9 March 2013

Report of meeting in Kilkis Greece March 5 and 6

Our Greek jpartners joined us for all meals except last evening.  They took us to three different low cost restaurants where full meals averaged aroung ten euros each

Maria, principal of the elementary school, is the new project director but the former director  and former mayor joined us several times

Everything started on time and was generally well organized

We were greeted by the present mayor

We visited the elementaty school where Maria is principal and viewed the collection of antique tools and fabrics and visited with the students who were about 12 years old

We were taken to a private art gallery, to the historic hill of Saint George where we visited the caves, saw the outdoor semicircular theater and the church of St George

We were also driven to the borders of what we call Macedonia and heard the Greek version of the controversy over the name and the current stable situation of the border

We were also close to the border  of Bulgaria

One evening traditional musicians played and sang for the group and several people danced traditional line dances

Another visit was organized to the cultural center which has numerous programs for adults and children.  We participated in an adult ceramics workshop and made items

under their guidance.  Then we were introduced to a music workshop featuring drums from many areas of the world, their rythmic patterns and we learned how to play a

few basic beats together with individual variations by each participant

At the second discussion session Leonidis from Cyprus led a discussion about teaching methodology

He requested that Paris consider changing the dates of our meeting from June 4 - 5 to the last week of June due to conflicts in Cyprus, Greece and Romania

We discussed methods of learning with the Romanian partners saying that at their technical high school they read a theater piece then saw it presented - adults seperate

from juniors with a discussion of how the presentation changed due to the media used and the personal charisma of the actors

Cyprus likes to break groups down to about three people and then come back for presentation in order to help everyone participate

Paris talked about making their sessions as stress free and fun as possible

Thank you for letting me participate in this program

Betty Abugheida - volunteer  senior