Project Meeting in Tallinn, Estonia, September 2007
Date: 2007-12-20
The 3rd transnational meeting of the MorePAL Grundvig 1 Project took place during the interval 27th September – October 1st 2007 in Tallinn, Estonia. It was kindly hosted by the representatives of the Estonian Reading Association (EstRA) as one of the partners within the project.
Each of the participating countries (Bulgaria, Romania, Wales) sent 6 representatives including teachers, headmasters, parents and members of the national teams. The sessions were held in the new building of the Tallinn University. A visit was arranged of a primary school, working as a project site. There the participants visited and observed different classes (e. g. maths, gym, art, language, etc.). The head teacher and colleagues from the school shared their experience in the organization of the school work and their partnership with parents.
The main part of the meeting was dedicated to the national presentations of the activities done within the project so far. The parents shared their own experience with the MorePAL project and how the initiative supported their efforts to become more actively involved in their child’s education, school and community.
Every team had prepared multimedia presentation of the in-country workshops for families where parents and children produced short movies depicting their family and school life. A lot of examples were also given about the family interaction trough various games, video materials, story telling, etc. Most of the families have prepared little books full of pictures, illustrations and stories describing their own family life (available at the project website).
Every presentation was followed by group discussions in order to exchange information and establish a good mutual understanding among the partners. The activities were specifically focused on teamwork and sharing of experience among parents, team representatives and other participants.
The second day of the event offered a very interesting meeting with one of the founders and members of the Estonian Association of Grandmothers who shared their experience with such type of projects and their collaboration with EstRA.
The Estonian hosts organized daily activities which gave opportunity to the rest of the visiting teams to get to know better the history and culture and of the marvelous city of Tallinn. They made sure that everyone was satisfied with his stay and assured every kind of professional assistance including the tour guided sightseeing of the city, the visit of Roca al Mare craft museum and the oldest school in Estonia or the delightful tasting of local food, sometimes prepared by the host project team members. After the school visit the participants had an opportunity to enjoy the beauty of the Baltic Sea, being not far from the school.
Special thanks to Meeli Pandis and Klaire Sinisalu, the Estonian team members and hosts, to the school welcoming the visiting teams, to all involved for their kind assistance, perfectly organized events and the splendid experience.
