My name is Carmine, I took part to the Comenius project hosting a German student.
When my teacher Professor Maiellaro asked me if I wanted took part to Comenius project, hosting a foreign student, I was really very enthusiastic, I immediately asked my parents for permission.
They agreed, they decided that we could do it. I asked my teacher, and I confirmed my family’s decision. My teacher gave me the e-mail address of the German student, Simon Shaflitzl, for starting knowing each other.
After the first contact, we began to exchange a lot of e-mail to find out what were our hobbies, what we liked doing, if you were allergic to something, even what we did not like.
The Germany team arrived by plane to Bari and rented a car to get quickly to Tursi.
On February 26, at 17:30, we were at school; the bus stopped near the main entrance of the school. We knew right away that they were, and after the greetings, I met Simon, a 14 year old boy, tall, blond, quiet and shy. From the first meeting I knew he was a boy available, friendly and eager for new experiences
The next day we were all at school and after being together until the break we went to the auditorium for the student to student presentation “” about music, the National Anthem, and each European Country presented their Country then we did the workshop “About Italy ….: I, in English, presented Italy, from the cultural and artistic the point of view.
The day 27th continued in the afternoon with a pleasant musical show during which some students performed the National Anthems of different countries and pieces of Italian music known all over the world, after some pupils recited some lyrics from Albino Pierro, a tursitan poet, in English.
The next day, February 28th, we gathered in the gym to take part to “Games Without Frontiers” organized by our teacher Prof. Scorcia. All the participants received as a gift a prize medal with Comenius’ logo and the dates of the Comenius project, I loved it and will keep it as a souvenir. We run several games like limbo, pathways, the tug of war and football while sitting. At 10:30 we had waited for recreation and 13:30 for lunch. At 15.30 we took the bus to the camp Paintball in Policoro.
After doing the teams and listened to the rules and the dangers that we could run, we started to play. We had so much fun because in Germany or other countries Paintball is forbidden for children under 18 years. In the evening we returned home with my mom, we washed ourselves, we had dinner and we went out for a walk to the center of Nova Siri, where we saw the church and then we brought Simon to the sea.
The 1st March we did the CITY GAME, a game organized by Prof. Mormando and
prof. D’ Argenio. You had to do a questionnaire seeking answers through the streets of the town obliterating the witness at every stage and finally complete the puzzle.
If everything was correct the word Jolly “BASILICATA.” would appear
The path ended in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rabatana, where there was the award of the three top teams.
All participants had the cap of “Manlio Capitolo.”’ School.
Late in the afternoon at 17:30, there was a disco, we danced and we had a great time thanks to good dj, a student from our school. In the evening we returned home, and after dinner we helped to prepare Simon his suitcase.
The next day Simon reluctantly greeted my mom and my sister and my father went to the bus stop. We took the bus and arrived in Tursi at 08:05. At 9.30 came the German professors. I said goodbye to Simon asking him to return to Italy this summer with his family. At 10:00 they left pleased and happy to have this experience ended well.
The Comenius project has been for me an exceptionally beautiful and exciting project because it was a full immersion in the English language, has allowed me to make new friends, to compare with other students of my age and also to have fun as well as to experience the school in a different way: more happy and carefree.
I hope that my friendship with Simon does not finish and it continues to grow with us.
Thanks to all the teachers who have worked so hard to give us this great opportunity.
Carmine 1 B informatics
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