SAY.WRITE.SHOW-

DEVELOPING PUPILS' AND TEACHERS' COMMUNICATION SKILLS

A FEW ERASMUS STUDENTS

            Erasmus students come together in the communication club of their university which is in the city called “Respect” in the country “Love”.Their club professor wants them to divide into groups of five people in order to develop a project about communication after spending time together. If they spend a good time and write a report,he will give the project subject for each student.. Students who don’t know each other create their groups. Numi, Manu, Adrian, Evan and Defne are in the same group. According to the plan their teacher prepares to improve the project, they’ll spend their weekend together. The first step of the plan is to go to the olympiad races which are played in the biggest stadium of the city “Respect”. They watch athletics races together.

They support some athletes but at the end of the race they give the first three from different countries a big hand with the same excitement and enthusiasm for the medal ceremony. At the same time they hear the noises of the fans in the soccer pitch next to them. They know that there is a football match between the best world-famous two soccer teams.They decide to take a glance at this match. After a couple of minutes, the referee blows the final whistle and all the supporters of two teams clap the winner enthusiastically.They strike all of a heap to see that all these people are respectful to each other and chilled out of their stress. They leave from the area of race in order to go home. On the way, Defne helps an old blind woman who tries to walk on a rough road and the woman becomes happy and shows her appreciation by kissing Defne’s forehead. Then they say good-bye to each other and leave so as to meet on the next day.

       In the morning they meet up in front of the wax museum. Each one is very excited because they set their eyes on the waxen wrights who are the icons of their professions. These wrights are well regarded as extraordinary people. They take photos of the wrights they admire the most. They notice that each of them give importance to their preferences but they respect each.Then they arrive at their another destination which is a multistorey building formed of different flats hosting different religions. This is a very special building in the city. In this building the people who are belonging to different religions bringing together under the same roof can visit a flat used as a museum as well they want to see and pray there.They find this place very interesting and respected. This place is the last destination of the plan the teacher prepares. Now it’s the time for writing a trip report. They take a seat in a coffee shop and write their report together. 

The final and common idea of this experience is that the people living in this city are very happy and respectful to each other in order to live together. They know that they have differences but it is not a handicap for them on the contrary it is a wealth of sharing their differences. They think that people should respect and be tolerant of differences. They find a slogan for the conclusion of the report : “Our difference is our differences, our differences are our plus.”

On the school day, they present their report to their professor. The professor reads it for a while.Then he thanks these Erasmus students and celebrates them in order  to write this emphatic report. He approves the report and gives the permission of the project they will work by themselves about communication related to the subjects of the club. They dance on air and knock their fists together.

By Project Team

Bornova Karacaoğlan Mahallesi Ortaokulu

„Mr. Peace”

One day a big quarrel between people of different beliefs in the world started. They were saying their opinions and they disagreed with each other. It came to a large quarrel between people. The atmosphere became unpleasant and gloomy.

- “My religion is the most important!” said one man

- “It's not true! I don' t agree with you! I'm always right!” shouted another man.

- “So I have an idea,” a short man suggested.

- “Hmm what idea?” they all asked suspiciously.

- “The one who will build the highest Temple is the winner and he is right,” answered the man.

- “Let's do it! We will see whose belief is stronger ,” the men replied eagerly.

All the people were helping with building temples and there was a fierce competition between the rivals. Nobody focused on their duties. Parents weren't looking after children, adults weren't going to work and they all had forgotten what love and friendship were. And suddenly Mr. Peace saw it. He was famous for his goodness. Outraged by the behavior of the people, he ordered to break the buildings immediately and he gave a speech.

-"What are you doing?! Where is your love, joy? Where are your relationships? You forgot what the most important things are it's a belief Let's stop immediately what are you doing and start to live with peace and harmony. The most important things in life are respect and mutual agreement."

Everyone was touched by what Mr. Peace said. They understood his words. Now there is peace in the world.

It's all thanks to Mr. Peace.

Julia Jaromin

Aleksandra Moskwik

Sandra Adamczyk

Emilia Klęczar

Traditions

         There was a boy who travelled from Romania to Turkey to meet his relatives. First, when his parents told that to him, he didn’t know what to think. He had not much knowledge of Turkish language, customs or cuisine but he was very curious about all these.

           He arrived at his relatives’ house, he was happy to see that the cook in the house spoke Romanian:

“Are you hungry?” she asked him.

“Yes, I am really hungry”, answered the boy.

“I will prepare some baklava to you. It’s a dessert that is specific to Turkey.”

“That is great”, he said happily.

After one hour, the baklava was ready and smelt divinely.

