NEW Y.E.A.R.S. AGENCY
EUROPEAN CLASS

We fulfilled the organization of “European Class” between 9-14 May 2006 during the course of this project. European Class is an organization in which all the partner schools come together and work on the project at the same time and in the same country every year. We, as the English teachers of Anıttepe High School, hosted this big organization although it is our first year in this project.

                New Y.E.A.R.S. agency is a project which consists of people from 9 schools and 7 countries. So this organization was a group work  of 75 people. This number contains 19 teachers and 27 students coming from different European countries and other 27 hosting students of our school,  we, 2 project coordinators & our headmaster. The period of 5days which we spent with our guests was full of unforgettable memories and good friendships. During this time, we had a city tour of Ankara, a visit to the Grand National Assembly  and a tour to Cappadocia, as well as the meetings and social activities we performed at the school. Our guests were not only pleased with the natural, cultural and historical beauties of our country but also they were pleased with Turkish People’s warm hospitalitiy. While they were here and even after  they went back to their countries, they reported that they had very positive thoughts altough they had had some negative ideas and prejudgements about the Turks before coming here. So we were very proud of hearing these. Moreover we, as the teachers and students,  made much better and warmer friendships than we expected. Saying goodbye to them in tears was a very emotional and also pleasing scene for us. 

               It had been a really unforgettable experience which we started and carried out successfully during our lives. And also we were very proud of what we all did. After this trip, our partner school in Luxembourg sent an e-mail and asked for a 3-minute-record including what people think about the beauties and ideas of their experiences in Turkey. And they diffused these records on 3th June 2006 with famous Turkish pop songs which we suggested.
               This project & organization was very beneficial and left good memories to us. Our Turkish friends who joined us even for a short time could  feel this, too. We are grateful for the participation and supports of our headmaster Mahmut Nedim Bilginer, and collagues and all the students participating. We believe, we will have much better work during the following years of the project.

Jorge’s Opinion

When I realised that I was going to Turkey I cheered a lot because it was going to be a great opportunity to know another culture and to improve my English and French. What I enjoyed about the trip was, without any doubt, the experience itself and the fact of people’s amability and warmth.

In Turkey, although the traffic was a little chaotic, there was no hurry nor stress such as there is in the rest  of the European cities. In Turkey, all the people had enough time for you and, if you did not know anything, whatever it was, anybody did not doubt about explaining it to you even through drawings.

 This trip seemed to me fascinate and marvellous and I am glad to have had the opportunity to make it; Not only  I have had a great time but also I have learnt quite a lot of things to improve my English and to be a better person. Sincerely,  I liked very much the activities and the visits. We saw many interesting things as a tourist –great museums as The Civilisations of Anatolia Museum, The Atatürk Museum, The Independence War Museum…- or Cappadocia , a world-wide level top place, or The Atatürk Mausoleum.

 About our activities, it’s also necessary to emphasize the visit to the Turkish Nacional Assembly and the meeting which there we attended and of which we learned several things on Turkey and we expressed our doubts about. Two Members of the Parlament aswered to the questions about the porcess of the Turkish integration in the EU.

The familiar life was similar to the European famlies: both, father and mother worked. The houses, in general, were similar to the European homes. The Lycee was like our school here. But the fact the most important is not the appearance but what it is learned in there. What it surprised to me a little was the shape of the toilets. They were a bit different from ours but this is not very important.

 I want to thank to Gökhan and to his family because of their hospitality and friendship and also I want to thank to all the European and Turkish friends who helped me and took care of everything in order to make of this trip one of the best experiences of my life which I hope to be able to repeat. Thanks for everything.

A General Message to Evaluate the European Class 

Hello from Turkey,

As the turkish team, this is our first year in a Comenius project. At the beginning we were worried about how to carry out this Project, but with the help of all of the partners, we tried to overcome this work.

            Up to now, we have made four broadcastings. During the preparations of the texts we had chance to confront our cultures, languages and ways of living with each other.

            This work was the first step to have just an idea about each of us, before the meeting in Ankara.

            To be a partner in this Project is the best choice we’ve ever made for a long time. Two weeks ago, we had unforgettable moments together with all the partners in the European Class organization.Not only all european teams, but also we the turkish team were in a good harmonization during all the activities done for this beautiful and also beneficial meeting. We're delighted to be in this project.

            It was a good chance to know each other well.We tried to do our best for such a special and sophisticated european group.

            To tell the truth we, both students and teachers are so happy to meet you by means of this project.We'll never forget the days we spent together and we hope you won't, either.

            As you see here in Turkey, we live in a similar manner as europeans since it shouldn’t be forgotten that the regime is republic.