Comenius Project

2011 / 2012

The students, the teachers and language assistants in the Arco Iris School celebrated the Greek Liberation Day enjoying it for two week.

The activities were as follows: 1) We have two posters to advertise this day, one to announce what is celebrated and the other to explain how they celebrate this day in . Greek Independence Day Celebration

The celebrate this day with military parades and celebrations throughout the country. Marching bands in traditional Greek military uniforms and Greek dancers in bright costumes move through the streets. Vendors serve roasted almonds, barbequed meat, baklava and lemonade to the flag waving crowds. The biggest parade is held in .

Additionally, the Greeks go to a special church service in honor of the religious events that took place on this day. Around the world, there are parades with a large Greek population. Independence Day in Greece

On 25th March, Greece have their national day. They celebrate their independence from the in May 1832. The Ottoman Empire had been in control of Greece for more than 400 years.

They celebrate on the 25th March because it is a holy day in Christianity and it was on this day that a priest waved a Greek flag as a symbol of revolution.

This started the fight for independence. It lasted for many years. They celebrate the end of this war and the independence that followed every year on this day. 2) The students of 1st and 2nd, together with their teachers have done craft and related chips such as Greek flags, a slipper called "Tsaruchi" of his costume very representative for them and flags.

3) The students of 3 rd and 4 th with their teachers have made craft on the Greek shoe, called “” using fabric and glitter.

Furthermore, in collaboration with the language assistants have produced a Book with a selection of Greek stories, Myths and Legends in English. You can see in the web page. ● After that, the students of each class of 3rd have chosen one of them and they have told the story of the three classes of first year. They chose ‘The Legend of Hercules’.

Comenius Project Greek National Day 2011-2012 Name: ...... Level:…..Date: ...... ‘Hercules’

Everyone knew that Hercules was half-man and half-god. His mother was a mortal, but his father was Zeus, the king of all the gods. Hercules did not know he was part god until he had grown into a man. Hera, Zeus' wife, was very jealous of Hercules. She tried to kill him many times. One time, she sent a couple of really big snakes into his crib. He was just a baby, but Hercules survived. Hercules was incredibly strong, magically strong, even as a baby! Zeus loved his little son. To protect Hercules, Zeus sent him to live with a mortal family on earth. Hercules grew up loved and honest. But he didn't fit in on Earth. He was too big and too strong. One day, his mortal father told him he was part god. All of them produced some posters, and a group was characterized with typical clothing of told the story. Watch the video in web page. To complete the activity left them a flag of Greece to color and a form with a game called "Memory Matching Game ." This is the way they did then:

Mythology has been introduced them telling the children the story of different greek gods like Hercules, Midas, Apollo and Cassandra, and Icarus, Narcissus , Aphrodite and Venus… All of them has been adapted and written by teachers and our Assistant languages,

Sarah and Amber.

The teachers of the third and forth level and Mª Carmen, estudied the most funny way to explain the stories to the first and second grade pupils.

They decided that the story would be read by three students and the rest of the class would paint and decorate many posters that help them to understand the legend better.

The third grades have prepared The leyend of Hercules. The posters has been painted and decorated by the students, and they have worked hard.

Before starting the presentation the third grade teacher explained the little students the whole story of Hercules in Spanish, which was supported by students who got dressed in greek costumes, the posters and the flag of Greece, the country where Hercules lived.

When the pupils read the story, they repeated it again to understand it better. In the end we believe the most of them understood the whole story and they enjoyed it.

The last one step was to paint a greek flag.

We also prepared a memory matching game with countless pictures of Hercules and other characters of the leyend. We taught them the pronunciation, they coloured them and finally played in partners.

It was a very enriching experience. As always, we have had the advice, support and work of our ICT coordinator, José Luis. to share this experience with everyone on our School page web.

●The students of 4th have chosen another legend called ‘King Midas’.

A group of each class of 4th, staged the story to the three classes of Second Level . Then, he left as a token gift and bulleted text to sort and worked on it in pairs a student of 4th with of 2nd.When they completed them, the read each other. It was a very enriching, especially for the work of cooperative work done. A video can be seen in the web page of the school

The “king Midas” story has been

worked in the following way during the lessons:The procedure was:

First of all the teacher has read the story twice and ask the children what did they understand.

Then the key words have been explained through mimics, gestures, pictures synonymus and onomatopeic sounds. We avoiding translation.

After that the story has been read again by the teacher.

Then the children have been encouraged to read the first paragraph. Once

they have finished the teacher use body language and read this paragraph again. Then they are given some time to re- read it again and memorize, after some minutes, the children felt be able to tell the first paragraph.

The same procedure is made with all the paragraphs of the story.

During this work, children are asked if they already k new the story and if they like it.

And alsom what do they thing about

King Midas, what do they think about money and the importance of other things like family, friends, and other simple activities we do daily and we don’t pay attention, like breathing, smelling flowers, and so on.

Once that we’ve been working through the text children are asked how would they represent this story, what kind of clothes would they need, what accessories (coins, food, flowers) they woul use, etc.

They have also find out in the

Internet, about the location of Greece, the clothes used in Ancient Greece.

Finally they have played the story several times, before telling their younger partners.

Comenius Project Greek National Day 2011-2012 Name...... Level: ...... Date: ......

‘King Midas’

King Midas is a greedy king in Ancient Greece. Money is more important to him than his own family.

One day a God grants him a wish. He wishes that everything he touches turns to gold. His wish comes true.

Now he is very very rich but he isn't happy anymore. He can't smell the flowers because they are gold. He can't eat or drink because it turns to gold when he touches it. He hugs his children and they turn to gold. He misses them.

He tells the God that he doesn't want gold anymore, he wanted his family. The God changes everything back to how it is meant to be. King Midas is happy again.

He learns some things are more important than money.

4) The students of 5 th grades, as a volunteer work, prepare a Greek traditional dance called "" guided them by our specialist music teacher, and they dance in the third level classes.

You can watch the videos on the web page of the school. 5) The students of 6th grades, as a volunteer work, research tasks to make Presentations about features of Greece, in order to expose them to the 5 th grade classes. Enriching activity because the students themselves that explain instead of teachers.

You can watch these presentations made by students on the web page of our school.

You can watch the Book of Greek Stories on the web page of the school.

Comenius Project. Greek National Day 2011-2012