Nieuws

BERA (British Educational Research Association) conference September 3rd 2010

An abstract has been submitted about the teachers' views about EAT, and it has been accepted so Patricia Driscoll from the Primary MFL Department at Canterbury Christ Church University will be presenting at this conference.

For more information on the conference Click here:

We have applied for funding to run another project to build on what we have developed during the EAT project.

The focus for this project will be the teaching of modern languages through another subject (CLIL) plus ICT. The project will focus on the exchange cultural experiences & pedagogical materials/approaches, share best practice as well as a wide and varied audience for dissemination activities with the potential to widen the network even further across the partner countries and beyond.

The aim is to develop a language toolkit, website resources and modular training course which will support CLIL/ICU delivery across pre-primary, Primary & lower Secondary teachers by the adapting of the primary materials to suit the older & younger age groups. These materials will foster early language learning & intercultural & linguistic diversity by providing teachers with the tools they need motivate young language learners.

We will know if we have been successful and if the project can go ahead in July with a start date being 1st November. The project will run for 2 years from that date.

If you are interested in getting involved please contact us via the website.

One Stop English and One Stop CLIL With over 6,500 resources, including lesson plans, worksheets, audio, video and flashcards, onestopenglish is the world’s number one resource site for English language teachers visit their One Stop English website by clicking here and the One Stop CLIL website by clicking here

Apologies the guest username I gave out today has expired I have created another one that you can use to access the website: Username: cants Password: eat

We held a final conference to celebrate the EAT project on 16th October 2009 at Hall Place Enterprise Centre, part of Canterbury Christ Church University.

Teachers from the participating schools across Europe were able to attend and in some cases give presentations on how they delivered the project in their schools.

The Keynote Speaker was Tam Fry from the National Obesity forum and other speakers included representatives from:

The Faculty of Health, Wellbeing and the family along with Julie Critcher the Team Leader for School Health from Medway NHS Foundation Trust as well as 2 of the child nursing students who had participated in the project from the outset, Viv Hamilton and Sam Attwell.

Tricia Driscoll, a Senior lecturer from the Faculty of Education who provided and supported student teachers involved in the project

Sonia Barison who is the Head of Department at the regional Administration offices Educational Department in Veneto.

A number of insprirational workshops took place and feedback on the conference was outstanding.

A wonderful example of what EAT is all about

Esther de Lange, member of the European parliament, introduces Pam's presentation on EAT.

Different workshops and a taste panel entertained the around 70 participants (teachers, stakeholders).

The actors:

Click here here for a video report.

Kerry and Dorrie organised an EAT day of languages for primary schools (children and parents). The day was so successful that Kerry and Dorrie got on the spot the task (and budget) to organise it again 2010!

We shall be holding a Teachers’ Conference on Friday 16th October 2009 at Hall Place Enterprise Centre, CCCU, Harbledown, Canterbury CT2 7AR to celebrate the EAT project coming to an end. Teachers from across Europe are attending. For more information please contact nicole.robinson@canterbury.ac.uk tel: 01227 782850

A HUGE thank you to Julie Critcher from Medway NHS School Nurses who arranged for us to share a stand with her at the Medway NHGS Foundation Trust open day on 4th July.

Julie has been involved in the EAT project from the start and has been very proactive in the project developments. She has provided fantastic support with the schools we have been working with and has been very much part of our team!

Thank you also to Sally, Kath, Nicole and Marie-France for coming and helping at the event especially as it was on a Saturday!

The Open Day and Summer Fayre was an opportunity for the local community to find out more about hospital careers and gave us an opportunity to let the Medway community know more about the EAT project. The weather was scorching and the event was very well attended. Below are some pictures of the event.

Joint sessions with child nursing students and trainee teachers took place in June at both Hempstead Junior School and Maundene School.

Pupils prepared a healthy version of an English cream tea including smoothies, fruit salad, scones and sandwiches. The sessions have been filmed and will be exchanged with their partner schools.

Below are some pictures from both events.