“Here is your baklava”, she said and invited him to taste it. “Enjoy it and be careful because it is very sweet.”

“Hmmm! It’s very delicious!”

           When the boy finished eating, his aunt offered him a glass of tea and invited him to drink because outside the weather was very hot and your body needs being hydrated. While he was drinking it, he could hear the amazing sound of an imam calling for pray at the nearby mosque and he listened to it in complete bewilderment. Everything was like magic to him, the food, the people, the sounds, the perfumes in the air.

In few days’ time, he had to return to Romania with his parents but he knew in his heart that he would come back to this beautiful country and he understood that by visiting a new country, one could discover many things about the people living there. He knew now that the respect for one country comes from understanding and accepting the diversity.

Andreea Badescu - class 6 C, School no 51, Bucharest

We are not different!

We are different. We aren’t the same. We sometimes hate each other, sometimes we love. We are not perfect. Every person does what he/she wants, not what others want. Some play piano, some play football. Some acts well, some worse. But we can’t tell others what to do or who to be. We need to love and respect every single person! We can be different and that is not a bad thing.

We need to stop bullying others and need to start telling how beautiful they are. Respect is something everyone deserves! If fact we are similar – everyone of us has one body, one heart, one, soul, one blood. Different are only things we do and believe in so don’t judge book by it’ s cover!

By Marta Skavronska Form 8 from Zemgales vidusskola

ANGELA AND MOHAMMED 

      Angela is a nice young girl. She’s got a lot of friends and she loves so much her parents. She works in a café far away from her house. She really loves it although she knows it’s only four walls and the only customers are elderly people. One day Angela is at the café and sees her dad who is talking to a mysterious boy. He’s Mohammed, a Tunisian boy, who was born in Italy. He is looking for a job and Angela’s dad decides to retire and give him a chance in their own café.  Angela and Mohammed start working together and get on really well.

      Angela is the owner now and sometimes she’s so anxious that she can’t sleep at night. One day when Mohammed gets to the café he realizes it is still closed. Even the customers are surprised and angry because no one told them it was going to close.

Mohammed calls Angela but there’s no answer. Angela is still sleeping because she has been awake the whole night. As soon as she wakes up she finds Mohammed right in front of her door, waiting for her to go to the café together. Angela is really surprised. Day after day she falls in love with him.

      One day as they are standing in front of the café he kisses her without thinking about the customers waiting for their coffee.  Angela talks about him with her very best friend. She says he’s Italian but his parents are from Tunisia.  He is a tall and  very handsome young man and he is Muslim. Her friend can’t accept the idea of Angela dating a Muslim. She asks: “Are you going to change religion? What do your parents say about it?” Angela is really sad because her friend’s questions sound terrible. She would like to say: “My family love him, I’m not going to change religion and he is not Arabic. He is Italian and Tunisian.”

But she doesn’t say anything. She only says that he’s a good guy and gets off the phone. 

     Mohammed talks about his relationship with Angela with his friends, too. He says: “She’s very beautiful, she loves her job, she isn’t Muslim but that’s not a problem at all. Our families respect each other.” His friends are astonished. They say: “She can’t be in love with you because Italians never get on well with immigrants.”  Mohammed replies: “The article 3 in the Italian Constitution states that all citizens have equal social dignity and are equal before the law, without distinction of sex, race, language, religion, political opinion, personal and social conditions. “ His friends are surprised and say “Let us hope it’s really like that.”

As time goes by Mohammed and Angela still don’t want to split up and their own families support them. But they aren’t cheerful because they don’t feel loved and accepted by their own friends. Mohammed doesn’t give up and decides to ask Angela’s friend what’s weird about him. She says he belongs to a different religion and again he quotes the Italian Constitution’s article. After that she lowers her eyes and adds: “Do not make her suffer!” They suddenly realize that we are all equal with only slight differences from one another. He says: “Don’t worry!” and they hug each other.    

Rafaela Scartabelli

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF RESPECT

Mohamed was a dark-coloured boy. He did not have friends in his high school and his partners insulted him in the corridors because of his skin colour.

One day, Mohamed's teacher asked the class to work on a project. This project consisted of making a drawing showing the different religions in the world through pictures of churches. It was for the International day of Respect, December 12.  

The teacher told them to work in groups, but nobody wanted to be with Mohamed. Finally, the teacher decided on the groups and a girl, Julia,  and a boy, Fran,  were assigned to the same group as Mohamed. Both the girl and the boy were the most popular students in Mohamed’s class, but they were not very good students,  and they had been naughty to him sometimes. But this time they have no other option that work together. 

