European Parliament members' school visit

On Friday (May 16) MEP Tunne Kelam was in Kuressaare Gymnasium. Lot of questions was asked about future of EU.

What unites Europe is its diversity (F. Braudel)

The future cannot be a forecast. It’s prepared. But we want to be sure that this future will be nice, a well – miraculous. Even though the European enlargement process was positive it might have negative consequences We still looking a strategy for united Europe, which will solve our problems. At same time I know that the variety of cultures, or in other words, the variety or diversity of attitudes and world views, has become the most powerful productive force of our time. Let use it to deal it with our challenges!

Every time when we have got something important, we want something else. Is it same with EU?
European Union has already 27 member states, it creates a single market by a system of laws which apply in all member states. EU provides human aid to developing countries, in 2006 its budget was 671 million euro, EU is the largest aid donor in the world. This is very necessary because a lot of countries have problems that they can’t rid off themselves. So many countries are hoping on EU’s help. The EU is also peacekeeping in many countries for example in the Balkans.
We can compare EU with historic Hansa - and know that the efficiency of this historic union was above all based on a legal system. Law and the welfare of citizens have a central position in our historical experience, and the accession negotiations just give a modern form to these values. The EU has developed a role in human rights protection, its against all kind of discrimination, whether its racial, religion, age etc.
Being in the EU to me is a good thing, though not all what comes with it. Sometimes we are concerned that EU’s tendency towards bureaucracy and centralization has some similarity to the Soviet system. Also here is possible to find some new “old” ideas which will be useful for future – and we “easteuropeans” can give some lessons on this subject.
We must learn from history and remember what were those factors that have pushed Europe, a peninsula poor in natural resources, to the top of the world economy, made it to the global driving locomotive? The answer is - the large variety of different cultures on a comparatively small area.

Global warming has become a major issue in the world and of course EU is going to help the world. Creating campaigns or arranging meetings to fight with the global warming, EU is there for the world. Now, when we’re living in Schengen area, we don’t forgot that we are also the ciitzen’s of the world!
Only the diversity of opinions could further initiate and produce new ideas that can help to export security and better future to the whole world.

EU unites countries sharing same values. But also Estonia gets more known in the world, which is certainly a good thing, more people are coming to Estonia, maybe learning our language, getting familiar with our culture etc. we’ll learn about others and others will learn about us. Not everything we’ve learned, we don’t like – but one of the greatest lessons from EU that I have learned is – be tolerant - to different people, to different values, to different countries, to different views on history. To compare all those differences and diversities we can see that there is as much difference between us and ourselves as between us and others (Michel de Montaigne).


Students of 10th grade, Kuressaare Gymnasium:
Matis Oolup
Mari Jõgi
Henek Tomson
Anni Kadakas
Elisabet Arge
Piret Spitsõn
Jaana Smidt
Mart Varik
Sass Pääsk
Triin Notton
Kertu Salujärv
Karl-Kristjan Raik
Häli Nelis
Epp Mänd

The Sixth International Young Chefs Cooking Contest by Bilfen

2 girls from Kuressaare Gymnasium: Minni Meisterson and Laura Oolup participated in The Sixth International Young Chefs Cooking Contest by Bilfen (Turkey)on April 17-20.
Minni and Laura with teachers and friends from Turkey.

LAST WORDS!

Hello from Turkey to all our colleagues!

We are really pleased to cooperate with you in this project. This exciting trip into common values and human rights will be an unforgettable experience for both my students and me . We sincerely believe in the necessity of intercultural dialog among countries to solve problems around us and this project has showed that although our colours,languages,nationalities,beliefs etc. are different from each other, we can come together for common goals and understand each other ,because our roots are common.We are all human beings of the same world,of the same continent, of the same union,a big garden of different colourful flowers what we call 'European Union'.

Once again thank you for this trip and thank you for sharing!

Mrs. İlke GÜRBÜZ

Headmistress of Haymana Bumsuz Lisesi

Ankara/Turkey

'Intercultural Dialog' is a way of understanding people of different countries ,I think.Especially nowadays, we should give more importance to 'Intercultural Dialog' if we would like to live in a world of peace, justice, tolerance and equality.We should respect for different cultures,thoughts, beliefs and use this cultural diversity to develop dialog between us.Only, by this way, we can solve our problems by dialog- a more civilized way to understand each other,isn't it?

Semra KARAKUŞ

From Haymana Bumsuz Lisesi

Ankara/Turkey

Well, unfortunately we are living in such a world that people are still dying because of wars, hunger,xenophobia in this century.Our rights are violated everywhere.Sorry,but if you have poweryou are right in this world!So is it possible to improve 'Intercultural Dialog' among countries without respect for different thoughts,beliefs,rights? It is really difficult.We must work a lot,We must respect for cultural diversity if we want a world we like!

