The document provides reflections from several students and teachers involved in the Comenius Project, an international educational exchange program. The summaries highlight the most positive aspects of the project, including: 1) Students enjoyed visiting partner countries, meeting new people, experiencing different cultures and customs, and practicing foreign language skills. 2) Preparing presentations and filming projects together fostered collaboration and learning. 3) Hosting foreign exchange students provided an immersive experience in other cultures in their home environments. 4) Most participants felt the project was a very positive experience that expanded their horizons and allowed them to develop lasting international friendships.

1. Evaluationof theproject

2. The best part of the Comenius Project I consider visiting the partner countries. Taking part in visit to Spain made it possible for me to meet many people, their culture, customs and lifestyle. It has also been an unforgettable chance to taste Iberian cuisine, learn the outline of the Spanish history and to admire their architectural masterpieces. It has been an unforgettable experience, I have always dreamt of visiting the country and now I feel like coming back. We can say, which is not an exaggeration, the Comenius Project makes your dreams come true, so it’s worth your participation. The Project is not only about visits, the tasks and activities done together are also worth paying attention to; the subject –based ones gave us new bits of knowledge in maths, history, or geography.

3. Mutual involvement in the task, which happened while filming the legend of our town brought about much fun, great atmosphere, and the feeling of satisfaction. The Comenius Project may have been the only occasion to make it happen. The mainstayof the project is, of course, the language which is essential for co-operation and communication; the better chance to practice your language skills is hard to imagine, then. Since the positives outnumber the negatives, you must join and enjoy! PrzemekWarnel, PolandThe Comenius Project fascinates me. First, I had to learn to compile a film to go to Ostrava. I could meet my friends and work with them as a director. Then in Ostrava. I met lots of people. They were kind and polite. I got to know new cultures and studies new points of view. I really enjoyed this time.PawełPrzedpełski, Poland

4. I think the best parts of the Comenius project are the journeys. We prepare for them in advance. When everything (presentations, videos, etc.) is done we pack our suitcases and go to catch an adventure. We meet lots of people, we can practise English and, of course, have great fun.Asia Ścianowska, PolandThe Comenius Project is very important for me, because I can study English and the history of other countries. I'll never forget the trip to Perpignan, it's a very beautiful city and the region is amazing. I met interesting people and now I have many friends. AgataGrajkowska, Poland

5. I have never thought the Comenius Project would be such a great adventure. I will never forget the places seen and people met. I’m so happy I could take part in it. I will miss you My Friends! Lena Jesionowska, PolandTaking part in the Comenius Project was an important experience to me. Thanks to it, I have learnt more about the history, culture and traditions of other European nations, but most of all I could observe the everyday life of ordinary people including my peers. I appreciate most being able to live for more than a week with French and English family and experience it myself. I love their hospitality and kindness towards me; they made my stay as enjoyable as possible.JacekSadowski, Poland

6. The Comenius Project is a great project for me. I have been to Spain and it was awesome. I met many people from other countries. I'm happy that I study English because thanks to that I can take part in this project.Sandra Dąbrowska, PolandI think that involvement and cooperation in the project was the great idea. Each pupil was more or less but engaged in it. We learnt much about other Countries’ culture, traditions, and lifestyles. The friendly and comfortable atmosphere made the visits pleasant for everyone. It was nice to find everyone outgoing. It would be nice to participate in another project of this kind. JanekPaprzycki, Poland

7. The Comenius Project has been an unforgettable experience to me. I had a chance to go to Spain where I met wonderful people. The first task I did was the paper model of our Town, then the History and culture projects; I like best working in task – based groups. It gave me the possibility to practice my interpersonal and cooperative skills, which makes you responsible for your work and enhances your motivation and self – confidence. I would recommendthe Project to everybody. KasiaRyłowicz, PolandThe Comenius Project is an interesting enterprise. All the tasks I have engaged myself into let me find out more about the culture and everyday habits of other Nations. I’m most happy had a chance to go to France. I recommend taking part in the Comenius Project. It’s worth it. Ola Radecka, Poland

8. The Comenius Project was a fascinating experience for me, considering all its aspects. I learnt a lot taking part in it. My involvement and hard work gave me the possibility to visit England. There were also numerous occasions to explore the vicinity of our Town. I learnt much from them and remember all of them well.PatrycjaGórska, PolandI was involved into Comenius Project thanks to my friend Małgorzata Garkowska, who encouraged me a lot to start such responsible undertaking.Never before a similar adventure had been done in our school so my experience was rather tiny and frankly speaking I was a little bit afraid. However the preparatory meeting in autumn 2007 changed the feeling of fear into very enthusiastic attitude towards to project as nice and friendly teachers arrived to our school.