They arranged to meet at five in the school library, but neither Julia nor Fran appeared except Mohamed, who finally went back home sad and upset.

Mohamed was very responsible and he wanted to do his best on this project. He also was looking forward to being respected by his partners. So he worked very hard for three days and on the day the teacher asked them to hand in their project, he gave it to him. But he did one thing neither Julia nor Fran expected. Mohamed had written their names in his project. And they got the maximum mark! The teacher congratulated the three of them, and Julian and Fran looked a little bit embarrassed.

Since that day, Julia and Fran respected him, and so the other students. Mohamed’s kindness was above the colour of his skin, and now that doesn’t matter any more.

By Samuel Delgado & Braulio Fernández

IES ISIDRO DE ARCENEGUI Y CARMONA, SPAIN

Different but the same

       Life would be easier for most of us if we all are able to respect and know about other cultures and respect their values and belief. We can learn a lot of good things from each other. Culture shapes our identity and influences our behaviour. If we are open to other people, put away our prejudices means that we are prepared to listen, talk and learn about other people and their culture.

      We need to start thinking about the positives of different cultures and surrounding ourselves with diverse groups of people can enrich our life.

       It is important for adults to teach children to accept different cultures and help them to become open-minded. If not, this can lead to issues at school and even lead to bullying.

If we all are able to respect and know about other cultures, and respect their values and belief, life would be easier for most of us, and we can learn a lot of good things from each other.

Sirin is a little girl who lives with her parents in the south of London. Sirin is a Turkish name. Sirin is very curious and she loves reading. She reads all kind of books. Sirin is new at school but she already has two best friends. They moved last year from Turkey because her father is Turkish and her mother is English. Her friends are Sarah and Jane. They are both blonde girls with fair skin. Sirin is the one with dark hair, olive skin and beautiful blue eyes. You cannot miss her!

One day she asked her father:

- Am I English or Turkish or I am half of each?After a moment of thinking, her father answered:

- You are not half of anything! You are both full Turkish and full English.Sirin liked this answer very much!

      One day she had to go to a carnival and she got her face painted with an English flag. When her father saw Sirin’s face he was really quite shocked, but Sirin said:

- It is okay! Don’t you remember, I am full English as well as full Turkish?

    One day she noticed a man walking in the street with dark blue velvet Kippah. She knows that Kippah is a Jewish hat. Then she noticed a Sikh man wearing a traditional Turban. Sirin loves this variety of different cultures waling along the same street.Another day, Sirin’s history teacher placed all of the children in pairs for a school project. Sirin was placed with Emily. The children had to make a castle. The best castle would win a prize. So Sirin and Emily spent a lot of time together and worked really hard on their castle. Then, when the judging day came, THEY WON! And that’s when the fancying began, because Emily had hugged Sirin. Sirin was surprised but then she liked it. She was thinking that is great to have friends and feel like home although they are different.

      We need to start thinking about the positives of different cultures and surrounding ourselves with diverse groups of people can enrich our life.

 Timofte Alice, 8th form, Şcoala Gimnazialã “D.D. Pãtrãșcanu”Tomești, Romania

THE IMPORTANCE OF FRIENDSHIP

My name is David and I’m from Senegal.

When my parents arrived in Italy I was only four.

Now I’m almost 13 and I’m finally happy.

Last year my life  was a nightmare:  I left my small primary school where everyone loved me and I moved to middle school into town. I felt like falling into hell.

Three of my classmates started bullying me:  insults and threats  every day.

The worst thing was that they didn’t allow anyone to make friends with me: the others were afraid of talking to me and none of them dared   give me a hand.

I remember that day,

in Autumn, when everything changed.

As usual I left school and I went to the bus stop.

I was alone, I rarely see someone in that street. I still had to wait for twenty minutes before getting on the bus.

I was thinking about how to spend the afternoon when I heard some footsteps behind me. I turned and I saw the three guys coming up to me with aggressive intentions. Their bossy attitude made them feel above the others.

While I’m drawing back, I stumble and I fall badly on the ground.

First they start making fun of me, then they take my rucksack off and throw it into a puddle of water:

“What do you want?!” I shouted.

“Be respectful , we aren’t the kind of guys you can talk to like that” says one of them, the shorter.

While they are about to kick me, I see two other boys approaching and I ask for help crying.

The three bullies kick me in the stomach and I almost faint for the pain.

At first the two boys stop , then they run towards me.

“Our father will be here in a moment!” They shout

"He’s a policeman!”

A man wearing a uniform appears behind them: they

look like three angels to me.

The bullies run away and my rescuers help me stand up.

One of the boys starts talking:

“How are you feeling?”

