The 6th Asia-Europe Classroom Network Conference in Greece

The collaboration between Europe and Asia was on agenda during the 6th AEC international conference which was held in Serres, Greece on 9-13 October 2006.


The conference gathered the secondary school teachers and educators from both continents. Poland was represented by the principal Aleksandra Baran, Joanna Mika-Hadelka and Dariusz Zerdzinski teachers from ZSEI Swietochlowice (secondary school of economics and ICT) who coordinated Mrs Halina Bednarz’s project ‘Young Diplomats’.

ASIA EUROPE in the CLASSROOM
http://www.aec.asef.org

Official opening ceremony was inaugurated with the speech made by Mr Ramon Molina - Director of People-to-People Exchange Asia-Europe Foundation, representative of Hellenic Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs in Greece as well as local authorities and co-organisers.

The intention of the conference was to establish a kind of a forum for exchanging both experiences and ideas which would start collaboration among secondary schools coming from different European and Asian countries. It supposed to promote never-ending intellectual and intercultural dialog done mainly by using the newest infocommunication technology (ICT).

During the conference, nominated to the annual award last year’s projects coordinators from Finland, Malaysia, Ireland, Greece, Singapore and Italy could show the other participants the outcomes of their work. The winners were as follows:

Cultural Kaleidoscope - AEC-NET 2006 Award Winner - Proposed by Leonora Anne Peers
Garden International School, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Local Traditions and Ceremonies - AEC 2006 Award Winner - Proposed by Zafi Kagkalidou / Michalis Feidakis /Alexandros Peppes / Hellenic Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, Greece; and Pádraig Kirk / George Porter,
Department of Education and Science, Ireland

Mastering Media - AEC-NET 2006 Award Winner - Proposed by Sinikka Laakio-Whybrow Kaarina Senior High School, Kaarina, Finland

After having presented nominated projects and new projects proposals for the incoming school year all the participants took part in workshops during which the final suggestions to the projects were made.

The organisers also didn’t forget about enabling participants the possibility of visiting places of great importance to Hellenic art, history and culture.
A real highlight was a visit to the ancient monastery of John Babtist in Promodos.

Another attraction was a visit paid to the local music school. We were welcomed by its headmaster and teachers who invited us to a concert during which students were presenting their extraordinary skills.

The closing ceremony, where the certificates of attendance were handed in, was also a good occasion for presenting participants’ national costumes as well as short cultural programes.


Joanna Mika-Hadelka