1st LTT Activities Meeting in Thessaloniki, 18-22 November 2019
ERASMUS+ 2019-2021 KA229: 
«Totalitarian Past and Democratic Present: Lessons for our Future»

The first LTT Activities Meeting of the schools that participate in our program has been successfully completed. 19 students, accompanied by 8 teachers from Italy, Romania, Poland and Spain, have come to Thessaloniki and the 1st Peiramatiko Lykeio of Thessaloniki “M. Andronikos” in order to attend a rich program of activities.

The first day of the program has started with presentations of the participating schools and their cities, as well as with ice-braking activities (constructing maps, ostracism game), so that students could better know each other. After these activities the students had the chance to present their work about the topic of the meeting, that is the causes of the rise of totalitarianism in the past and in our days, through Power Point presentations, posters and short videos. The students were “tested” on the knowledge that acquired through a Kahoot knowledge game. The program of the day ended with two more activities in the classroom, a Biology and a Language game, through which students had the chance to discover the common elements of our languages.

During the second day students and teachers visited again the school, where they had the chance to attend a General Assembly of the School Community, where students and teachers from the Greek school discussed issues of the school (there was a translation in English made by students of the Greek school for the guests, who could also participate in the discussion). Later on students and teachers attended two different workshops, organized by teachers of the Greek school: students acquired knowledge about planning a survey (which they will have to prepare for the next LTT meeting), while teachers had the chance to be acquainted with interesting activities about promoting democratic ideas in the classroom. After the workshops a short drama play, related to the period of the dictatorship in Greece in 1967-1974 and prepared by a team of Greek students, was presented to the guests, followed by a role-play game about promoting social integration. The day ended with short presentations of our education systems and a free discussion among teachers and students about the phenomenon of totalitarianism and its causes.

On Wednesday students and teachers had a city tour of Thessaloniki: they visited the White Tower (which was used as prison), the traditional Old City of Thessaloniki, the Eptapyrgion (prison for political dissidents), the Church of Saint Demetrius and the Roman Forum.

The next day was also dedicated to cultural activities: we visited the arcaeological place of Vergina and the Monastery of Saint Dionysius in Mount Olympus, which was destroyed by the Nazi troops.

 

The last day of the program started with a visit to the Navy Ship “Velos”, which is now a Museum of Resistance against the dictatorship regime, followed by a walk on Thessaloniki’s promenade and a visit to the Cinematography Museum, where students, after gaining some useful knowledge about the relation of Greek cinema with politics, created their own short videos about resistance in our days. The program ended with an evening farewell party, where the certificates of attendance were given to students and teachers.

The teachers and students of the 1st Peiramaiko Lykeio Thessalonikis “M. Andronikos” would like to thank our guests, both students and teachers, for the wonderful collaboration we had and we hope that they have left Thessaloniki full with wonderful memories.

You can see a video with photos of the meeting here.