“My stomach is aching but I’m really grateful to you for what you’ve done, I can’t think about how it would end without your help, thank you so much “ I answer.

Looking at them more carefully I realize that they are identical.

“Are you twins? What are your names?”

“I’m Riccardo and he’s Federico, my brother”"

“I’m David. But why haven’t I met you before?”

“Well, we aren’t from here. We’ve been in this school for only two weeks in another class, on the upper floor”.

I still don’t know who answered my question, was it Federico or Riccardo?

“We haven’t made friends with anyone yet..” Riccardo added

“Neither have I .. I’ve never had friends since I started this school. Would you like to be my friends?”.

At first they look at me in a weird way, then one of them says:

“Sure, why do you ask?” My heart filled with happiness when I heard those words.

“So friends?” I ask to be reassured

“Friends” They both say joining their punches to mine to start our friendship.

It was October 20th, since then no one has tried to bother me, including the three bullies who change road when they see me.

The most important thing is that I have some real friends and I’m very happy of it.

Alessandro Boccia

Leonardo Buzzegoli

Niccolò Carraresi

Alice Mattafirri

Asia Ticciati

Respect, the inherent piece of life

When you live on our planet, you need to be aware that not everything will be as you expect. There will be a lot of moments in your life when you need to accept uncomfortable situations for you. You have to reconcile with that and go forward through your life, regardless adversity. Remember, never lose your smile, keep getting happy and enjoy little things.

Jim is a boy, who lives in a small village. He meets a lot of different people on daily basis. Two streets away from his house, there lives an over eighty-year-old man, Mr. Page. He is a German who arrived to Jim’s village after the war to start a new life. Jim often talks with Mr. Page. He knows that his is a Buddhist and he knows that he can see only with one eye, but it doesn’t bother the boy.  

Some of Mr. Page’s stories really touch him. The elderly man teaches him many important values and has become Jim’s authority. Jim doesn’t understand why so many people make fun of faith or disabilities. He knows that people are cruel. Jim’s classmate calls him „nigger” because of his skin colour. Jim tries not to care about that. In the future he wants to become a psychologist and he wants to help people. Mr. Page says that respect and being tolerant towards another person are the most important things in our life. That’s really important.

Zuzanna Mejza

Wiktoria Kruczała

Daria Bies

Together

          It was April and the Vancouver harbor was full of emigrants coming from all over the world with the hope that the rumors of gold having been found on the banks of Yukon were true.

Among these people, the Irish man called Patrick Richardson wanted to become rich overnight. He was a good man but so poor that he couldn’t follow any of his dreams so far. He succeeded to buy a small terrain called “a claim” and he went to take it into possession. On the way, he met many people who, although they were basically good people, they became mad with the gold fever so Patrick promised himself he would never get like that.

In the first ten weeks he dug for gold on his land, he managed to gather some money and he promised himself he would stay one more week and return to his beloved Ireland.

But as life is never that simple, one night in July, he was woken up by a terrible noise of earth rumbles, people screaming and animals crying. It was a powerful earthquake and the river changed its course, so many claims were flooded.  

He ran to a higher hill where there were many injured people or scared ones. One of them, Michael, a man from an African country came to Patrick and told him that he had an idea – to go together to help the injured ones, to make some stretchers and boats and save the people who got stranded in the water. They saved many people and went by boat all along the river up to the lake. They took care of the injured people and stayed there besides them.

After few days, the water withdrew to its normal course and people could see that on the river banks gold was glittering. Patrick and Michael, who became good friends, shared the gold with all the people in the area.

Ilinca Dracea – class 6 A, School no 51, Bucharest

Black and white.

            Kim is a white person, she comes from Ireland. She looks completely different from black people. She has different hair color, ginger one. She doesn’t have lots of friends. She has to move to other city because her father has a new job offer.

            Sue is a black person. She has dark skin. She is very pretty and has lots of friends although she is arrogant. She studies in that school where Kim has to start her studies.

            It is Kim’s first day at new school. The first pupil she meets at school is Sue.

Kim: Hi, Sue.

Sue: Hi! Who are you? And why do you talk with me?

Kim: I am new here. I just want to have friends here in my new school!

Sue: Oh, really?! I am not very interested in you. Look at yourself! You are ginger and not very pretty!

Kim: Oh, you are the first who I met in my new school. I thought that you will be my friend, but now I see that I was wrong.

Sue: Sad, but that is true. You have to find new friends and you need to look in to the mirror too.

That example is very bad. Nobody should act like this. It is awful. No matter how different we are, what hair or skin color we have, we have to respect each other! We all are different and that is great!

