LTTA Cyprus,
3-9 March 2019
Sunday, 3rd March 2019
9th Primary School Limassol is the host of our fourth LTTA. Teachers from Italy, Romania, Poland, Portugal, UK and Croatia arrive in Cyprus.
Monday, 4th March 2019
In the morning the bus is waiting for all the participants in front of the hotel in Limassol. On arrival at school, we are welcomed by children in traditional costumes, accompanied by the staff and the headmistress. The hosts have prepared a wonderful show, consisting of traditional Cypriot songs and dances. After the show teams of Cypriot students take guests for a tour around the school premises. After a short break, there is a Geography lesson, representing the integration of virtual and augmented reality, with co-teaching of Christos Roushias Ed.D., Educational Technologist from Pedagogical Institute Cyprus, Zoi Kaouri and Marios Georgiou. Students are taught facts about the solar system. They learn how to observe it using virtual glasses, their mobile phone and the application Cardboard. It is a very motivating activity for children! After that teachers participate in a workshop for them, while the children play math board games, prepared during Numeracy Week. The day at school is finished with an experimental workshop on team building, led by Cypriot teachers Zoi Kaouri, Elli Constatinou, Anna Panteli and Koula Kyriakou. Both students and teachers participate in various games created to practice concentration, motor skills and teamwork. A great way to strengthen team spirit!
Welcoming ceremony at the host school, getting know the school,
team building workshops
Tuesday, 5th March 2019
Today it's time to present our mascot stories in classes of the host school. Each team gets into a different class. Everybody knows who Cosmo is and it's interesting to find out about this year's adventures, this time with the topic of the EU rights.
Today, there are two robotics workshops: the first one is organised by Frederick University's Robotics Academy (MBOT, Meed Edisson, NXT), led by Dr Nikleia Eteokleus, Assistant Professor in Educational Technology, Christos Christodoulou, Teacher and manager and Zoi Kaouri, a teacher from the host school. Within this workshop, students have a chance to assemble robots.
The second robotics workshop is led by a Croatian teacher Gordan Bartolić, assisted by the 7th grade student Luka Lukačević. They demonstrate running a robotic cart in two ways - by a remote control and sensors.
The workshop is followed by a lecture for teachers by Frederick University team on the exploitation of robotics in various learning subjects, as the students participate in outdoor games. The afternoon is reserved for a tour around the host town of Limassol: Ancient City of Kourion, Kolossi Castle, Chapel of Ayios Ermogenis, Limassol Castle and the Old Harbour.
Presenting the mascot story
Robotics Workshop for students by Frederick University
Robotics Workshop by Gordan Bartolić and Luka Lukačević from
II. osnovna škola Čakovec, Croatia
Exploitation of robotics in various learning subjects, a lecture for teachers
by Dr. Nikleia Eteocleous
Outdoor games for students
Cultural visit to Limassol and Kourion
Wednesday, 6th March 2019
It's time to visit Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus. On our way from Limassol we listen to our colleague Anna from Cyprus, retelling us in short the history of Cyprus, most importantly the war between Turks and Greeks, which happened in 1974 and took many innocent lives. 2019 is the year marking 45 years that Cyprus has been divided into two parts - Greek and Turkish, which makes our hosts very sad. Among them, there are some who lost family members in the war of 1974. Sights we visit in Nicosia are Archaeological Museum, Archbishopric, Famagusta Gate, Buffer Zone and the Old City of Nicosia. We also visited village of Lefkara, famous of needlecraft and traditional architecture. A game of treasure hunt was organised, which enabled us to use our orienteering skills in practice, in the same time learning about landmarks of this beautiful village.
Cultural visit to Nicosia
Orienteering activity in Lefkara
Thursday, 7th March 2019
Today the hosts have again prepared a very interesting programme: 3D printing workshop, lead by Dr. Marios Pieris, Technical Manager at 3D Makers Company. The 3D Makers Company was established in Cyprus by a team of young and enthusiastic entrepreneurs, engineers and idea developers. Dr. Pieris explains different methods of 3D printing. Students and teachers get to learn how a 3D printer functions in practice on an example of a toy owl. As the coordinators meet for planning, a workshop for students takes place: students learn from each other basic communicative phrases in all Innovate Together languages. You can see the result in the video below - the students learnt and enjoyed very much! In the late afternoon, there is a cultural visit to Old Limassol Town. There is so much to see and learn about the history of this beautiful town
3D printing workshop
Cultural visit to Old Limassol Town
Friday, 8th March 2019
We start our last day at 9th Primary School Limassol with a workshop on Story Jumper, a free Web 2.0 tool. The workshop is led by Andreas Xenofondos, a Technology Consultant in primary education. Our students learn to create their own e-books, illustrate them, add them voice, music or sound effects. The tool is planned to be used in all schools in the future, as students accept it with great motivation.
Although our programme is not over yet, after the workshop it is time to say goodbye to students and the staff of the host school. Everybody gathers in the schoolyard. It is a farewell that we could only imagine!
It is now time for another adventure: a visit to Engino, a factory where building blocks are produced, from very simple ones to robotic systems. A very involving workshop by the Engino experts was given, encouraging children to develop cognitive, linguistic and social skills through building a robot, practising coding and technological tools in mixed groups.
