Lifelong Learning Programme

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Teachers Experiences

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TITLE OF THE EXPERIENCE
The past influences the future
NAME AND SURNAME OF THE TEACHER
Zoitsa Perdikaki
SUBJECTS TAUGHT
Maths
YEARS OF TEACHING EXPERIENCE
8
TYPE OF SCHOOL
Secondary School
COUNTRY
Greece
THEMATIC AREA
Integration of immigrants students
DESCRIPTION OF THE EXPERIENCE
Her name is Serafina and she started in a high school in Patras. She was left alone in the city, under the supervision of her grandmother. Being without family, she abandoned before starting 10th grade because of bad habits.
After a year pause her family brought her in our school. Her previous background, her history, followed her and when she arrived the other students in class took her according to what they knew. Her try to have a new, fresh start failed. She isolated herself, started to be late for classes and I noticed she was very sad all the time. Step by step I started to talk to her about various things until she got confidence in me and told me what happens. Together we started to work with her classmates. It was a tough grade but eventually it came to a better end than the one she imagined before we started talking (she had moments when she thought to abandon again). When all the students in my class returned after the summer vacation their attitude towards their classmate was significantly changed to a better one.
During the last two high school years she started to get better marks improving her learning curve and gained her classmates confidence that she changed, leaving totally behind what happened before her arrival in our class. She got involved in a few projects meant to help other students with various problems considering that is only fair to give back something by helping in any way she could.
In 12th grade her classmates designated her to be their leader showing not only that they finally accepted her but they considered her to be a skilled leader worthy to represent them.

Comments on this Teachers Experience

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Date: 2014.05.20

Posted by Christine CLOES (Belgium)

Message: This testimony shows the importance of confidence in the integration process: confidence between the pupil and his/her teachers, between the pupil and his/her classmates and finally self-confidence.
We would appreciate more accurate information about the work carried out with the classmates in order to better understand the strategies leading to the “success story”!

Date: 2014.05.19

Posted by Cidália de Jesus Cordeiro (Portugal)

Message: Hi, my name is Cidália Cordeiro and I am a Philosophy teacher at the Bonfim school cluster in Portalegre, Portugal.
Your experience has some similarities with the teacher experience I retold. Although the contexts are different, the student I wrote about also had big integration issues. She managed to overcome these because of the care of her peers. The other students who initially did not accept her changed their attitude with the help of the teachers. These managed to lead them to values of solidarity, companionship, respect for the other and respect for difference. The school is a space for learning and of values for life.

20 December 2014

Final Partners’ meeting

The fourth partners’ meeting took place in Florence (IT) on 15 December 2014. The meeting had the objective to check the activities carried out since the third meeting of the project and share and assess the in progress results. A special focus has been dedicated to the presentation of the strategies to solve the case scenarios.