THE DRAWING THAT BROUGHT RESPECT

In a wealthy village near Moscow called Jasarat, there was a serious problem of coexistence with foreign people. Jasarat was characterized by being very racist.  There were uncountable fights in public places and several daily conflicts because of this.

Lena was tired of being bullied at school because of her dark-coloured skin. She was insulted in class every day, but she didn't give up. She wondered why the people from that small town were so primitive, why they believed that people of any other race were inferior. What was wrong with them? 

Finally, she decided to take action and she thought about different ways of solving it. But she wasn't alone. There was a boy, Marcus, who was also discriminated against by his classmates. But this time it wasn't because of his skin colour but because he wasn't the same as the others. Lena and he thought of painting a huge picture on the town hall front building to get attention. They painted the palms of four hands in different colours and in the centre of the picture two hands together symbolizing equality. They wrote the word ‘RESPECT’ below the painted hands in capital letters. 

The drawing was perfect and it seemed that people liked it. It even went viral, but that was not all. Even Chris Pratt, a very famous actor, wanted to support Lena and Marcus. He visited the little village bringing with him a lot of tv and newspaper reporters who spread the news all over the world.

Lena and Marcus were really happy about the results of their drawing. It brought respect to that little village. In an interview, Lena insisted that in case someone was bullied they should report it to the police. Little by little the discrimination problems were reduced, although nowadays, racism hasn't been fully eradicated yet. But thanks to people like Lena, every day the world is a better place to live in.

So this is the small but at the same time Lena’s great story. 

                                               By Ana Díaz & Javier Gómez

IES ISIDRO DE ARCENEGUI Y CARMONA, SPAIN

DESPITE THE DIFFERENCES

               Alparslan went to the football field carpet match with his friends.They would have a football match.But a team had 6 players,the other team had 5 players.A young man was there for  training.Alparslan asked for him to come and play with them.But Alparslan’s friends didn’t want. Because he was black.They learnt that he came from Pakistan for studying.Even so Alparslan invited him to play. They played football together. Everybody took a fancy to Ammar.They tried to know each other. All in all Ammar was a human. Only Ammar’s skin was black.Ammar and Alparslan kept in well with each other.They were passing the ball forward between them.Then the goal came.At the end their team won the match and these two new friends knocked their fists together.They were very happy. They took each other’s phone numbers and left. 

                 Alparslan left home in order to go for Friday prayer. Ammar called Alparslan which mosque he could go.They met in front of the mosque and after the prayer they went to cafe. They drank tea and had a talk. Alparslan asked for him to come to the match again.Ammar thanked him but refused it to go to their hometown.Ammar’s father died so Ammar had to go to Pakistan. They said farewell as new friends.

                This story taught Alparslan and his friends that the most important thing is the character, not the skin color.Whenever they need a new player, they asked the others to play without hesitating.

By Oğuz Berk Namaz

Bornova Karacaoğlan Mahallesi Ortaokulu

                                       The colours of us

            There’s something different about June. She’s a lot like many other people. Still, there’s a huge difference between June and everyone else. She is thirteen years old.

             She has dark eyes and hair like her mom, skin colour like her grandma and a smile that is all her own. These are a few of June’s physical characteristics.

             She is usually happy, and often funny and kind. She works hard at school. Being happy, helpful, kind and hard working are a part of June’s personality.

             June can sing, dance and draw. Singing, dancing and drawing are just a few of June’s many talents.  June has personal preferences, things that she likes and things that she doesn’t. She likes macaroni and cheese, butterflies, presents and flowers, riding horses, hot dogs, and dogs and watching TV. She doesn’t like Brussels sprouts, worms on the sidewalk after it rains or losing things. She goes to many places and does many things. She has her own experiences.

There are millions of people with dark eyes, dark hair, dark skin or nice smile but no one looks exactly like June. There are millions of people who are helpful, happy, funny, kind or hardworking. That’s like June except it isn’t. No one sounds like June when she laughs. There are millions of people who can sing, dance or draw. That’s like June except it isn’t. No one sings or dances like June and her drawings are unique.

              June is a lot like everyone else except that she isn’t. She’s a person and there’s one of each. This is true for everybody. What really makes June different from everyone else is the same that makes everyone different from June. Each one is a person no matter of shades of skin. We shouldn’t worry about the colour of skin! We should worry about things that everyone deserves: a house, food, waterDoes everyone get them? Is this fair? What can we do to change it? No matter the skin we live in, the skin we are all day in!