Maundene School Session 1 5th June 2009 and Session 2 12th June 2009 - parents were invited at the end of Session 2 to sample the food prepared by the pupils from Class 3. Student teacher Laura Lamble, child nursing student Sam Attwell.

Hempstead Junior School Session 1 5th June 2009 and Session 2 17th June 2009. All 3 classes in Year 3 prepared a healthy version of an English cream tea. Including scones, sandwiches, tea and victoria sponge cake with strawberries.

The 5 EAT newsletters that have been produced so far can be found in the Resources area of the website where they can be downloaded.

If you do not have access to the resources section of the website you can email: pam.tipping@canterbury.ac.uk and I will forward you copies.

Parallel to the Day of Languages the football stadium in The Hague will be transformed into the biggest kitchen of Holland. Around 10.000 children and their teachers will participate in cooking and tasting workshops and sports activities. The day is hosted by a famous chef (Pierre Wind). He will show on stage how you can combine tasty and healthy eating. The day is supported by the Dutch Ministry for Health. One of the Dutch schools is planning to take part.

We created some exercises to the EAT website for children from 10 upwards with a basic knowledge of English and internet access.
Trivial Purseat

Here is a short impression of the EAT closing of Klaverweide, Noordwijk(NL). We have replaced the original music by royalty free music.

2 joint EAT sessions took place on 5th and 12th June at Maundene School where Laura and Sam (student teacher and child nursing student) delivered sessions to Year 5 classes on a Traditional English tea. The sessions were filmed and will be shared with their link school in Romania (EuroEd).

Session 1 - 5th June 2009 Pupils discussed a traditional English Tea. They sampled a cream tea and discussed healthier options.

They were asked to fit a cream tea into the Eatwell Plate.

They planned a healthy tea party for parents for the following week and worked out a menu:

Sandwiches Egg and cress Chicken, lettuce and cucumber Cheese, lettuce and tomato Tuna and sweetcorn Ham and salad

Fruit salad with the following fruit: Kiwi fruit Orange/satsuma Banana Strawberry Raspberry Blackberry Apple Melon Freshly squeezed orange juice

Smoothies Kiwi and banana Strawberry and blackberry pineapple and grapefruit

Scones raisin scones with greek yoghurt and fruit

Session 2 - 12th June Pupils prepared the food in groups (both Year 5 classses together). They had divided themselves into various groups:

Sandwich makers Fruit salad makers Smoothie makers Scone makers Juice squeezers Waiters/table displays Health and Safety team Film crew

Teams worked really well together and even cleared up! Parents came in their droves to sample the delights prepared by the children!

Last saturday (6th June) Kunie invited me to the closing of EAT with children, their parents and grand parents. The programme combined typical Dutch food with sports (running). The start of the race was given by the councilor of the municipality. I posted some photos taken from the video we made.

In the meantime the "poffertjeskraam" en "haringkraam" were made ready!

Haring? For grandparents maybe! But we prefer "poffertjes"

Here is an informative, inspiring and very interesting video created by EuroEd in Romania:

In medieval times, May Day was often celebrated by men and women dancing on the village green around a decorated tree called a maypole.

Before the dancing began there was also a procession led by a woman appointed May Queen for the day. Sometimes she was accompanied by a May King, who dressed in green to symbolise springtime and fertility.

In Germany, it was the tradition that a fir tree was cut down on May Eve by young unmarried men. The branches were removed and it was decorated and set up in the village square. The tree was guarded all night to prevent it being stolen by the men of a neighbouring village. If the guard was foolish enough to fall asleep the going ransom rate for a maypole was a good meal and a barrel of beer.

A similar festival existed in ancient Rome called Floralia, which took place at around the end of April and was dedicated to the Flower Goddess Flora. On May 1, offerings were made the goddess Maia, after which the month of May is named.

For traditionalists other things to do on May Day include getting up before dawn and going outside to wash your face in dew - according to folklore this keeps the complexion beautiful.