Workshop: Story Jumper
A visit to Engino factory
Workshop with Engino robotic packages
Saturday, 9th March 2019
The time has come to leave Cyprus. We are sad to leave, but in the same time happy because there is so much that we've learnt, so many unforgettable moments in only one week... We will remember forever the beauty of this country, everything we've experienced: its history, natural beauties, tradition, diligence, generosity and the warm heart of Cypriot people. Zoi, Koula, Elli and the rest of the Cypriot team, thank you!
Enjoy watching a video summarizing the whole week in Cyprus!
Photos: Gordan Bartolić, Branka Lamza, Zoi Kaouri
In the previous part you read the report by the Croatian coordinator. Now, let's find out about the other participants' impressions...
POLAND
As a part of the "Erasmus +" program, a group of five teachers and students visited with a week visit to Limassol in Cyprus. The stay program was very rich, perfectly planned and organized. Students and teachers took part in workshops and training on robotics, programming, and the use of modern applications in learning and teaching; workshops on augmented reality, robotics, 3D printing and creating e-books, Solar System, outdoor games and number games are topics that were extremely interesting for everyone. Our students enjoyed the visit they had been waiting for - at the Engino factory, producing structural elements, from very simple to robots, encouraging children to develop cognitive, social and motor skills. There was also time to explore the beautiful seaside town and surrounding areas. We also visited Nicosia and the mountain village of Lefkara inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List and the archaeological remains of the ancient city of Kourion. We enjoyed the nature, culture and tradition of this beautiful country, but above all the hospitality of people, our hosts. Zoi, Koula, Elli and all of the Cypriot team, thank you for the wonderful time!
UK
Three members of staff visited Cyprus. We received a very warm welcome from Zoi and her colleagues. Again, it was a great opportunity to experience Cyprus and learn more about their history and culture, while experiencing lots of fascinating learning activities. We loved the robotics and VR workshops and we will be trying to develop these skills when we return to school next year. The school staff were fantastic and it was lovely to spend so much time working with the children, as this was the school that was most like St. Michael’s, so it was really interesting to experience. We were very lucky to help lead a mosaic workshop with the Cypriot children. A very big thank you to Zoi and her colleagues for a fantastic trip!
PORTUGAL
Cyprus, a lovely welcome by Zoi and her team after a long Travel. Two teachers (Angela Gordino and Augusta Marques) and three students (Maria Antonieta Rodrigues, Nicolas Cunha and Inês Silva) travel to Limassol, Cyprus.
What wonderful days we lived, experiencing life in a Cypriot family, the food, traditions,songs, dances, historical villages with the wonderful outdoor activity - orienteering game, , the capital, Engino factory, the School and the so many different workshops in Robotics, Virtual reality, programming, games, and getting to know day by day school life in Limassol School.
Thank you everyone from Cyprus for these lovely days (Zoi, Koula, Elli,Marianna, Antigona, Irini, and all the other school staff , students and parents.
ITALY
Two teachers and the Headteacher together with three students took part in a very remarkable and well organized meeting in Limassol. We enjoyed the very warm welcome with typical songs, dances and drama performed by the children. Both students and teachers were involved in the numerous workshops, all high level and well led by experts from the host school, from the Croatian school and from the Limassol University of technology. The workshops covered a variety of topics: augmented reality, robotics, 3D printing and creating e-books, Solar system, outdoor games and numeracy games for students, creating a seven-language dictionary. We had the possibility to visit the Engino factory where building blocks are produced, from very simple ones to robotic systems. A very involving workshop by the Engino experts was offered, encouraging children to develop cognitive, linguistic and social skills through building a robot, practising coding and technological tools in mixed groups
We had the possibility to learn about the history of the country through guided tours; we visited the old town of Limassol, the capital of Nicosia, the archaeological remains of the ancient city of Kourion and the village of Lefkara, famous of needlecraft and traditional architecture. We appreciated the nature, culture and tradition of this beautiful country, which is an amazing combination of different cultures. But we were surprised and touched by the great hospitality of the host families, of the school staff and of the people in Limassol. This meeting was an unforgettable experience for our students and for our team!
ROMANIA
Two teachers with three students participated at this amazing meeting. The planned activities started in a relaxed atmosphere, guided by the mediterannean sun, with the welcoming ceremony of receiving the guests, traditional dances and songs and the guided tour of the school.
We were acquainted with one student’s activities in a common school day, we could notice the programme and the way the classes developed.
We participated at different workshops, one of them was to use the Augmented Reality at a Geography lesson with the topic the Solar System; using VR glasses and some appropriate apps that can be freely downloaded on phones (Cardboard și Expeditions), we (students and teachers together) discovered the solar system and the planets in their natural movement.
The educational involvement for this technology are huge, they can lead to a series of amazing educational contents, more intuitive, more attractive, more efficient. Other workshops concentrated on assembling and programming robots from lego, followed by examples of educational values of using robots, also, on becoming known 3D printers and other digital apps very useful in teaching- Space4+ and Storyjumper. The students have shown that they can easily communicate in English and they master the digital competencies by using these apps.
In order to discover the Cypriot culture, there were organized the visit of some representative old sites: Kourion, Nicosia- the capital, Lymassol- the oldest part of the city, a medieval village, Lefkara where it was organized an attractive Orienteering game.
Both students and teachers, had an amazing and useful experience during this project meeting. Everybody learnt something new, found out more about the other European countries, had the chance to speak in English and to make new friends. We are very grateful to Zoi and all her colleagues for the great work and we also thank them for this successful meeting.