Trifan Bianca, 8th form, Şcoala Gimnazialã “D.D. Pãtrãșcanu”Tomești, Romania

 I’M SORRY

Hi. I’m Lorenzo and I want to tell you a story about a book that changed my life. Let’s start from the beginning. It was an ordinary day at school. I was stealing some money to grade six students. I was two years older than them because I had failed twice, so the other students were afraid of me. I heard my classmates talking about me. They said they suffered when I beat them up and Leonardo, one of them, started crying. One day my mother scolded me: “Come here, quickly!” I was scared but I moved closer and said in a frightening tone: “What’s up?” She answered:

“I spoke to some friends of yours. They told me you beat them up, you bully them, you smoke and you even drink in the classroom. You are only fourteen, what have I done to deserve all this?”

The following day my mother took me to Scarlino, a small village up on a hill. She left me in the main square in front of the library.

She told me: “Think about what you’ve done. When you’re sure you feel comfortable and relaxed call me up.” As soon as I got out of the car I saw some elderly people and a few cats passing by. I got into that very small but colourful  library  with plenty of books. I met Marco, the librarian, and I told him the whole story. He gave some books for me to read; they were all biographies. I wasn’t the one who wants to know other people’s lives so I started reading comics instead. But then Marco came back and asked me: “Do you like this place?” and I answered immediately “Yes, I do!” After that Marco went to the most remote area in the library, took some books and blew the dust off.

I read every book about Scarlino’s history. I realized that I really enjoyed reading so I decided to read even those famous people’s biographies.

I started with Marilyn Monroe, then Albert Einstein and I continued to pick up biographies until I read Charlie Chaplin’s life, a comedian I identified with because his father was alcohol addicted.

My father had died because of alcohol abuse. Chaplin was able to move on and become a great comic actor.  I immediately seized my smartphone, switched it on but there was no signal. I finally managed to call my mother. I was almost crying and I told her to pick me up.

That very day my life changed: I stopped smoking, drinking and beating up my classmates. I’ve grown up. 

I’m seventeen years old now and I attend the third year of the Secondary School. I’d like to say I’m sorry if I showed no respect. Thank-you Charlie and all those famous people whose lives taught me to respect the others.

Luca Bonaccorsi

" We Are the World"

         My name is Yorubo. In November I was 15 years old. I was born in Nigeria but I have lived in Russia for three years. Since the moment I moved, I have had problems with the language and getting on with people. Everybody was laughing at me because of my skin colour. I don`t why I was treated worse than others. I was very lonely and unhappy for this reason. Everything changed when I got a friend.

One day I saw older boys bulling Petro - my classmate. I hate violence, so I reacted immediately. I pushed them away and I helped Petro to get up. Then we ran to school and sat down in the corridor. We started to talk about our problems. After long conversations we came to the conclusion that they are not allowed to bully us. We must do something. We got a great idea - we wanted to make the equality parade in our school. Teachers enjoyed our idea.

The parade took place a month later. The event served the purpose of showing young people that regardless of your race, education and look everyone deserves respect. Every student wore a costume. Pretty or ugly, there were: scientists, astronauts, musicians, Jews, black and white people. Everyone had a nice time, what showed us that we all can be tolerant.

     Marta Byrska, Natalia Płonka, Ola Zwaryczuk.

RESPECT FOR PERSONALITIES

I am part of the SCOUT ROMANIA organization, for which RESPECT is one of the rules on which it is based.

In our last "challenge" we looked for information about great Romanian personalities from different fields, which deserve our respect. So we set off on a trip whose first objective was the military museum in Bucharest, where we learned about Dumitru Prunariu, the first Romanian cosmonaut and the only one up to now, who flew to the cosmic space where he spent seven days in the “Soiuz 40 Mission”.

We continued our journey to Targu-Jiu, a city in the south or Romania, where we visited the Monumental Ensemble of Constantin Brancusi (the Table of Silence, the Endless Column, the Gate of Kiss). He was a very famous sculptor in the world who had exhibitions in France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, England and the USA.

Impressed by the value of the talented Romanians, we began a discussion with each other, each having its own passion for one or another domain.

I was passionate about sports and I praised Nadia Comaneci, one of the best 20th – century sportsperson, the world’s first gymnast who received the perfect score 10 in an Olympic competition and who is called the “goddess of Montreal”.

My colleague Alex, whose parents are physicians and is passionate with medicine, had a lot of knowledge about the researcher George Emil Palade, the only Romanian that received the Nobel Prize for medicine for discoveries in cell biology. He also talked about Ana Aslan, a world-renowned physician who found an anti-aging treatment - Gerovital H3.

Other colleagues discussed about the playwright I.L.Caragiale, the painter Nicolae Grigorescu, the musician and composer George Enescu.

