Project links Coşkun Schools with European partners

Under a program called Project Comenius, Çamlıca Coşkun Primary School has forged cultural bridges between its students and teachers and those from four European schools since 2007. That year 11 students and seven teachers from the school, which operates under the motto "To understand and to be understood, to love and to be loved, to admire and to be admired, to explore new ways of living, to establish spiritual bridges among people," headed to Paris. The warm bonds that emerged between students and teachers from the countries involved in the program inspired Çamlıca Coşkun Primary School to forge ahead with cultural exchange activities.

"The world became a global village as a result of technological developments, after which it became easier to reach wherever you wish," read a statement sent to Today's Zaman by the school, explaining that as inhabitants of this village, the school doesn't simply want to coexist with other cultures without getting to know them. “Having good contact with the diverse cultures of the world has become a crucial need,” the statement continued.

Project Comenius was a team effort involving intense work by a number of parties. The program first involved students and the instructors of the school. Later, the project was introduced to a larger group, including John More Croft from the British Council, Ersin İlhan, the assistant general director of education programs, and Murat Yıldırım, the school's director. The Turkish team working on the program was divided into groups focusing on various activities, including Turkish literature, visual arts, music, folklore and the English language. While the group dealing with Turkish literature prepared a stage performance describing Turkish stories, traditional Turkish weddings and henna nights, the visual arts group created graphic art, designed traditional Turkish costumes and decorated billboards. The group focused on music organized a choir singing Turkish folk songs, while the group dealing with folklore choreographed a medley of Turkish folkdances. Because the program involved interacting with schools from other countries, one group focused on activities in English. This group prepared billboards and documents regarding the partner countries. 

Within the program, meetings have been held in France, Italy, Spain and Lithuania.

The first meeting took place on Dec. 8-16, 2007 in Paris, the capital of fashion, culture and history, with the involvement of Turkey, Spain, Italy and Lithuania. Eleven students and seven instructors were part of this program. Although the Turkish students were more excited about the first meeting in Paris than the partner schools from France and the other countries, after meeting with the Çamlıca Coşkun Primary School students, the representatives of the other schools expressed pleasure at meeting these well-bred students. During the first day, the representatives of Çamlıca Coşkun Primary School and the other schools had a meeting hosted by Ecole élémentaire and coordinated the timing and location of future meetings. During the meeting, the delegates from the school benefited not only from meeting with their counterparts, but also used the chance to introduce them to Turkey and invite them to visit the country.

During the meeting, the division of labor was organized. Çamlıca Coşkun Primary School has prepared a Web site regarding the project. Each country has a page on the Web site, which is updated by Çamlıca Coşkun. The second meeting took place in Lucca, Italy, on March 11-18, 2008, with seven instructors and 22 students from Çamlıca Coşkun Primary School attending. During the meeting, the folkdance group performed a medley of dances from seven regions of Turkey.

Three Turkish folk music pieces were performed by the students. The project contributed to the students' development and cultural awareness when they traveled to Rome, Florence, Venice and other historic cities.

The third meeting was held in Siauliai, Lithuania, on Oct. 12-19, 2008. Mustafa Turan, the director of Çamlıca Coşkun Primary School, Serdar Şimşek, the project coordinator, and Yılmaz Arslan, the professor of visual arts, represented Turkey at the meeting. During the international conference, project coordinator Şimşek gave a presentation about the traditional holidays of Turkey. At the end of the meeting, it was decided that the next meeting would be on March 7-15 on Spain's Canary Islands.

The visit of the team to Spain consisted of two parts. During the first part of the meeting, they traveled to Toledo, Cordoba -- once the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate of Cordoba -- Granada and the Alhambra palace. The representatives of the school, during the second part of the visit, headed to Las Palmas. In Las Palmas, the group was hosted by partner school Colegio Pulico Salvador Manrique De Lara. The students forged new friendships and enjoyed warm hospitality during their trip to Spain. 

The last meeting took place in İstanbul on May 9-15. The meeting was held at Çamlıca Coşkun Primary School, with 21 people from France, Lithuania, Spain and Italy attending. Visiting the school, meeting the staff and seeing the modern facilities, the guests admired the level of education offered at Çamlıca Coşkun Primary School, calling it the “school for the future.” Living with a Turkish family for a week, the guests praised the hospitality of Turkish families. Lucia Denis Teresa from Spain said, “The respect and hospitality in Turkey is unbelievable.”