The document summarizes the 1st Comenius meeting of the Overcoming Xenophobia project that took place in Rudbarzi, Latvia from November 21-25, 2010. 22 staff from various partner schools attended and participated in activities to plan the project year, including introducing their schools, sharing ideas to address xenophobia, selecting a logo, and setting deadlines. The participants visited several Latvian towns and engaged in cultural experiences like folk dancing to better understand Latvian culture and build relationships between partners.

1. Summary and Pictures.
The 1st Comenius Meeting in the 1nd Project Year was in Latvia, at our partner school in Rudbarzi. It
lasted from 21 November to 25 November 2010. All partner schools were participating in the Meeting.
There were 22 staffs visiting Rudbarzi at the meeting.
On Saturday 20 November Bulgarian partners arrived, and on Sunday 21 November, all participants
arrived Riga and checked in at the “Old City Boutique Hotel” in Riga. We had the opportunity to get to
know about the Capital of Latvia, walking around in the City Center.
Staro Riga Festival
On Monday 22 November, we had the breakfast at the hotel and travelled to Rudbarzi by bus
which was arranged by our host school. On the way we visited Oskars Kalpaks Monument. We
learned that he was the first commander of Latvian Armed Forces.
Oskars Kalpaks (1882-1919)
Lithuanian partners arrived to Rudbarzi. After checking in at the hotel “Kalnamuiza” at Rudbarzi, we
went to “Oskara Kalpaka Rudbarzu” primary school. They gave us a warm welcome. We had lunch at

2. the school. The Pupils had prepared the performance with acting, singing and dancing at the reception.
There was a surprise for each partner; the Latvian pupils and teachers had prepared a song from each
partners’ country and performed them. That was really great. Thank you very much.

3. In the afternoon we started the Comenius Project Meeting. This Meeting had an Agenda of important
matters to discuss in order to get a good start and planning of the 1st Project Year. All partner schools
had participants in the Meeting. The Turkish coordinator was leading this Meeting. The visit
programme was presented by Dzintars Straus. Then all partners introduced themselves and presented
their My school presentations: Number of students and teachers, age of pupils, school subjects,
timetable of classes, which foreign languages are studied, activities, the surroundings of the school. Gifts
were given. First ideas about the reasons of xenophobia and the ways to overcome it were shared.
In the afternoon there was a dinner (Assortment of Latvian homemade food) at school hall. Latvian
teachers and parents organised that wonderful evening for us. Thank you very much for this
organisation and delicious food . Teachers from the host country performed traditional dances. Also we
had a homework for this dinner: acquaintance with one song and one game from each country, involving
in activities all partners. We demonstrated our traditional songs and dances. That was a great experience
and we got the opportunity to get better acquainted.
The morning started with project meeting on Tuesday 23 November. The main object was to review
the appliance form of our project.
Meeting Topics and notes
Review of the work done until the moment by each participant.
Dissemination of the working programme of the first year.
Organising cooperation between participating schools.
General agreements about the proposed activities, objectives, methology of the project.
Presentation of ideas given by the teachers.
Agreements on pupils’ involvement.
Presentation of the strategies of integration of the project into learning and other ongoing activities in
every school.
The Project Website.
The Project Logo.
The coordinator disseminated the working programme, and asked partners suggestions about the
programme. Italian partners proposed to determine the dates and places for the meetings in this course:
The coordinator said that she is going to prepare the work programme changing the dates and send each
partner by email. The Works done until the moment by each participant reviewed.It is seen that each
partner school has constituted a Project team, and introduced themselves with email. Each partner
school has started to organise exhibitions and displays about the project for parents and members of the
local communities. The partners decided to establish email contacts between pupils to improve
motivation for learning through direct contact with other cultures , picking up the languages of each
other ,and for building relationships with students in other countries. The impotance of questionnaires

4. was mentioned. With the help of these surveys, students can communicate what their expectations and
interests are concerning the discovery of different European realities.
It is decided to hold the guest students in families of students of the hosted school.
As the project reflects the mission of our schools, it will be integrated into curriculum through different
classes (literature, history, religion, social studies, foreign languages etc).
The Project Website is going to be created by Peyo Yavorov Secondary School. It is decided to load
the documents of each school to website. Also the website of each school should be informed after an
activity, meeting, teacher exchange etc.
The logo for our Project was selected. The pupils would make a drawing related to our topic
“Overcoming xenophobia”. Each country brought their selected drawings. At the meeting we voted for
the partners’ schools drawings. Latvian partner’s drawing was selected as the Project logo.
The Logo of our Project.
In the afternoon there was a guided tour to Skrunda town and Kuldiga town. We met Skrunda local
government council and attended the reception.
In the evening all participants had dinner together at Pagrabins Restaurant in Kuldiga. It was very nice
and everyone enjoyed themselves.

5. On Wednesday 24 November, we followed our hosts to their lessons. Each participant attended lessons
according to their wishes, so we experienced a typical school day in Latvia. We asked questions to
Latvian teachers about their education system.
There was a guided tour of Rudbarzi village. Later there was a trip to Liepaja Town. We are informed
about Liapaja by our guide, and explored the natural and cultural heritage of the Liepaja Town. We
visited Liepaja Secondary Art School. We had our lunch at Barons Bumbiers Restaurant.
In the evening, There was a dinner and Latvian folk dance party at the Skrunda’s Community Centre.
Nearly sixty person from different countries, cultures holded each other’s hand and danced together.
That was really an amazing party. The guests are also interviewed by the local tv channels.
The final day of the Comenius Meeting was Thursday 25 November. We had final meeting:
Discussion about the content of following meetings.

6. Distribution of tasks of the first year.
Suggestions; in the First Meeting Feed Back Form, introducing a traditional recipe was suggested, so we
decided to organize International Gourmet Lunch in Italy.
Deadlines of the tasks: Website is going to be created by Peyo Yavorov Secondary School till 20th of
December.
Exchange of pupils’ emails till 10th of December.
Preparing a questionnaire for students to student’s awarenes of other countries,
the reasons of xenophobia, their suggestions for defeating xenophobia by Oskara Kalpaga Rudbarzu and
Gazi Primary schools till 10th of December, and it is going to be applied in January at each school. The
results are going to be analysed in Italy to determine the subtitles of Peace Book.
After the meeting, we visited Milk Museum and then it was time to leave Rudbarzu
Town, and return Riga. There was a guided tour in Riga.
We had our dinner at LIDO Recreation Centre and checked in our hotel.
On Friday 26 November, we returned our countries with wonderful memories.
Thank you very much Latvian Friends.

7. Overcoming Xenophobia Through A Deeper Understanding of European Culture
2010-2012