Participation in the International Educational Seminar
On March 26-26, 2012 the International Educational Seminar (International Coordinators Course, ICC) for the coordinators of the British Council program “Connecting Classrooms” was held in Malta. 15 teachers from Malta, 4 – from Wales (Great Britain), 15 – from Ukraine and 17 – from Cyprus took part in the work of the seminar. The participants got acquainted with the system of education in Malta, work experience of Maltese schools with the community, project activity organization, cooperative teaching experience in Malta. M. Zakharova, partnerships and projects manager of the British Council in Ukraine, shared the experience of Ukrainian schools participation in the projects “Bicentenary of Charles Dickens”, “BBC School News Report”, “London Olympic Games – 2012”. Three schools from Ukraine demonstrated DVD films which were made for the BBC School News Report competition on March 15, 2012. One of the films was the DVD “Charity Begins at Home”, made by the gymnasia teacher-methodologist of English L. Tkachenko and M. Kalashnyk, the mother of a gymnasia pupil of the 6th form, Director of M-Production Studio, Cherkasy.
The discussion of the participants organized in 2 groups was interesting. During this discussion acute questions of international collaboration under the aegis of the British Council were discussed. The participants of the seminar also visited the photo exhibition “The Beauty of Diversity” at which the works of pupils from Malta, Cyprus and Ukraine were exhibited. The teachers spent several hours in Maltese schools and colleges, which are most actively working in the British Council program “Connecting Classrooms”. The most memorable visit was to Maria Regina College where a number of interesting activities were held: olive “Trees of Friendship” were planted, demo lessons in different subjects were conducted, wonderful exhibitions of pupils’ works and photos were organized and all those present were treated to the delicious national dishes of Maltese cuisine. The college administration accepted with deep gratitude the exhibition of paintings made by the gymnasia 3B formers (homeroom teacher L. Boychenko) and children’s craftworks made by the gymnasia 3A formers (homeroom teacher K. Kolomiets) and displayed the exposition of Ukrainian paintings and craftworks at the college on the same day.
All seminar participants made a few bus tours in Malta and visited a few historical and cultural places of interest. The international conference has definitely become the significant event in the teachers’ lives, contributed to their professional growth and encouraged them to continue carrying out active joint cooperation in the British Council program “Connecting Classrooms”. The words of deep gratitude are expressed to Ingrid Eomois, Country Director of the British Council in Malta, for organizing such an interesting, informative and educational workshop.
N. Ananieva,
Ph D in Pedagogy,
Deputy Headteacher,
Cherkasy First City Gymnasia