I came back from that excursion with a lot of information about Romanian personalities that deserve our gratitude and respect.

I am proud to be Romanian like the personalities above-mentioned who gave the world so much!

Luca Tudorica - class 7 B, School no 51, Bucharest

Best friends.

Once there was a girl named Nellie. She was an ordinary girl who loves dancing and drawing. These were her two favourite hobbies.

One day a boy called Jacob stared to study in Nellie’s school. He lived two houses away from Nellie. He moved because his parents found a better job and also that he was bullied for his skin color in his previous school. When he moved to Nellie’s school, he hoped that he wouldn’t be bullied anymore. He also hoped for new friends and for new, happy childhood.

At the first school day in new school everybody was staring at him like he was an alien. But hopefully there was one person who didn’t react like others. And it was Nellie. She thought to herself: “He looks cool, I should go and talk to him!” Nellie did like that – she started a talk with Jacob. She showed Jacob the school, talked about hobbies and free time activities.

Actually, she knew, that she also will be bullied for her reaction, but she didn’t care about that. Because she wasn’t so stupid as the bullies and new that everybody has to respect each other. Nobody has such rights to bully! We should be friendly!

Nellie and Jacob became the best friends!

An interesting discussion

Christmas 2017. Company dinner. 13 workers were gathered together in a large table decorated with beautiful candles and full of food. At Christmas dinners people usually talk a little about everything: work, gossip ... In this dinner they were talking about a special topic ... people who had contributed to something to humanity.

David, who had studied science at the university, proposed Einstein as one of the people who had contributed the most to humanity, or at least to the world of science. However, Ana, who also had a degree in science, proposed Sigmund Freud, famous neurologist as one of the most important.

On the other hand, Adam thought that the most important person in the world of science was Marie Curie, a mathematical physicist who won a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903.

However, people who understood about the world of music and theatre continued to argue. Carlos proposed Nina Simone as the best singer and composer of both jazz and music in general, but Daniel did not think the same. He thought that without a doubt the best jazz musician was Myles Davis.

Celia, however, said that John Lennon was much better than Nina Simone, since Lennon was the founder of the Beatles and he was a great composer, as well. Suddenly, Luis named Amy Winehouse out loud, saying that she was the best composer that had ever existed.

At this point, talking about art and cinema, Isabel is heard talking about her top figure, Frida Kahlo, a famous artist who had always liked her, and Marilyn Monroe, an American film actress who was very famous in the 20th century.

Immediately, Pablo replied and gave his opinion. For him, Salvador Dalí, was the best one, both for being a painter and a writer. He also added he was an unconditional fan of Charles Chaplin, a famous silent film actor.

The discussion became quite fierce at this point. Everybody wanted to impose his opinion, no one heard the others, everybody shouting at the same time: Eisten, Lenon, Simone, Chaplin, Dali,

On one side of the table, it was Camila, a beautiful and intelligent young woman. She was silent looking at the others screaming, shouting with anger, even with rage. She had an expression  both of astonishment and disappointment on her face. Suddenly she got up, and went out of the room. Twenty minutes later she came in, dressed up as an astronaut. She was carrying a white flag with the word RESPECT written on it.

Her partners were still so engaged in the discussion that nobody noticed her till she climbed onto the table facing all of them in that strange costume. There was a sudden silence.   

On one side of the table, it was Camila, a beautiful and intelligent young woman. She was silent looking at the others screaming, shouting with anger, even with rage. She had an expression  both of astonishment and disappointment on her face. Suddenly she got up, and went out of the room. Twenty minutes later she came in, dressed up as an astronaut. She was carrying a white flag with the word RESPECT written on it. Her partners were still so engaged in the discussion that nobody noticed her till she climbed onto the table facing all of them in that strange costume. There was a sudden silence.   Then Camila spoke: “If I were a being from another planet and had come to the earth, to this room and saw you behaving like this, I would be ashamed of humanity.                                                                                                                                              

All the people named here have contributed much to humanity, and thanks to them today we have improved our knowledge on many subjects, music, art, science All of them deserve our respect. But we have forgotten what the word RESPECT means. Look at you! You were trying to impose your opinion to the others. RESPECT means consideration, thoughtfulness, politeness, listen to each other and admit that people can have different opinions from ours. Shake hands and have a peaceful and joyful Christmas dinner”.                