9. The main idea of the project was born pretty fast and there was no problem to create all its parts. The result of this early successful cooperation could not be different – our project got top points and both Małgorzata and I were deeply delighted with it. Motivated enough, we started preparing first presentations with students for the meeting in Ostrava. The two years of the project has passed quickly. Meanwhile together with other teachers from our school and of course dozens of students we have made many fine presentations, posters, films, exhibitions and displays. It gave me a lot of pleasure to cooperate with so many people at the same time and cope with some problems. I always tried to do my job well as the standard of Czech, British, French and Spanish presentations were always high and nobody wanted to stay behind.

10. Thanks to Comenius Project I visited foreign schools, made friends with outstanding foreign teachers, met their “home” professional problems, learned their culture and environment. Short trips around let me know the geographical elements of geology, climate and plants. When I look back at those two years which have almost passed, I can recall busy and sometime tiring days but I cannot imagine life without our project.Now I wish to thank Małgorzata and all of our foreign friends for everything we have done together. I am also deeply moved with our students’ work, who surprised me many times with their creativity and engagement into the project. I took lots of photos during that time and I am sure they will bring me the best memories of my life.MrPiotrWiśniewski, geography teacher, Poland

11. We went to Spain all nervous and worried about the trip and what our host families would be like. We travelled by plane from Heathrow to Madrid where we then took a plane to Bilbao and then a bus to Haro. Where Mr Parnell lost his suitcase but got it back! We then met up with our host families which all spoke very good English which was good so we could communicate on the first day we went to look around a famous winery which was very interesting and we also had a tour around Haro. On Saturdaywe went to the capital of La Rioja, (the region) Logroño, which is a stop for the pilgrims that go to Santiago and the old church of Santiago we really enjoyed our self. The next day we went with our host families to a place. I visited a mountain village famous for its wool and its ski resort. The Spanish culture is really different as they have lunch much later than we do at about half 2 and then have a siesta in till 4. They then go out with their friends till 10 where they return for their diner at half 10 and most go to sleep at midnight! I have got used to the different culture and really enjoyed my trip and so did everyone else we all had a great time! Michael Winders, UK

12. As part of the Comenius Project I hosted a student from the Czech Republic. I really enjoyed the chance to host someone from another country and learn about their culture whilst they experienced mine. The student my Mum and I hosted was a 17yr old boy named Ondrej. At first I thought it was going to be awkward, on paper we didn’t seem to have that much in common except one year age gap. But when he arrived it was like my older brother was home. Except Ondrej could play the piano. I think that’s my most vivid memory from the first couple of days.I was standing in the kitchen washing the dishes with my mum when suddenly the house was filled with the sound of Bohemian Rhapsody being played with absolute vigour on our piano. He was amazing.His repertoire of songs was immense, ranging from ACDC to Queen to old Czech songs; and all from memory. Some of his best playing was Jazz improvisation though.

13. Every night, no matter how exhausting our day, we would talk for ages. One night, the topic was geography. My mum and Ondrej had one big thing in common, they had both travelled in the area and wanted to travel some more. They even went so far as to get out my mum’s maps and look at the borders of countries and name the places they’d been and what they remember. It was great to be able to find something he was passionate about where his English was more than good enough. A large proportion of Ondrej’s and mine chats were about language and often the peculiarity of the English language. One night, we sat watching TV and began talking about the differences between American English and what we the English think of as English. Ondrej and I believe the Czech students in particular were incredibly good at English. They are a definite example that is you start learning a language early on in life it’s easier to pick up and continue to learn. Ondrej had been learning English for as long as he was at school.Ellie Booth, UK

14. When the taxi pulled up outside of my home on Thursday morning at 3am I must admit to feeling the slightest sense of disbelief, a disbelief that I had agreed, along with Mrs Doherty, to get up at 3am in the morning and embark upon a thirteen hour journey to..... Spain!It is pertinent to mention this first as it was the only occasion during the entire trip that I experienced anything approaching a negative thought. I would confidently say that this was also the case for the majority our travelling party.When we finally arrived in Haro after three bus journeys and two flights, the latter of which we managed to catch with a mere two minutes to spare, we were met by our Spanish friends. From this moment to the time that we left we were treated as part of their family. Obviously there was some trepidation for Mrs Doherty and me when we left our students in the hands of the Spanish hosting families, especially considering that we had spent thirteen hours together with only Alex’s Nintendo DS for diversion!

15. Living in a different country, with a different language and with different customs is a daunting experience for anybody. Our students were immersed in this from the first moment when they ate, drank and slept as Spaniards.We all came away from this experience with lifetime memories and a deserved sense of pride at how they had adapted and developed as people.Mr M. Parnell: P.E Teacher, UKPrevious ideas The teachers’ main objective when tackling the Comenius Project was to approach the students to the following issues:Improve communicative skills in foreign languages.

