Food, Kraków and the Hornby
International Summer School 2003
A community of thirty tutors and participants gathered in Kraków
between Jun 22nd and Jul 4th with the aim of producing a Food
edition of the British Studies Web Pages which you will find on http://elt.britcoun.org.pl in October.
We came from 11 different countries - Poland, Britain, Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia,
Macedonia, Romania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia and finally Brazil to
give a rich international ‘flavour’ not only to the items written but also to
the general atmosphere and social events. A selection of participant responses
is given below.
Through an intercultural investigative approach we produced materials
for learners, teachers and trainers of English, on themes as
diverse as Kosher Food, Food and Nostalgia, Food and
Ethnography and Bread. Not only written materials will be found on
our site but audio and video recordings as well. Opportunities were also
taken to visit the Wieliczka salt mine, the Polish headquarters of the
supermarket chain Tesco and a variety of local cultural events including
a Jewish cultural festival, all additionally providing items for the webpages.
The summer school was structured in four phases:
* Orientation - introducing the theme,
the approaches, the computers, Kraków and ourselves
* Preparation - the background skills
and ideas needed to produce webpage items
* Production - participants working with
item tutors on specific webpage items
* Evaluation - checking items
produced and reviewing the process
This summer school is our fourth, ELTeCS subscribers
may recall reports on the others, and this year we had a number of new features
in addition to Hornby sponsorship.
* A trainer strand to produce materials on the skills needed
for researching, writing and presenting individual items
* Experiments with video - the first time on the pages
* An online participant diary
* A greater range of internet skills introduced e.g. e-pals/ webquest
* The invitation of school children to trial items
* A Nicenet site to enable participant follow-up and
reporting back
Our approach was again characterised by:
* An international dimension - see our item on Food and
Festivals
* A local dimension - shown by our item on Kosher Food
* A community of tutors and participants
* Living voices - for instance in the Food Interviews
* An intercultural approach underpinned all our work
* Fieldwork was a central and popular
element and can be seen in the item Food and the Senses
In
addition to the items produced directly on the
summer school you will find on the forthcoming pages:
book and website reviews, a bibliography and links, quizzes, crosswords and a
language corner.
To find out more contact Malgorzata Zdybiewska (project lead
consultant) mzdybiewska@poczta.fm
or Ewelina Wroblewska
ewelina.wroblewska@britishcouncil.pl
tel: +48(0)22 585 10 82; fax: +48(0)22 585 10 64
ELT/Education Officer
The British Council, Al. Jerozolimskie 59,
00-697 Warszawa, Poland
Some participant comments
Agnieszka Bednarczyk - Poland
Well-organised … I really appreciate having the chance of meeting
people from different cultures … I had a really nice time, I learnt a lot … I
would really like to come back to courses of this kind
Anna Gorczyńska - Poland
I loved the international side of the school … I was really very
happy when I saw the list because for me it is the first time I had the
opportunity to talk to people from the former Eastern Europe … we really didn’t
have any connection before. For me it was the best experience. There were a lot
of activities … I really learnt something new about fieldwork, about how to
conduct interviews … the intercultural approach was also something new. At
first I thought it was going to be about food and exclusively British food and
it wasn’t … I really loved the school and made friends
Mariza Almeida - Brazil
The summer school was great opportunity for me to get to know not
only about intercultural studies but about Eastern
Europe and about how people in Eastern Europe live. The integration of the
tutors impressed me a lot - especially because they came from different places
yet they related with one another in a nice way. I hope I can start something
similar in Brazil and I hope
the teachers can have the chance to learn from my experience here
Karin Havlickova - Czech Republic
It was my first trip to Poland and I love Krakow
and the Polish people so much now. I liked the work on our topic and all the
activities and learned a lot there that I can use in my classes. I would like
to ask you to send me everything about your next summer school because I’ll do
my best to come again and work with you. Thank you !!!! :-)))
Małgorzata Wojcieszuk - Poland
I think it was a great event - it consolidated friendships among
teachers of many countries and I think it is a unique type of summer school. I
wish other summer schools had such an atmosphere and opportunities. Just to
mention one more thing: I can observe that this special kind of summer course
is extremely good for old teachers like me as it knocks them out of routine,
gives a fresh outlook and new energy for further work. Which, of course, does
not mean that it is not equally profitable for younger teachers!
Edyta Bracik - Poland
I really loved it here … experienced many new things for me, I think
I managed to develop my IT skills … I learnt a lot from the other participants
… it was a great experience
Daniela Matic - Croatia
I think this is by far the best summer school I have attended … I
had a great time. Your choice of city was excellent, great people … I would
come again. You did an excellent job
Arianna Kitzinger - Hungary
It was very nice to see all the people from other countries ... the
cooperation and atmosphere between teachers and tutors … And as I do believe in
personal relationships I think that here we managed to do something which we
didn’t do in the previous 40 years that is to make real personal contacts. I
hope it will be the same again next year. It was worth coming … I would like to
come next year because the topic will be Europe and I think it is going to be a hot issue
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