Joint Staff Training C3 in Romania
 

 
 

   From 4th till 10th March there was a joint staff training of teachers participating in the Erasmus+ project “Nais (New Angles of good practices on Inclusion for all Students)”. Five teachers from Tukums Evening and Distance Learning Secondary School Reinis Rukmanis, Linda Otto, Antra Brinkmane – Brimane, Ineta Cerpinska and project coordinator Aiva Leitane went to Romania.

   In the evening of 3rd March we arrived in Arad in Romania and met our project partners in the hotel. Warm greetings and embraces were around. All the teachers were very glad to see each other after again.
 

Day 1: Sunday, March 4^th
Cultural program: visit to Timișoara

 


   In the morning we went on an excursion to Timisoara. Timisoara is the third largest city in Romania. A multinational city with Hungarian, German and Serbian minorities. Known as the first city in Europe and the second in the world after New York, to use electricity to illuminate its public streets. Today, one of the most economically prosperous Romanian cities.

   Timisoara abounds with churches of several denominations.

   We visited he Roman Catholic Cathedral (Catedrala Episcopala Romano-Catolica) and the Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan Cathedral (Catedrala Ortodoxa Mitropolitana)

   We walked aroud the Victory Square and went through the pedestrian promenade, where we saw an amazing and unusual sculpture.

   We tried delicious Romanian food at cafes in Timisoara. We decided to try Romamian soups which were really delicious and similar to our Latvian soups.

   After the excursion in the evening we had Welcoming dinner in Hotel „Aradul” where we were staying during the training.

   We were pleasantly surprised at the peculiar way of serving the food.

 Day 2: Monday, March 5^th

 

  It was a very busy and exciting day. We were warmly welcomed by the teachers and counsellors at Liceul Tehnologic Francisc Neuman what was our project working place during this week.

   During the meeting with pupils and teacher, we were surprised at the positive atmosphere, high organizational level and school technical equipment.
This school consists of two buildings: Neuman building and Cicio Pop building, where we were surprised about monumental and huge buildings with big, light and simple classrooms.

   One thing was really good and unique: ”the library on the wall” (very big poster with books on the wall), where students can take a photo of the book code and receive this book in their mobile phones for reading.



   The topic of the day was Profile of an inclusive teacher so we visited the County Center for Resources and Educational Assistance where prof. dr. Ovidiu Toderici told us about this building and the work they do. We met the psychologist Otilia Ardelean who tried to teach us an amazing and simple, but a bit complicated dance which can be used to help the studentsnot to be angry to each other. That was a very interesting experience for us – adults.

Here, we also chose a gift for the spring festival.





   We visited Teachers` House and „Rainbow” Centre where we meet prof. Adela Redes – Director, who guided us through the building. We got the positive impression about the teachers` job here, because all the teachers and children were very smiling and warmly welcoming us. What was a surprise for us? Three teachers (with assistants) working with just about ten children. In this regard, Romania is a step ahead of Latvia.

   After official visits to educational institutions we had Cultural program: guided city tour in the center of Arad.
   The guide took us to the most famous places in Arad, the historical center of the city with many interesting buildings.
   Arad is a city of impressive buildings and architecture, with many of the main sights located along the principal thoroughfare, the broad, tree-lined street with trams running along it. These include the impressive white City Hall Palace (1875), the Palace of Culture (1911-1916), the neo-gothic and secessionist-style Red Church (1906), the large, domed Roman Catholic Church (1902-1904) and the neo-classical State Theatre (1874). Republic Street (Str. Republicii) - Pedestrian Street with Art Nouveau buildings.

 Day 3: Tuesday, March 6^th

   The topic of Tuesday was Learning to learn, guidance and personal development of students. The representatives of schools prof. Aiva Leitane, prof. Olivier Paquee, prof. Gitte Lenaerts, prof. Edin Kadic presented the guidance system at schools, their teachers` hard and important role in children`s education, motivation to learn and having the feeling of being included..
   Then we had Eures - European Employment Services presentation about EU aspects in career and labor market (Adriana Soneriu – expert). We got a good overview of this topic.
   After lunch we participated in the training session of types of guidance services where we had to work hard: to remember our own career planning: when was it started, did the career change or not, how many times and etc. That was exciting for all of us.
   During the project, various methods were used, such as group work, thought cards, video and IT.

 Day 4: Wednesday, March 7^th

   Wednesday started with the presentation of the Erasmus+ project ”The suitcase, the map and the voyage of a youth worker” where Lavinia Gană – school counsellor and trainer guided us through this project. We fillded in some tests and questionnaires and made sure we have chosen the right career. The project platform based on Moodle was very attractive. We got really interested in it and we would like to introduce some possibilities intp our Moodle platform.

Prof. Camelia Avramescu’s training session made us be involved very actively. After lunch we visited school workshops. Coordinators had their meeting to plan the next project activities and meetings.
In the late afternoon visited ”Integra”- association for persons with mental disabilities where we watched string-puppet performance.

 Day 5: Thursday, March 8^th

  This special day - Women’s Day started very nicely: firstly all the women of our team got the gifts from the only man in our team – Reinis. After that all the women received presents at school from students.

   We continuoed with training session: Career activity planning – creating a lesson plan (design). This session was held by Otilia Ardelean.
   Groups got the tasks to plan the career of a student and present it in an exciting way. It wasn’t an easy task because we all have different students with different background and experience.

   We had a presentation of methods, tools used in career guidance: questionnaires and inventories on professional interests, skills, multiple intelligencies, learning styles, where we got big source of useful materials for our work at local schools. Thanks for it!


   We had delicious lunch at shool prepared by teachres.We were able to try Romanian food (most of them home – made) which is eaten daily in Romania ( including very huge bread and strong drink). We all apprecited this opportunity.

 

 Day 6: Friday, March 9^th

 
   The topic of day was Schooling - Career – Globalisation. We listened to Cristian Ianoșdan – trainer, we had round table discussion about impact of European projects, trainings and mobilities on teachers and students.
After that we had a very interesting prof. dr. Franky Huysmans`s presentation about guidance and personal development of students who are from different countries and representing different religions at the same school in Belgium. It was exciting to hear how to deal with them and teach them with a lot of mutual respect and tolerance.
   The last working day ended with a partner meeting, when everything was evaluated and planned for the next steps in the project.
   During the award ceremony we received Certificates about participation in this project. We also received Europass Mobility Certificates.



   In the evening we had a farewell dinner in the "Moara Cu Noroc" restaurant in Ineu, which was very impressive with very large halls and interesting rooms.


   On Saturday morning, we went back to Latvia, taking home a lot of positive emotions, new ideas for next project activities, being glad to have shared experience and friendship with teachers from other countries, because during this week there were a lot of events and impression that we will remember for a long time.

   Project coordinators will meet again in May to plan the next activities and the exchange of students.