ERASMUS + brought together students and teachers in Bourgas

The alumni and teachers of AEG “Geo Milev” welcomed guests from partner schools from three countries within the framework of an ERASMUS + project. The project meeting was carried out between 13 May and 18 May. 17 students and 6 teachers from Spain, Italy and Poland arrived in Burgas. The project is called “LEAD-learning, experiencing and awareness of the diversity”, where AEG “Geo Milev” is a coordinator.

The project aims to broaden students’ horizons and provide them with a future perspective on the labour market. The theme of European citizenship and the EU’s core values: respect for diversity, intercultural dialogue, tolerance and social inclusion are the main goals of our project. The LEAD project aims to use different innovative training methods to apply in formal, non-formal and extra-curricular forms. The tasks that students, together with their teachers, decide on are focused on their “hard” skills such as digital competences and foreign languages; photographic skills; knowledge of diversity, healthy lifestyles and improvement of soft skills such as self-esteem, responsibility, active citizenship, problem solving, creativity, initiative, etc.

In Bourgas the guests were welcomed with bread and salt, a music-dance program, including folk songs and, of course, the horo national dance. The project program included interesting activities and lessons: the students joined the Forum Theater method, put Eduardo de Bono’s six colored hats, sat down at the World Cafe tables, showcased digital approaches, and discussed healthy lifestyles during an interactive lesson. All participants worked on a picture dictionary based on social terms due to the objectives of the project. During the trips and the general events, in the informal communication the children exchanged many of the most used words, entertained and shared the cultural traditions of their countries. Of course there was a Bulgarian cultural evening with banitsa, ljutenitsa and lukanka …

In the realization of the project and the activities, besides our wonderful students and guests, stands the hard work of our teachers Marinetta Ivanova – project coordinator, Dimitrina Todorova, Milena Planitkova, Danaila Stamatova, Daniela Stoyanova The solemn dispatch of our graduates, impressed very much the guests although they did not understand the words of the students and the teachers. They said they had felt a lot of kindness and love in them. They noticed the elegance of girls and teenagers. They sincerely enjoyed the balloons in the sky.They all liked Burgas, some even bathed in the sea, visited the island of Saint Anastasia. The World Cultural Heritage of Bulgaria was presented with a walk to Nessebar and the Spanish students and teachers continued to explore Bulgaria in Plovdiv and Sofia.

Erasmus + is the best way for our alumni to communicate with their peers from Europe, to work with them in a language different from their native, to present, to lead, to create … Their participation in this format prepares them for life. It is also very useful to exchange good practices among teachers, to familiarize them with different educational approaches and systems.