EDISON WEEK

Autor: Geert van Overloop <geert(at)gymck.cz>, Téma: Zprávy, Vydáno dne: 15. 03. 2017

---

International students visiting our school

When meeting people who are different, fear but also attraction are the most normal of human reactions. It is our personal choice to decide which of the two is the wiser path to follow.

 

In times of fake news and hate speech it was a more than welcome change to have real visitors from countries like Brazil, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Chile, Mexico or Georgia with their smaller and bigger differences in culture, language, religion... You will find that the opportunity to talk to real people usually makes it much easier to accept and tolerate them than when they are presented to you through any form of media.

 

As teachers, we enjoyed the assistance of young students whose energy brought a kind of fresh wind to school in the last February week. The Edison students themselves were of course very serious about what they were doing AND they were clearly having fun doing it.

 

There is hope for the future and let us hope that we will get such a great group again next year.

The Spanglish Team

 

Edison impressions by students

 

• Na projekt Edison jsem se jako každý těšila. Ráda poznávám nové lidi a jejich kulturu, projekt si vždy pěkně užívám. Líbí se mi, jak studenti prezentují své země a my se dozvídáme věci, které bychom se dozvěděli jen „nasucho“ na internetu. – Naty
• Projekt Edison se mi líbí a mám ho ráda. Podle mě je zajímavé se dozvídat věci o odlišných kulturách a zvycích, než máme my. Nejsympatičtější byl dle mého názoru Malajsan, který měl zajímavou prezentaci a uměl o své zemi vyprávět. [...] Jediné, co mi vadilo, byl jeho přízvuk, který byl občas těžce porozumitelný. Také se mi na tomto projektu líbí to, že lidé, kteří přijedou, neumí ani slovo česky a proto si velmi dobře potrénuji angličtinu. – Lucka
• Projekt Edison se mi velice líbil. Bylo to zajímavé, ale je škoda, že jsme neslyšeli prezentace ode všech. Dozvěděli jsme se spoustu informací o jejich zemi, kultuře, jídle a tak. Měli to pěkně připravené a snažili se, abychom všichni rozuměli. Příště by mohli přijet lidé z jiných zemí, aby se to pořád neopakovalo, i když za ten rok to většinou stejně zapomeneme. – Peťa
• Program Edison je podle mého mínění velice dobrý nápad, je nutné, aby se lidé setkávali s jinými kulturami a mohli si sami vybudovat názor. Ohledně angličtiny, bylo dobré poslouchat a mluvit s lidmi, kteří se tento jazyk také učí a nemají ho jako mateřský. Doufám, že tento projekt bude na naší škole dále pokračovat. - Olda
• Líbilo se mi, že jsem mohla poznat jiné země. Dozvědět se o nich zajímavé věci, které třeba na internetu nenajdu (respektive nenapadlo by mě hledat například to, jak se v Indonésii chovají mladší lidé ke starším). Bylo to zajímavé. - Terka
• The project Edison was very interesting. We learned something new about countries and people who live there. In my opinion, best presentation was about Brazil, because there was a lot of facts that I haven’t heard yet. – Tonda
• I think that the Edison project is very good. Mostly for the younger kids, so they can see that even strangers from other countries are “normal”, actually the same as we are. That it doesn’t matter what country/ethnicity/religion they are. Maybe it would be better, if we could meet the people outside of school, so that it’d get a bit different vibe. All in all, it’s a good idea. – Romina
• Edison is a great idea and usually everyone has a fun time together, though I believe it isn’t too productive. Because there just isn’t enough time to talk with the Edison students during school hours. I’d say the classes should each concentrate on one country so that the learning isn’t just superficial and something a quick Wikipedia search would disclose. – Mirek
• I think Edison is important for cultural awareness. – I think it helps eliminate negative stereotypes and prejudices. – It helps the students with their listening skills, because they have to understand different accents. – It helps understand ourselves better, as a country. – Aidan
• I like that I learn some new things about the countries. I think that there should be more time for each presentation so we could learn more. Maybe the people could talk about a bit different topics – they usually talk only about geography, food and traditions and don’t say much about present situation in the country (economy, politics) and about controversial topics (the China girl). – Kačka
• All in all, I think the project is quite nice. I got to know a lot of interesting information. Besides that, I would appreciate some students from English speaking countries, as I had some trouble understanding these guys. – Štěpán
• I like having the opportunity to meet people from different countries and that they’re not from Germany or Austria, but really from countries that I don’t know. But honestly, I think that the project has a bigger potential. [...] The students have presentations with “information from Wikipedia” and I think they could say more interesting things, not just facts. They could have different presentations for smaller children and people who are the “same” age as they are. I don’t mind their usually not so good English, but I think they could tell us more interesting things about their nations, personality or culture. [...] - Marta

fotografie