Testimonials

This is what the teachers, educators and students have to say about the project

Defne YÖRÜK, student

October 29 was an incredible day for me. That day, I was going abroad for the first time, I was on a plane for the first time. I was so excited. I can’t remember the order but what we did there was really nice. First of all, it was acquaintance. We came down from the mountain with a rope, we taught the Maltese the Turkish intelligence and strategy game; mangala and we did water colour.

We painted our own face. In groups, we did many activities such as short theatre and place exploration. It was Maltese and Turkish night. At night, the food there was eat and the music played. We danced halay at the Turkish night. Honestly, it was a week I will never forget.

Mutaz Wakaa, student

It was an amazing experience. It was a great opportunity to make new friends. It was very fun, I liked everything we did. I participated in this because I thought it would be nice to make new friends and be without your parents for some time. I would love to participate again.

Elif KIRILMIŞ, student
Malta was a very nice experience for me. We had a lot of fun with in-hotel activities and excursions. The first day of mountain climbing was exciting. The next day, we walked a lot during the mountain walk we did and we found peace by breathing the air of nature. In addition, the event we held in Mdina added a different colour to our trip. We saw many historical artifacts during the Malta sightseeing tour. These artifacts were quite magnificent. Apart from the places we visited, the work we did inside the hotel, the activities especially the speeches made for teaching purposes contributed a lot to me. The people who taught us were very knowledgeable. Turkish night, Maltese night and karaoke night held in the evenings had a great effect on our mingling with Maltese students. In short, Malta was beautiful in everything and it was an excellent experience.
Elidee Gerada, student

My experience of the exchange has been unique! I had never experienced anything like it.
There were a lot of new activities for me and for my friends such as abseiling, learning about online safety, participating in a treasure hunt, hikes, spending time next to the beach, making new friends and learning about other cultures and traditions. All of these things made this a beautiful experience.

Leyla Tuana, student
Among the activities we did, the most fun I had was bowling, other activities, and I got to know people from different cultures that this event brought to me. I made new friends. I learned how nice it is to share. On this trip, my self-confidence increased even more. In this trip, we also talked about the development of the internet over time and the benefits and harms of social media. It allowed me to gain new information. We discovered the unique beauty of Malta. While discovering them, hiking and mountain climbing were the most exciting and relaxing activities in my life.
Zeynep GÜNDÜZ HOROZ

With this project, I learned the integration of technology into education. I learned that web 2 tools make the lesson more interactive. I discovered the differences between group studies and other studies. It was fun to see new places and get to know new cultures. I made good memories and made new friends. Thank you to everyone involved in the project.

Stefan Zammit, educator

The Reconnect week-long training enabled the participating teachers to get to grips with Tapscott’s concepts of creating a more modern pedagogy which is informed by the interactivity offered by social media and the world wide web. The sessions were paced appropriately, with ample time afforded to a discussion of the concepts and a gradual exploration of how these can be applied in our classrooms. During the final two days of the course we applied the concepts we learned into our own sample lessons. I particularly appreciated this time that we were given to get to grips with the material covered, as this is a luxury that we do not usually have. Working closely with our Turkish counterparts, we became familiar with a different educational system and different solutions to the same problems that we face, and I feel that this cross-pollination of ideas has had a positive effect.

Ekin Bakay, student

Before I went to Malta, I was hesitant to do some things, but everything changed in Malta. The activities and excursions there allow us to learn while having fun. Teamwork while playing the games allowed us to socialize and complete the tasks faster. Malta is a big factor in our learning by traveling and seeing, it is different. Meeting people from different cultures and chatting with them is a very different and nice feeling. For the first time in my life, I went to a place far from our family and had a fun time in a place full of such activities. Gaining these experiences at an early age has many positive aspects for us. I would like to thank everyone, especially our teachers.

EMRE CAN EKENEL, student

Our Malta trip between 29 October and 5 November 2021 was very fun and beautiful. I think it’s something everyone should experience. I made very good friends, I saw a different language and a different country, I learned new things as a result of the activities we did. In short, it was very useful.

Zeynep GÜNDÜZ HOROZ, educator

With this project, I learned the integration of technology into education. I learned that web 2 tools make the lesson more interactive. I discovered the differences between group studies and other studies. It was fun to see new places and get to know new cultures. I made good memories and made new friends. Thank you to everyone involved in the project.

Ayhan ATAR, educator

As a language teacher, I had a great experience especially on digital literacy in Malta. It was a great collaboration between Malta and Turkey students and teachers at secondary school level.

Students experienced a great adventure in extraordinary learning environment. 