"Bringing in the May" also involves getting up very early, gathering flowers, making them into garlands and then giving them to your friends to wear. If you are feeling particularly charitable, folklore advises that it is good time to make up a "May basket" of flowers to take to someone who needs cheering up.

Taken from the BBC News website

St George was famous for slaying the dragon and he is the patron saint of England. St George's day is on 23rd April. His emblem, a red cross on a white background, is the flag of England, and part of the British flag.

St George was a Roman soldier who protested against the Roman torture of Christians, and was killed for his beliefs. He is most famous for the story of his fight against the dragon.

You read more about the day on Woodlands Junior school's site here

Kevin Woodford is a regular chef on the BBC cookery show, Ready Steady Cook, as well as presenting Can't Cook, Won't Cook (for which he won a National Television Award for Best Daytime Presenter). More recently, he presented and co-produced the CBBC cookery show, Planet Cook in which he played "Captain Cook".

When we contacted him about the project he said "What a fantastic initiative! Learning about other cultures alongside healthy eating in different countries – brilliant!

We showed him the website and he commented "What better way to engage children by providing them with a website that they can be a part of! The multilingual food and recipe database is a great idea!"

Hot cross buns, now eaten throughout the Easter season, were first baked in England to be served on Good Friday. These small, lightly sweet yeast buns contain raisins or currants and sometimes chopped candied fruit. Before baking, a cross is slashed in the top of the bun. After baking, a confectioners' sugar icing is used to fill the cross.

An old rhyme was often sung by children awaiting their sugary treat:

"Hot cross buns, hot cross buns, one a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns.

If you do not like them, give them to your sons, one a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns."

Easter eggs are a very old tradition going to a time before Christianity. Eggs after all are a symbol of spring and new life.

Exchanging and eating Easter eggs is a popular custom in many countries. In the UK before they were replaced by chocolate Easter eggs real eggs were used, in most cases, chicken eggs. The eggs were hard-boiled and dyed in various colors and patterns. The traditionally bright colours represented spring and light. Sadly, nowadays if you gave a child in Britain a hard-boiled egg on Easter Sunday, you would probably end up wearing it!

An older more traditional game is one in which real eggs are rolled against one another or down a hill. The owner of the egg that stayed uncracked the longest won. Even today in the north of England, for example as at Preston in Lancashire, they still carry out the custom of egg rolling. Hard boiled eggs are rolled down slopes to see whose egg goes furthest. In other places another game is played. You hold an egg in the palm of the hand and bang against your opponent's egg. The loser is the one whose egg breaks first.

Nowadays people give each other Easter eggs made of chocolate, usually hollow and filled with sweets. On TV you will see adverts for Cadbury's Creme Eggs, a very sweet confectionery. The catchphrase for the adverts is "How do you eat yours?" And Britain children hunt for (chocolate) Easter eggs hidden about the home or garden by the Easter bunny.

Maundy Thursday is the Thursday before Easter. Christians remember it as the day of the Last Supper, when Jesus washed the feet of his disciples and established the ceremony known as the Eucharist. The word Maundy" comes from the French word, "Mande," meaning "command" or "mandate” and is taken from the command given by Christ at the Last Supper, "love one another as I have loved you.”

In Britain, the Queen takes part in the Ceremony of the Royal Maundy, which dates back to Edward 1. This involves the distribution of Maundy Money to deserving senior citizens (one man and one woman for each year of the sovereign's age), usually chosen for having done service to their community.

They receive ceremonial red and white purses which contain coins made especially for the occasion. The white purse contains one coin for each year of the monarch's reign. The red purse contains money in place of other gifts that used to be given to the poor.

How to prepare and cook this traditional Bulgarian dish

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This year the Pancake Day will be on April 3. Primary schools from all over the Netherlands are going to bake pancakes for the elderly in their environment. Jos Clout (OBS De Wissel) will participate in the Pancake Day.

