Europe in Świeradów-Zdrój
During the second week of May (07-12.05.2007) teachers and students of our school (Miejski Zespół Szkół w Świeradowie-Zdroju, Poland) were hosts of the international working meeting- a part of mulitilateral project KNOWLEDGE BUILDS BRIDGES. This project has been realized on the basis of European programme Socrates Comenius. At the meeting we had guests from: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Germany, Greece and Finland (in an alphabetical order). Altogether we had 15 adult people and 15 students from foreign countries.
After arriving in Świeradów-Zdrój teachers went to a guest house Pałacyk and students went to their host families (as a rule Polish families and their guests have already been close friends as they have been emailing for quite a long time).
In the afternoon we started the activities connected with our project. Hard work was inaugurated with the concert of our local chamber music band Rocal Fuza. The concert was a great success.
Next day – it was an official inauguration At our Town Hall. We had a meeting with the Secretary of Town- Mrs Sylwia Błaszczyk and the Mayor of the Town- Mr Roland Marciniak.
They told our guests about our town , about its history and about future plans.
Then it was a time for an official meeting at our school. All the participating in the project countries met with our principal Mrs Wiesława Stasik. In the framework of our working meeting visitors participated in a show prepared by our students.
As 8th of May is one of the May days connected with European Union students organized for us a trip round Europe.
The colleagues in front of our school
After that we went for a sightseeing trip to a local water electricity plant which is located on Czocha Lake. All the objects ( the electricity plant and a dam) we were able to see thanks to the Director of Electricity Plant- Mr Kazimierz Pierzchała who personally was our tour guide.
To enable our studnets to get to know one another better Mrs Izabela Salawa and Mrs Teresa Fierkowicz organized special games and integrating activities in the evening (students had really great time).
On Wednesday we reached Stóg Izerski. Although the weather wasn’t the best one we showed our guests magnificent panorama of our town. In the afternoon students told us about their towns displaying the presentations they prepared at schools. And finally in the evening they had an opportunity to relax a bit- the school disco.
Next day it was a trip to Wrocław. We had a sightseeing tour there and some free time for shopping.
The whole group in front of the crest of Wrozlav
Friday- the last day of our working meeting. This day was connected with IT workshops for teachers- organized with a great help and support from Mr Kazimierz Barański and Mr Rafał Matelski and art workshops for our students. The artists were working with the help of Mrs Grażyna Kasprzak and Mr Dominik Dembiński While teachers were working on www page of our project students were preparing paintings connected with our mountains and our town (they painted, the were working with paper mache, they were doing the glass painting etc). In the evening we could admire all the created pieces of art.
And finally our last activity – sporting tournament and a quiz about our partner countries. The sporting event was held in our gym and another Polish teacher – Mr Radosław Mularczyk helped us a lot.
Those 5 days passed so quickly and we had to say goodbye to our guests. We couldn’t help crying as we became really close friends. Polish hospitality created really familiar atmosphere and students from other countries were leaving like members of our families.
We miss you so much.
(Newspaper article Świeradów-Zdrój)