Staff mobility-Belgrade
After a year of online activities we finally managed to organize the first live mobility of teachers in Belgrade from 29th November – 3rd December. During the five-day stay participants enjoyed getting to know each other, working together and sightseeing the capital of Serbia.
On the first day four teachers from Vila-real and two teachers from Emden were greeted by the Serbian project team of teachers and students. Following the Serbian tradition the guests were welcomed by fresh bread carried by two children wearing traditional Serbian clothes. The headmistress wished everyone a successful and pleasant week. Afterwards the guests were shown the school building along with some interesting classes. In the second part of the day the three teams went through all activities that had been done in each school. Each team reported about the mediation training of teachers and students and the German team presented the website of the projects. The Serbian team pointed out the importance of the eTwinning platform for cooperation and collaboration and that in the next months more attention should be paid to updating the eTwinning page.
The next day school psychologist from Ivo Andric school did a training on emotional education. She talked about the difference between functional and non-functional emotions and the importance of emotions in general. She pointed out the importance of expressing emotions, recognizing and accepting them. Serbian teachers presented examples from everyday work of how they teach about emotions, what techniques they use in classes so that students can deal with their emotions and also how dance can help express them. The Spanish team presented books they use for teaching young students about emotions, while the German team presented games and activities they use not only for dealing with emotions but also for dealing with conflicts.
The third day was dedicated to training in mediation. Due to covid situation the project teams couldn’t realize previously planned training in mediation so that this moment was used for going one more time through all steps of successful mediation. In Vila real it all started form the local community which noticed a problem with violence among children and invested in training teachers to carry out mediation in all schools in Vila-real. They also explained how they transformed some parts of the building and the playground to serve the needs of all children. As a result they have had fewer conflicts. They also showed leaflets they used to inform parents about the activities.
On the last day the teams used some time to make conclusions and plan the activities for the rest of the project time. Student mobilities will remain telematic, while teachers mobilites will take place in May and June. According to the evaluation done by the participants everyone was satisfied with the activities and the outcome of the visit. In the end, all participants were awarded certificates of participation as well as a small present-a book The Bridge on the Drina, by the novelist Ivo Andric, by whom the school was named after.
Apart from working on the project activities, the guests visited several tourist attractions in Belgrade, enjoyed Serbian traditional cuisine and music, made great pictures and memories.
For team Serbia: Vesna Tutunovic
