Cultures Meet in Europe

Our school is located in Darende, Malatya which is in the east part of Turkey. It has 100 students. Both our students and teachers are very active in projects and activities. You can find a short introduction video of our school on the next page:

The idea of the project is to promote culture of our own and learn about the culture and geography of different countries by using many different web tools, organise collaborative activities in which all participating schools work in common. The project involves students aged from 6 to 11 Students will learn about geography, language and literature, food, festivals,clothes, crafts,Traditional kids games, music, dances and celebrations from 10 February till June 2019.

Our objectives are:
Learn more about other cities, countries, customs and their partners’ culture,
find the differences and simmilariries between us, promote the exchange and valuation of the cultural heritage, improve students’ ICT skills, communication and language skills, participating in interactive activities, improve students’ ability of group working and be part of a team, transmit positive values: solidarity, respecting others, friendship, gain more confidence in using modern means and methods in teaching, learning and assessment.
JANUARY – introductions of the partners, creating a logo.
FEBRUARY – Photos or videos of traditional handcrafts.
MARCH – Each country will share one traditional children’s game.
APRIL – Presenting traditional songs and dances, video.
MAY – Every country introduces a traditional dish.
JUNE – Each country will introduce its traditional clothing.

Expected Results:
Students will have information about their cultural heritage.
They will show respect and love to their peers from different cultures.
We will develop equality, social cohesion, intercultural dialogue.
Our students will see the beauty of cultural diversity.
With this project we want to create positive awareness among cultures.
We also expect the project to train children to be more tolerant, respectful and open towards the outside world.

After we introduced our schools, cities we live in, our countries and logos we prepared for the project, we introduced many kinds of handcrafts from our region to our partners.

In March, our students displayed a children game, called Hopscotch, to their partner students. They really enjoy it and play it in breaks. 

In April, my students presented Halay which is a traditional folk dance here. We practiced and recorded it in the class. 

We also shared a traditional song from our city with our project partners.

In May, we introduced a very delicious traditional dish to our partners. 

Kömbe- A traditional type of pie

Ingredients:

Flour

Water

Salt

Mince or potato

Butter

Oil

Milk 

Yeast   

Processes of Kömbe:

1. After kneading the dough and wait it for a while, a big piece of it is rolled out and spread on the baking tray which is oiled before.
2. Optionally, either mince or mashed potatoes are spread out on the dough.
3. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a frying pan, let it cool down for 5 minutes and add some flour in it so that it will not be liquid.
4. Pour the mixture of butter and flour on the mince or mashed potatoes.
5. Another big piece of dough is rolled out and spread on the baking tray to cover all the mixture.
6. Finally, pour some oil and milk on the dough and bake it at the maximum degree for 30 minutes.
7. Now, it is ready to serve. Enjoy it!

Our final activity is to introduce our traditional clothes and here you can find some samples that my students wear while dancing.