The Albert Heijn (a big supermarket in the Netherlands) organises a class lunch for schools in the Netherlands to inform children about healthy and tasty food. More than 6000 group 8's will join the Class Lunch. Sterre der Zee will also participate with group 8 in this project. The children will learn what minerals are, why our body needs them, why dark bread is preferred over white bread etc..

Friday, 3rd April, is our National Pancake Day, an initiative to bring young and old together. Children make, together with parents and teachers, pancakes for the elderly people in the neighbourhood of the school and have a pancake dinner party together. Schools can participate in a price winning competition by filming their activities and sending it in to a jury. Dutch schools participating in EAT are invited to join this competition (and by sending the materials to me win a special healthy eating price). Derk (Heerlen, NL)

If you want to know more about the history of St Patricks Day and even try a quizz go here

You can also find a recipe for Irish Stew here

Baba Marta, or Granny March, represents the advent of spring. After a harsh winter she is welcomed with open arms on March 1. If you are walking along the streets in Bulgaria on the 1st of March your eyes will be captured by martenitsas.

The classical "martenitsa" is made out of red and white weaved threads. The red and white woven threads are not just meaningless decoration, but symbolize the wish for good health. They are the heralds of the coming of spring in Bulgaria and life in general. While white as a color symbolizes purity and soul, red is a symbol of life and passion, thus some ethnologists have proposed that in its very origins the custom might have reminded people of the constant cycle of life and death, the balance of good and bad, of sorrow and happiness in human life. Given as an amulet in the period of spring, when nature gets “reborn” and starts blossoming again it was not only a reminder of that balance but also a wish for health, strength and happiness.

Everybody should wear martenitsa, especially young children, just married couples or newly born domestic animals. Some of the fruit trees, the handles of the door, the vineyard also have their own martenitsa. Many people wear more than one martenitsa. They receive them as presents from relatives, close friends and colleagues. Martenitsi are always given as gifts. People never buy martenitsi for themselves. There are special places where you can put martenitsa: on the wrists, on your neck as a necklace or on your left side of your dress.

People wear martenitsa for a certain period of time. Usually the end of the period is connected with the first signs of the coming spring - blossomed trees, meeting of the first spring birds like storks, swallows or cranes. Then people remove their martenitsa and tie them to a blossomed fruit tree.

Neighbouring Romania also celebrates the first day of March with a celebration known as martisor. Moldova's celebration is very similar to that of Romania.

Happy Pancake day!

Woodlands School have a page all about Pancake day, including the history here

Register your schools for Spring Day 2009.

Spring Day for Europe has become a popular event as a teaching and learning opportunity to bring young people closer to Europe. The number of schools joining the Spring Day campaign has grown year by year since 2002. What are the reasons for schools to register? What they get in return?

Once registered, teachers and their classes have access to the full package of activities, competitions, resources, tools and services of the Web portal. Participation in activities and competitions is based on the registration information, meaning that a contributing school is identified according to the data supplied when registering.

Here are some samples of the food diaries from the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Schule. We have entered the project later and are hoping to have a partner school. Our children are between 6 and 10.

This website is a wonderful resource on everything British well worth accessing!

Please find the Sinterklaas journal which was made by the Dutch schools for their partnerschools abroad.

Wishing everyone involved in the EAT project a very Happy Christmas and all the best for 2009!

Eat team

The children of the Klaverweide school did a research on eating habits in the past. The grandparents were invited to the school.

The Italian schools surprised the EAT project team on the last day if the meeting in Verona with a great presentation of the work they had done for the project and some traditional dances. Enjoy the video!

Klaverweide entered their video report on the EAT activities in the Best Day of Language Competition 2008. The school was awarded with the 3rd prize (500 Euros).

Here is an interview with Pauline Harlow and Marc Dando the child nursing students that delivered a session at Maundene school on 4th December 2008 on food hygiene and germs.

My audio

We had an excellent meeting in Verona.

