ICAN SCHOOL

2nd transnational meeting of project partners
in Paris

Hello to all students, teachers and supporters of the iCan Language School.

We contact you after a short break. During it, we completed our project focused on the creation of textbooks and additional teaching materials in Slovak for children of foreigners and compatriots. Our textbooks are available in the world, they are printed in sufficient numbers and they can help every child who is trying and interested in improving his or her level of the Slovak language.
And as the icing on the cake, we would like to inform you that our project has been awarded the European Brand for Languages 2022 and we will receive this award at a ceremonial conference in Kosice at the beginning of December 2022. We look forward to and are proud of our joint success.

However, the end of the project is not a reason for us to relax. On the contrary. We are continuing our work and together with our partners from Birmingham, Paris, Dublin and NIVAM (formerly the State Pedagogical Institute) are preparing Aha, slovenčina! and The World around us in Slovak methodical manuals. The manuals will be instructions for teachers on how to work correctly and effectively with textbooks in Slovak classes. The project also includes other supplementary materials, such as pictorial communication cards that can be used when working with the publication The World Around Us in Slovak, as well as with the textbook Aha, slovenčina!

In order for the work on the project to progress and for the project partners to have first-hand information, so to speak, we met at the end of November at a multinational project meeting in Paris. The meeting was organized by our partner - the educational center Petit Slavik. Its director, Ms. Betka de la Bouvrie prepared a rich program for us. Part of it was getting to know the weekend school for Slovak children living in Paris. We met the teachers and their students directly in the classrooms. We ceremoniously handed them textbooks, which they also helped to create with their comments during testing. Our photographer caught the eye of how these nice meetings in the classrooms took place, and you can see them too.

During the working part of the meeting, the project coordinator Mr. Tunegová reported on the redistribution of funds after the withdrawal of the German partner of the project. She also presented the progress of work on project outputs - methodological manuals. Then she took the word Ms. Janka Píšová from NIVAM and informed us about the work progress in the creation of pictorial communication cards. Our illustrator is already working hard on the pictures for chapter 2 and 3.

This was followed by a break for a tasty lunch. Our hosts led us to a restaurant that breathed true Parisian nobility and an Advent atmosphere. After an excellent lunch, which had the right Parisian flair, our work program continued. Quite unplanned, but with sincere joy, we met at Petit Slavik with the chairman of the Office of Slovaks living abroad Mr. Pilip, who together with his delegation was also in Paris at that time and of course also visited the Petit Slávik educational center. It was a great opportunity to present our textbooks and also to agree on further steps of cooperation so that our books reach other educational centers and weekend schools of the Slovak language anywhere in the world.

After the official part of the meeting, our lovely colleagues from Petit Slavik prepared a small tour for us, because Paris has a lot to offer visitors! From the school building, which has an excellent location near the presidential palace, we walked along the boulevards of Paris and saw the Madeleine Basilica. Next, we continued to the impressive building of the Paris Opera. We ended our tour on the terrace of the famous La Fayette Gallery, from where we had Paris with its dominant Eiffel Tower in the palm of our hands.
Our joint working meeting in Paris enriched us all a lot, brought a shift in the work area and we are already looking forward to meeting our partners in spring 2023 in Dublin.

Finally, a few snapshots from the Paris meeting of iCan and its project partners.

Iveta Tunegova