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Ukraine - Israel: New friends, a wealth of knowledge and cultural exchange. Project results

From October 2018 to July 2019, the active Green School participants and Ukrainian students from the Secondary School-Kindergarten in Rubizhne (Luhansk Oblast) and “Dialogue” (Kyiv) took part in the Ukrainian-Israeli project of the International Green School “Schools Online - Digital Collaborative Learning” (MASHAV, Ministry of Education of Israel), and they communicated with students of Israeli schools.

Children from two countries, Ukraine and Israel, each week completed tasks and discussed with each other, what kind of music the students were listening here and there, and what kind of traditions their schools/cities/countries had, etc.

The purpose of the project is to introduce students of Ukraine and Israel to the latest information technologies and distance learning approaches in different countries of the world, spread tolerant attitude and learn the authentic cultures of both countries. This experience was a lively relocation for everyone involved, as it was an opportunity to go beyond their usual environment and to practise the intercultural communication, the work with digital tools which is so important now when everything is globalized very quickly.

Natalia Sarana, the teacher at the Secondary School-Kindergarten in Rubizhne, whose class participated in the project, shared her impressions:

“For me, the project was very interesting and challenging at the same time. It was interesting because everything was new. There were programs that I had never known before, but I had to learn them myself to help students. We had a new format of discussions and communication, new impressions. The children were impressed with the communication with the same students as they were but from a completely different country. It was obvious that they were nervous because something would not work out well because they did not speak a foreign language well and nobody was able to help with translation. But all this could not spoil the joy and pride of working together! Difficulties arose because of a lack of Internet, a laptop, which had technical problems from time to time. But, most importantly, we made everything work and all the difficulties encouraged the following actions: we bought a new router and had adequate internet now, the children helped to install Zoom, Vova Lutsenko, a boy of the 7th grade, and I helped others work with Google Slides, create their own tabs in Padlet. Everything was great. Thanks for new friends and experience!!! The unknown does not frighten us, but, on the contrary, it stimulates!!!”

Students from both Ukraine and Israel have received excellent communication experience and look forward to new meetings.

To get more information about Klym Churyumov International Green School, please visit our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7QhlaSay9nd14LHG_ZN30A/featured?view_as=subscriber