First day, different team from Turkey and Malta created heterogenous group and did warmup activities. As Turkish mentors, we also had some responsibilities like keeping communication. Then we had a Turkish cultural night to ensure sincerity between groups. Then they had a great communication gradually day by day. As mentors we also improved our communicative skills. Next day we had abseiling acitivities. This is a kind of climbing activity. It provided our team self-confidence. It was a great adventure and we had unforgettable memories. Then they organized a Maltese Culture night at which we had a great chance to get to know a very different culture. Their food, dances music, etc. It was inspiring and broadens our horizons. Also helped each of us to break any kind of prejudices.

Third day included digital skills like safe internet and researching. We created different groups from different countries. Each member reflected their self in a freestyle. Some wrote a short text and keywords on safe internet. Some drew pictures and some performed a short play. These improved a kind of multi intelligence skills. What’s more, we had a city tour in Malta And played a cultural game in Medina Castle. This game included a Project based tasks. It was a Unique experience as well in view of learning by doing.

Andrea Gravina, educator

Our week in The Bella Vista Hotel Malta working on the Erasmus Project Reconnect was a very interesting and informative programme. Our week was spent together with a number of Turkish teachers, and this is one of the best aspects of the whole training course, as we got very different views and approaches to dealing with technology in the classroom. It was especially interesting listening to certain struggles these teachers had with using technology in the classroom and then comparing and contrasting that to our own problems.

I personally found two particular parts of the training course especially useful and informative. Finding out about Tapscott’s 8 Gen Norms was great because it helped me reflect on my own use of technology in the classroom as well as helping me assess better ways of approaching that with my students. It also helped me reflect on the kind of expectations students have when it comes to using technology in the classroom. It is not enough just to switch on a PowerPoint presentation or a video and expect them to be quiet for 40 minutes staring at a screen.

Another part of the teacher training course that I found very useful was working together with my fellow teachers from San Gorg Preca College on what we called Reconnect Tools – A blended Teacher Tool Kit, which meant developing lesson plans which utilised technology as a significant element. This was particularly useful because it was a practical approach to the issue at hand, and helped me reflect better on the use of technology and how best to include it in my lessons together with other teachers.

Overall I really enjoyed my time in the Reconnect Project and had a blast getting to know my Turkish counterparts.

Sabit İlker DİKKAYA, educator

While today’s world is changing rapidly, it has become a necessity to keep up with the change. While technology affects human life everywhere, education could not stay away from it. As educators, the need to follow these developments and adapt to the time and developments was a phenomenon we always knew. But we can say that this project has brought this awareness to the surface. I think that the facilities and presentations during the project period were successful in this regard. This project opened new doors for us as educators in respect of using web tools as professional development in educational sessions. As a suggestion, organizing a training on using web tools a little more detailed on this subject would be a great step as well. Even though there was language gap between the groups, it was enjoyable for people from different cultures to work together and in harmony. Getting to know the history, culture and warm people of a beautiful country like Malta was also an achievement in this project.

As a result, it is obvious that teaching the lessons using different methods, techniques and especially web tools will be more interesting and beneficial for students who spend almost all their lives in technological devices.

SEVİNÇ ÇIRAKMAN, educator
This project was educational, improving and fun for me and my students as an English teacher at every stage such as preparation, travel, accommodation, performance at events. The training activities, which started in the morning, started with a different warm-up activity prepared by Abraham every day in a pleasant way and continued with Peter’s effective and remarkable narration of many interesting subjects like ‘safe internet use’. The games, competitions, dramas, and presentation activities we played during the events always kept our excitement and interest alive. The Turkish night, Malta night and other evenings provided the opportunity to get to know our countries better, to taste local foods, to perform folk dances, and to have the students and teachers at the schools of both countries get to know each other better. Cultural and historical city tours in the afternoons and games such as treasure hunt; played during the excursions; as an extreme sport and nature walks were very enjoyable. Speaking English all day long, translating, getting to know a different culture and country, meeting very kind and nice people there and being friends with them were great experiences for us. I would like to thank everyone who contributed at every stage of the execution of the project.
Seyhan ÇIRAKMAN, educator
As a participant of this Project, I consider myself very lucky. Participating in both student mobility and teacher mobility gave me different experiences. First, I gained speaking practice in English language. When I did group work with students and teachers in a different culture, I learned this: If a person wants, he can achieve everything. Once again, I saw that the motivation and fun in the activities, make learning enjoyable. I think my students understand the importance of English better with the help of this project. Finally, using technology as a tool rather than a goal, will increase the quality of education. This project was very enjoyable for me, I would like to thank all the people who contributed. I had good friendship and had the chance to know good people during the Project activities.

Address

San Gorg Preca College Middle School, Mountbatten Street, Blata l-Bajda

Call Us

+356 25 987 408

Email Us

sgpc.bbajda.ms@ilearn.edu.mt