countries. They had the opportunity to present what they have read when they visited their younger friends at the Inclusive Educational Center „Cristal”. At the end of the activity, they prepared together traditional Romanian and Greek food. There were special moments and the children developed a special friendship.
21. Virtual Library of the project Learn to Read and Read to Learn - https://learntoreadlibrary.wordpress.com/
This is the 22th activity in the Comenius programme Learn to Read an Read to Learn. This task is coordinated by the lead partner school from Romania, National College "Mihai Eminescu” Oradea. The activity’s aim is to create and organise a Virtual Library of the project. To make this happen, the students in each country vote for their 10 favourite books and recommend them to their peers in partner countries. In the following phase, they gathered information about the ten literary masterpieces and the authors. In the third phase, they created drawings and paintings inspired by book sequences, by landscapes and their favourite characters. All the materials collected were sent to Mrs. Maria Hulber, administrator of the virtual page of the library. With all books that pupils recommend we created this library in which every partner school has its own virtual “bookshelf” that serves as final product. The Virtual Library is included on the project's website, administrated by the Greek team.
For the selection of the ten recommended books, on 9th of May 2014, all students of the National College "Mihai Eminescu", wrote on a flipchat (placed in the middle of the school's library) the author and title of the books that changed their lives. The entire activity was named "The Books that changed our lives". The statistic analys of the votes permitted the organisators to find the titles of the books read by most students.
22. The 6 Thinking Hats - a Philosophy Class - 15th of May 2014
This activity was included in the Comenius Project "Learn to read and read to learn". On May 15th, the students from class XII E, coordinated by their teacher, Ana Dolhan, debated on Plato's well-known allegorical story "The Cave Myth" from "The Republic". There was used Edward de Bono's technique known as "The six thinking hats method". This technique is meant to lead to a more efficient communication and it emphasizes alternative thinking perspectives connected with the theme. By wearing hats of different shapes and colours, the students managed to transform the class into a generating idea crucible. The White Hat students offered a neutral and objective perspective on Plato's life and philosophy while the Red Hat students were focused on the feelings and emotions generated by the text. The Black Hat thinkers expressed their critical view, identifying the possible errors or weak points of Plato's philosophical perspectives. Yellow Hat thinkers expressed their enthusiasm and trust in Plato's message presenting the advantages and the strong symbols of the text. Finally, the Green Hat used its main feature -creativity- to emphasize the actuality of the theme and the social-politic implications of Plato's vision. The entire activity was completed by the serenity and rationality of Blue Hat thinkers. They were the Leaders of All Hats and they succeeded in using an efficient coordination of different points of view. The necessity of having a flexible thinking was accentuated. The entire activity was filmed and included in the project's database to serve as final product.
23. First Literary Contest for young writers "Pinocchio" - May-June 2014, Vasto, Italia
The contest was organised by Nuova Direzione Didattica Vasto from Italy, partner school in the project, and was aimed at pupils from class IV and V. The aim of the contest was to encourage creativity using a challenging approach. Between 25th April and 5th May, compositions in English were weritten and sent the school. The judge met at the beginning of June and chose the winners. The first place was given to Antonia Ganea, pupil of class Vth A, from National College "Mihai Eminescu", coordonated by Mrs. Magda Botezat.
Activities of evaluation and dissemination:
1. The dissemination of the first work meeting withing the project's programme took plate within the information session on 29th of October 2013, to which members of the project's team from the school, and at the Council Staff, on 7th of November 2013.
2. The launch of the Comenius corner and the organisation of the press conference - 25th November 2013 https://www.ovidan.ro/?p=articles.details.9568
The event offered the chance of dissemination of important public information regarding the project's partners, the common goals, the awaiting results, the methods used in involving pupils, parents, teachers and educational and cultural institutions within the project's life.
3. The project team's activity was closely examinated and evaluated as a result of a special inspection conducted by speciality inspector Florin Negrutiu, on 28th of January 2014.
4. The dissemination of the second project meeting was held at the Council Staff on the 3rd of April 2014.
5. The dissemination article of the two meetings was published online at https://ovidan.ro/?p=articles.details.10315 and in the magazine ,,OviDan", Anul V, Nr. 28/140, 23-28 April 2014.
6. The dissemination of all activities included in the raport was aided by their constant publishing on the internation website of the project, on https://readtolearn.webnode.gr/, on the website „Ovidan.ro” https://www.ovidan.ro/, and the magazine „OviDan”.
7. We signal the following articles of dissemination of the presented activities: ,,Copiii citind copiilor" https://www.ovidan.ro/?p=articles.details.10223 and ,,Suntem cu 100 de zile mai deştepţi!" https://www.ovidan.ro/?p=articles.details.10049