Teachers from the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Romania and Italy were able to meet and share the work they have been doing. The teachers visited the Italian schools and on Saturday pupils from across the Region came together and performed for us all. There was traditional dancing in local costumes, the reading of local recipes and demonstrations on film of how to cook these dishes. Parents and grandparents cooked a number of delicious dishes for us to sample.

Below are some pictures

Here are some pictures of the sessions that took place in Maundene School on 18th November.

Michele (student teacher) and Pauline (child branch nurse student) ran the session in 2 classes.

Aim of session: To introduce the children to the Eatwell plate and compare/contrast with their Partner countries healthy eating guide. Looking at sugar content in foods.

Learning Outcomes: To demonstrate an understanding of the Eatwell plate and looking at sugar content in foods.

The next project partnership meeting is taking place in Verona on 28th and 29th November.

We will be discussing the further development of the EAT website where we have plans to include a recipe maker and additional language and cultural developments.

2 schools will be coming along on the Saturday morning to present local Italian recipes, stories and songs.

Teachers from the Netherlands, Romania and Italy will be at the meeting and have an opportunity to share the work they have done on the project.

We will also be discussing a final event where all participating schools will contribute.

I am happy to inform you that EAT was nominated for the language label in Holland. One of the Dutch schools (Klaverweide) took the initiative to hand EAT in, 7th November will be D(ecision)-Day.

I will keep you informed.

Derk

The 2008 London Language Show is the UK’s biggest event for language learners, language teachers, linguists and anyone with a passion for languages. This event offers language enthusiasts all the help, advice and resources needed to learn or teach languages under one roof.

It is held at Olympia and runs for 3 days 31st October to 3rd November.

Over 80 FREE seminars and 160 exhibitors cover every aspect of language teaching and learning…all this, in a fun and entertaining way. Take your time to brows our website and plan your day as there is loads to learn, see and do.

Visit http://www.thelanguageshow.co.uk/ to register for free tickets.

To all participating schools and also to the new schools that are joining the project.

We hope you had a good summer and look forward to starting Phase 2 of the project!

We would like to thank Toni Clarke from Medway Business Partnership for the kind donation which has allowed us to purchase 200 T-shirts for pupils who have been involved in the EAT project - these will be handed out to schools shortly.

We went to Ireland to help out with the second Irish Green Gathering - an eco-friendly family festival.

We helped to organise all the children's activities over a 3 day period. The events were held in a circus tent in a field in Enniscorthy in South Eastern Ireland (about 2 hours from Dublin).

We were quite lucky with the weather for most of the weekend although we didn't escape the rain completely!

There were a number of workshops including, book making puppet making, juggling and of course EAT activities - including making fruit kebabs (an all time favourite!)

We had a range of ages in the workshop - 3 years to 11 years and all of them participated and thoroughly enjoyed the session.

We met Ashleigh Downey the Visual Arts Programmer for The Ark, A Cultural Centre for Children who is very interested in getting involved in the project so we shall be having discussions on how this might be possible.

The children produced a number of beautiful drawings which will be added to the database and below are some pictures we took of the weekend.

A big thanks to Emma Hill and Giles FitzHerbert (and family) for inviting us. Also a big thank you to Nicole and Penny who helped create the resources and who came to Ireland as part of the EAT team working hard all weekend long!

The circus tent where the activities/workshops took place

Preparation for the fruit kebabs

The EAT workshop

We had a meeting with Heads and/or teachers from the schools participating in the EAT project before the summer holidays to discuss Phase 2 of the project. A new school The Learning Opportunities Centre from Womenswold in Canterbury will be joining Phase 2 and they will be linked to a school in Bulgaria.

Here is a picture taken at the meeting.

Community event - June 2008

We were invited to River Primary School to participate in their Arts week.

We created some language and healthy eating resources from the website and worked with 4 classes of pupils for an afternoon - introducing them to the project and playing language games.

At the end of each group session the pupils made a fruit kebab using strawberries, grapes, bananas, pineapple and marshmallows.

The school were interested in being able to use the EAT website and so we have given them access to it for a year - without linking them to another school - purely as a resource for them to use.