Monday, 11th October 2021

The students of Primary School Rače were eagerly awaiting teachers from the partner countries. Upon arrival, our guests were warmly received by the principal Rolando Lašič. Our students prepared a welcome program for them and sang children’s songs in partners’ languages. ​​

The project’s coordinator presented the course on mobility in Slovenia. Guesting teachers got acquainted with the school system.

Later we introduced them to the interdisciplinary integration of two afterschool activities “Drama” and “eTwinning”. We carried out this kind of activity within the framework of our Erasmus+ project. The video about the dramatization of the legend The Shoemakers was a product of this activity and it was presented to our partners.

We introduced our guests to a special feature of the Slovenian curriculum – activity days, so we organized a technical day for younger students aged 6–9 years. After watching a puppet show, the pupils got acquainted with the puppets and made their own. The technical day was performed by the Fru-Fru Puppet Theatre.

We took the teachers on a tour around our municipality Rače–Fram and stopped at Fram Oil Mill, where we degusted a specialty of Slovenian cuisine – pumpkin seed oil.

The tasting of Slovenian cuisine continued at the Tourist Farm Baron, which has a long tradition. Our guests met representatives of local authorities – Mayor Branko Ledinek and his close associates, who presented some of the characteristics of our municipality.

After lunch, we headed back towards the village Rače, where we saw the local architecture and visited Rače Castle.

Tuesday, 12th October 2021

We invited our guests to Ptuj Castle. Our aim was to introduce them to the museum pedagogical workshops for children.

We also wanted to show how we integrate museum education into the school curriculum. The third-graders of our school also joined us and so the teachers were able to see the implementation of various museum activities for students.

We took the guests around the oldest Slovenian city Ptuj and, while visiting the sights, we also introduced them to how we carry out excursions to this town with our students.

Teachers were offered to taste typical Slovenian “Sunday” lunch, which we prepared at our school. Sixth-graders presented our culinary specialty with the help of a poster.

In the afternoon we took a tour around Maribor. Teachers saw important monuments, Maribor Castle, churches, and architecture in general. We explained to them how we wanted to carry out the dramatization of The Shoemaker, but due to the coronavirus, we had to give up this activity and make a video instead.

Wednesday, 13th October 2021

The partners were taken to visit our Capital City Ljubljana. We took a look at the architecture, introduced them to the legends of the dragon, and invited them to Ljubljana Castle.

At the Puppet Museum, we presented the content of two of the most beautiful Slovenian puppet games: Zvezdica Zaspanka and Žogica Nogica.

While driving along the River Ljubljanica with a boat, we introduced partners to the old part of Ljubljana and showed them architecturally and historically important buildings. We took teachers to the old restaurant with a long tradition (typical Slovenian dishes are served here) and they had the opportunity to try Kranjska sausage and sauerkraut.

Due to the announced demonstrations, we had to cancel our visit to the School Museum. We decided to show the guests Predjama Castle, the largest cave castle in the world and take them to the village of Predjama. At the end, we stopped visited Postojna Cave, which has a greater natural than cultural significance for us.

Thursday, 14th October 2021

On Thursday, the teachers were presented the special feature of our curriculum – the cultural day. The Association of Cultural Societies Maribor and the youth section of the cultural and artistic association KUD Študent taught all our students (and by means of a video connection also students from abroad), how to dance Slovenian folk dances. We organized workshops for students, where they learned how to sing folk songs and got familiar with Slovenian folk games.

Afterwards we took our guests on a tour of the school and kindergarten. The 9th-grade students together with their English teacher Ksenija Pečnik prepared the presentation of the history of education in the municipality of Rače – Fram.

Of course, we also tried some Slovene dishes that day. The fifth and sixth graders presented Slovenian traditional dishes, which were on the menu that day. They had prepared wonderful posters during their Food and Technology class and used them to introduce Slovene cuisine to our guests.

The 6th-grade students, under the mentorship of teacher Sara Kupnik, prepared a guided tour of the Nature Park Rače, where they told the guests how Rače ponds influenced the formation of our village and community.

Our school has 4 choirs, in which children of all ages are included. The choirs, in cooperation with the local vocal group A Cappella and the tamburitza group the Bos.si, prepared a concert.

A representative of the Institute of Education, Mr. Primož Krašna, a consultant for fine arts, greeted our guests. He said he was especially proud that the project was being implemented at a time when the culture was pushed to the sidelines due to the corona situation.

All of the choirs sang Slovenian folk songs. As part of the Erasmus+ project, a teachers’ choir was formed under the leadership of teacher Petra Efremov, and on this occasion, they presented themselves with their singing for the first time. We managed to surprise both, our guests and parents, and we were rewarded with great applause for our efforts.

After the performance, we invited the guests to the castle yard, where they had the opportunity to chat with parents and students of our school over roasted chestnuts and juice.

Friday, 15th October 2021

The day started with the traditional Slovenian breakfast. The guests could learn about the project which has been running in Slovenia for 12 years. We also invited students from abroad to have breakfast at the same time and with the same ingredients as we enjoyed ours.

After a working meeting on the project, we opened the doors of our classrooms to visiting teachers. Thus, they saw the lessons of fine arts in the 3rd grade, the lesson of the Slovene language in the 1st grade, which was created in cooperation with the class teacher and a school librarian, the lessons of teaching English in small study groups in the 8th grade, FIT active break, and music in the 5th grade. Teacher Petra Efremov prepared a music workshop and our guests played musical pipes together with the students.

A farewell cultural program followed. Kurent took our guests to the gym, where the children sang Slovenian songs, which they learned on the cultural day.

The school folklore group also danced and presented folk dances and counting games. In the end, the teachers’ choir said goodbye to the most beautiful Slovenian Eurovision song entitled Love Day.

In the afternoon, we took the teachers to the House of the Old Vine Museum in Maribor, as we wanted to show them the biggest attraction of our area. While visiting the largest floor mosaic in Slovenia, the teachers got to know a part of important moments in Slovenian history. In the end, they had a chance to hear the story of the old vine using virtual glasses.

Mobility to Slovenia was marked by the coronavirus, which required the organizers to change the program and adapt to new conditions. Nevertheless, we carried out the mobility in such a way that all partners were satisfied.

We made new friends in that short time – but it was time to say goodbye. We hope we were able to present to them our culture as our biggest pride.

You can see a video about Mobility to Slovenia HERE.