16. Meet and share experiences with host students and families.

17. Foster students’ interest in travelling abroad and learning other languages.

18. Discover a new way to increase general knowledge.

19. Get used to getting along with people from different nationalities.

20. Know about other countries and their culture. Lourdes Ellacuría, Spain

21. Our students in general wanted to undertake this adventure and were really motivated.Some of the students involved in the project had already got several similar experiences to this previously, so they encouraged their school mates to take part in the Comenius.Only the students who were really interested in attending the project, took part in it. The preparation of the videoconferences, film and presentations supposed a hard effort by the part of the students and from the beginning to the end they were the real authors. The teachers were only a guide since they must learn that autonomous work is essential to develop as students and individuals.InésSomalo, SpainWe would never allow students to criticize other people’s customs because respect and education is basic.InésSomalo and IvanaArnedo, Spain

22. In the beginning, students did not know what the project activities would exactly consist of; because of this, they only expected to make some power point presentations. They did not expect to learn many things of the new technologies of information and communication (ICT). However, they were really excited when they discovered that some of the presentations would be films; as these films were being made, students recognized that they were learning a lot about it.As the project developed and we started to work on it and we enjoyed our meetings in the different countries, all of us agreed in the fact that this kind of activity really promotes what we were looking for. At the beginning of it, students admitted that they could not explain what a day in the life of a student in any of the other countries would be like; requested to make a guess, they answered that they supposed it would be similar to theirs.The shooting of the film is worth a special chapter because neither students nor teachers had the slightest idea of how to make a film and honestly, we still don’t have it, we just did our best.IvanaArnedo, Spain

23. During the ComeniusExchanges were sometimes tiring but amazing. Do you know what it is to belong to a group of nearly fifty people in which five languages can be heard?Communication was the most difficult but most important aim for us during our stay in the foreign countries. They remind us that it took them time to understand other students but once they got to know one another, we were able to communicate quite well in English.Javier Collado, SpainThanks to the presentations, we learnt a lot of things about the partner countries and became interested in the culture, geography, customs and history. We also add that some of the presentations and films were really funny.Gonzalo Sánchez, Spain

24. The aspect we were most worried about at the beginning had to do with food. At the end of the project, none of us considered we had had problems worth mentioning; what is more, they greatly enjoyed tasting new different dishes and discovering the eating habits of the other countries.Mar Ortega, SpainAll the students who participated in the Comenius agree that the experience was very positive for several reasons. Many of us would like to repeat the experience and participate in future projects. At the end of May 2010, when we were asked about the extent to which their knowledge of the cultures of the participating schools, we stated that we had learnt a great amount of things about the life, customs and culture of our Comenius mates. Ariadne Varela, Spain

25. The most outstanding feature is that we really enjoyed going abroad and meeting foreign people. In general, we liked the majority of the activities carried out in the different countries we liked them because they were very varied and each country offered its own peculiarities.Ana Pérez, Spain Exchanges between students were satisfactory and we think it is a good way to make friends. They become aware of the differences between countries and concluded that differences are positive because they define us and make us unique.María de la Fuente, Spain

26. I really enjoyed the whole Comenius project. I shoot the films with my friends and it was great fun. I also like films of our partners, especially English ones. The visit in Winchester was really splendid; I enjoyed the stay with the family and discussions with parents. I only regret that I cannot speak better English, because I sometimes was not able to express myself. And of course the best thing about the Comenius was making friends. I made many new friends – even among some teachers – and I have already visited my mate Denis in France on my own. It was great, I stayed with his family, and I can come again. I will, I am looking forward to it.And my parents are really happy with the project. The want me to travel as much as possible and so they support my going abroad, both with school and on my own.OndřejGrošaft, Czech Republic

27. I did not go abroad, but I still enjoyed the project, especially shooting the legend and other films. It was great fun; I would like to shoot more films like that at school, not only for Comenius project. I hope others enjoyed the film too. British films were good, maybe the best, but all the films about legend were really nice.Jan Lazar, Czech Republic I enjoyed hosting student from Spain. That was really something new for me. Their habits are different from ours and it was nice to learn it. And we went to tea-rooms and play bowling and have a lot of fun. Going to Spain was also great, I made new friends and Spanish food was great and the weather was nice and Spanish families and parents were so friendly. Preparing the presentations was not so funny, but sometimes it was really interesting to learn new things about different countries.Lucie Kůtrová, Czech Republic

28. I like the best the stay in Spain. It was tiring but fantastic. I spend five days with my friends and did not have to go to school. I took part in most of the videoconferences, they were really funny even though we had technical problems and we could not speak, only listen. I would like to do more of them. I am looking forward to go to Poland. I hope this will be the best part of the Comenius. DenisaRabatinová, Czech Republic I will go to Poland, so I think that will be the best part of the project for me. I enjoyed hosting students at our school and home. It was really fantastic: we went to party and tearoom, and made friends and I was able to speak in English and a bit Spanish. Daniela Delongová, Czech Republic