A report, about a work in our comeniusproject. 12 of June 2003

Made by Petra Nagele, Austria and Karen Henriksen, Denmark.

In April 2002, Petra from Pestalozzischule in Vöcklabruck, visited Tovshoejskolen in Århus, and in May 2002, Karen from Tovshoejskolen in Denmark, visited Pestalozzischule in Vöcklabruck.

The result of the meetings was, that we, (Petra and Karen), decided to make a cooperation.

We decided to work in two ways; one, we would find themes that we could work with in the classrooms, and afterwards send mails about it to the other school. Two, we would see to that our pupils could chat in Yahoo together every second week.

The themes we have been working with are: Christmas traditions, our countries, our cities and our schools. The mails we sent to each other included pictures and a small piece of text telling about the pictures. The pupils in both schools now knows a lot more about the other country than before. Some homes in Austria have now got a recipe for Christmas candy, which comes from a girl Karen ones took care of many years ago. In Denmark Karen's pupils know that in some schools in Austria they have waterbeds.

We have been chatting every second week, almost!! To begin with we just tried it. The pupils looked at each other, but did not know what to write in the chat, because they did not know each other. Then we decided to make 5 questions they had to make answers to. After that the chat went very good. The pupils knew what they should ask, and when they got a question themselves, they had prepared their own answer. So now all pupils know, what the others like to do in the afternoon, what kind of sport they like, if they have pets at home, and when they have birthday.

At the end of this cooperation, we were lucky that the two classes had the chance to meet in Austria.

We had four really good days together from the 5^th of May to the 8^th of May 2003. The first day together, we went to a swimming bath called Hallenbad, the pupils met for the first time and had their first try in contacting each other. They all enjoyed the water. The second day all twenty-eight pupils and nine teachers went on a trip from early morning to late afternoon. A big bus picked us up, and before the day had ended, we had seen some of the beautiful lakes and great mountains in Austria. It was a great pleasure to see, how the pupils connected with each other that day. All day the Austrian pupils was very helpful, pushing the Danish pupils around in their wheelchair, so that the teachers had a relaxing time ones in a while. Even though they could not speak each other's languages, they managed to find a way to understand the most important things, (sometimes with al little help from the adults). The pupils were all very interested to connect with each other. The third day we spent making an artistic thing, at Pestalozzischule that was to represent our cooperation. Later that day we cooked together. The Danish class had brought food from Denmark, so we could all eat a Danish hot-dog. In the afternoon we all played in the gymnastic room, and on the break, we had cakes and juice, which had been prepared the Austrian pupil's parents to. The last day, Thursday, we all visited the Mayor in Vöcklabruck. He held a speech for us, and afterwards there were snacks, juice and water.

We all agree that this meeting in Vöcklabruck was a great success for both pupils and teachers. It is a petty that we had to stop now, because now everyone is involved differently than before. But so it is, the pupils in 4.I at Pestalozzischule have to change schools after the summer holiday.

What have the pupils learned in this project?

• They know what chat is. With help they can go into yahoo and invite or join the Chat Room.
• They know what a mail is. With help they can make a mail, send it, receive and open a mail.
• They have knowledge about the Internet and how to search on the net.
• They have knowledge about another country, another city, and another school.
• They have meet peoble with another language.
• To realized that it can be rewarding to learn a foreign language.
• That it is possible to have friends in another country.
• That it is possible to have a nice time together with peoble, even you do not understand their language.

What have the teachers learned in this project?

• Before this project we had knowledge about chat, now we have practise it ourselves. Today we use both the Web. Cam and the micro when we chat.
• Before this project, we had knowledge about the mail system, now we are using it daily.
• We do not know all about the Internet, but we use it much more often than before.
• Our English has been improved both in writing and verbally.
• We have now knowledge about other countries school systems, history and traditions.
• We have now, a personal network in other countries and new friends as well.
• We have seen that there are many ways to make a better life for handicapped pupils.

Greetings from Petra and Karen