Tuğba ŞAHİN

From Haymana Bumsuz Lisesi

Ankara/Turkey

'Intercultural Dialog' , magic words for peace, for happiness, for civilization, for development I think.We all have different cultures.We can use our cultures as a bridge to communicate with each other.While introducing our cultures , we can have the chance to meet each other closely, to share our time together.'Sharing' brings peace, 'Sharing' brings happiness, 'Sharing' brings colour to our lives.

A.İrem BAYRAM

From Haymana Bumsuz Lisesi

Ankara/Turkey

Every year,on the 23rd April, many children from other countries come to Turkey to celebrate 'The National Sovereignty and The Children Festival'.Our leader Mustafa Kemal ATATÜRK presented us with this festival which is unique in the world,because he thought we are the future of the world.My country becomes like a big garden of many colourful flowers in this festival.Isn't this festival a kind of 'Intercultural Dialog' between children? We are also different colours of the world.Our colours are our diversity.
Ayşenur BALCI
From Haymana Bumsuz Lisesi
Ankara/Turkey

WHAT ABOUT INTERCULTURAL DIALOG?

I believe in 'Intercultural Dialog' sincerely sinve only by dialog between countries we can solve all kinds of disagreements .Also, we must be open to every idea,every development for a better world.We must meet different countries,learn about them,introduce our cultures to each other.In my opinion,we can be more tolerant,more peaceful ,more civilized,more respectful if we give importance to our cultural diversity.

Nurcan ÖZCAN

From Haymana Bumsuz Lisesi

Ankara/Turkey

OUR WEB SITE IS READY

You can visit http://www.bumsuzlisesi.k12.tr for more about us

A song about values!

Click here to hear the song.

Some compositions on the topic under study written by our students.

• Common values: What Raphaella says!
• Common values: What Mary says!
• Common values: What Markos says!

HUMAN RIGHTS

‘Human rights’ are the rights of every person without discrimination of any kind, such as religion,language,colour,sex, national or social origin. We all have these rights from the beginning of our lives till the end since we are all human beings .So they are inherent. These rights are the same for all human beings.So they are universal. These rights cannot be divided to different forms related to different people.So they are indivisible too.
‘The Universal Declaration of Human Rights , which was proclaimed in 1948, is a powerful tool that should be keep in mind in realizing our and the others’ rights.The basis of human rights depends on respect for all people with rights to equality between men and women both in the family and society, with rights to education in all levels, with equal rights before law,with rights to work and receive wages that contribute to an adequate standard of living, with rights to freedom of thought,conscience,religion and belief etc. Finally, human rights lay the groundwork for a world of freedom, justice, peace.
So , now it’s time for us to learn about our rights for a better world since we are the future of the world.We should be educated about our rights to respect each other, to develop positive attitudes such as tolerance, honesty, and finally to take responsibility for claiming rights for ourselves and others for overcoming violations of our rights. We should be equipped to respond to the changes around us.We should use our potential to be committed and active citizens. Only by this way, we can live in a world we like!

SEMRA KARAKUŞ
FROM HAYMANA BUMSUZ LİSESİ

ANKARA/TURKEY

Puzzles

In the wordsearch grid below find eight words which refer to ways of promoting common values in the European Union.

Do this crossword puzzle to find out what hinders the promotion of European values.

Across

1 fear or contempt of what is foreign or unknown
6 hold of extreme believes
7 unfair treatment of one person due to the fact he/she belongs to an other race, ethnicity, religion or he/she has a different age, gender
8 when somebody feels that he/she is isolated from the society


Down

2 excessive devotion to a nation
3 unfair treatment against other races
4 stereotyping on the basis of sex and it appears more frequently against women
5 opinion formed be insufficient knowledge

The words:

Racism Sexism
Xenophobia Discrimination
Alienation Fanaticism
Nationalism Prejudice

We are happy to see this news about our project on the first page of our local newspaper 'Haymana Haber'.

FAMOUS QUOTES ON HUMAN RIGHTS

HAYMANA BUMSUZ LİSESİ

Questionnaire for Europe@tSchool

WebQuests

What the united Europe means to you?

Human Rights and Me

The Quiz

Kuressaare Gymnasium

Kuressaare Gymnasium from Maidu Varik on Vimeo.

EU Dialogue Award

Internet competition EU Dialogue Award in the school 2007/08 aims at:    

• raising interest in "intercultural dialogue" as a topic in class,
• contributing to the application and deepening of dialogue and intercultural learning in practice,
• fostering transnational cooperation and effectively supporting school partnerships,
• stimulating sensible usage of information and communication technologies.

European Project Group No. P031: 

TeamNo 102: Kuressaare Gymnasium, Kuressaare / Estonia;

TeamNo 314: Haymana Bumsuz Lisesi, Ankara/Haymana / Turkey;

TeamNo 290: Agios Antonios Lyceum, Limassol / Cyprus;