By Marta Conejero and Moisés Baco          IES ISIDRO DE ARCENEGUI Y CARMONA, SPAIN                                                                                                                         

Respect To Different Works

          Two friends, Tommy and Mike decide to go to an art gallery. There are many pictures, music instruments, books, statues and photos there. They look through different things, not the same ones. Because they have different styles and pleasures. They see really different works of arts and they take notes whatever they see into their diaries in order not to forget. At the end of the day, they sit at a cafe and they think that that whatever it happens in the end, the most important one is the respect to art, the works and endeavours because too much time is spent on them. Finally they add this importance thought  to their diaries and go home.

From then till now 20 years passes and Tommy’s two daughters. Betty and Alice have got different occupations. Betty is a doctor and Alice is a teacher. But these two daughters can’t get on well each other because they think that their own job is more important. Their father who wants to reconcile them gives the diary written by him and his friend, Mike 20 years ago. The two sisters who read these memories and messages in this notebook understand that the most important thing is the respect to different works and they make peace.

By Seçil Azman

Bornova Karacaoğlan Mahallesi Ortaokulu

Respect is important!

       The friends you make in school are the best friends you’ll ever get in your life, so never lose any!

        I am an intelligent student and had a lot of friends.

        Just when my 6th class was going to start, my family and I had to get back to the countryside because my grandfather was very ill. When I came back to my school, after one year, I was behind everybody so I had to work hard.  When I first entered my classroom after one year, there were new faces and some familiar faces. My classroom was divided into two groups, one which was considered to be the cool group having good looking students wearing brand clothes in it and the other which was the group of ordinary students and not so good looking!

        The cool group had the right to insult the members of uncool group and no one in the uncool group had the right to even respond to them cause if they did that person will become the main target of the whole cool group.

I was a part of uncool group and to be honest all the fun you’ll have in your school life is after being in this group. In cool group, there was hatred, jealously and negativity between them even though they used they show as if everything was just fine. Everyday, there were fights between them then they start ignoring each other. It was quiet funny for everyone other in the class and especially when they made comments on each other.

       In the uncool group there were no such happenings, if there were clashes between any two individual they used to settle it right and there were no serious things in the uncool group. We respect each other and we mostly used to ignore the cool group as if they didn’t even exist.

         The cool group which was supposed to be uncool and there were hatred, jealously and insulting comments in the cool group which was supposed to be cool.

After the 7th class was completed, the cool group was unfortunately broken most of its members failed to pass the 7th class. As a result, 8th class had no group and for me it was the best year of my school days.

          There were friendships all around, love as well and there was certainly no scope for negativity. Though, I could concentrate more on our studies and not on making true friends. Months passed final exams came closer and closer, everyone was feeling the pressure and there was a sorrow that our school life was going to end soon!

As the countdown began, and months period turned into weeks and days the love and the bond between us became very strong.

            I still remember the last day of school, when everyone promised to stay in touch, some were busy in taking pictures of them for the one last time and some even cried. Everyone was so happy! And finally the exams came; we became so busy that even we didn’t talk to each other during exams. After exams, we started meeting again and spending time together.

Nițã Denis, 8th form, Şcoala Gimnazialã “D.D. Pãtrãșcanu”Tomești, Romania

WE ARE ALL DIFFERENT

It was September 25th when a new girl from Nigeria came to my school.

Her skin was as dark as ebony, she had many  thin lively plaits and her clothes were different from ours

She wore a colourful dress

She was sitting apart from the others,  she didn’t feel at ease at all

Josie and Angiolina immediately noticed her, they understood how homesick she could feel since they knew what leaving your country was like

They went close to her:

“Hi”

“Hi” Elliya replied

“I’m Josie”

"and I'm Angiolina"

“And you?” Asked the two girls

“I’m Elliya” She whispered

“Why don’t you play with us?”

“because I think that none of you would like to be my friend, I’m different!”

“We are different too!”

“Yes, we are all different, if we really think about it” Josie and Angiolina said

“Why?” Elliya asked

“I’m from Argentina, I moved to Italy two years ago, my dad is Italian and he found a job here” Josie answered

“And I’m German and I’ve been living in Italy for hardly a year” Angelina added in turn

Elliya smiled full of joy and from that moment on  no one could  separate them.

Marwa Choukairi

Giulia Milo

DIFFERENT, TOGETHER, EQUAL

I’m Amina and I arrived from Senegal about two years ago after a long and difficult journey by sea  and land.

Still today it’s very painful for me to tell about the fear I felt during those days and the sadness for having to leave my country, my relatives and all my friends!

Suddenly I find myself in an unknown place, so the first months were very hard: I had to undertake a new kind of voyage, start a new life: I didn’t know a single Italian word and it was very hard to make me understand.

Here everything was different: starting with the school and my classmates.

In Senegal everyone loved me, here instead I felt vulnerable when the new classmates got on the bus.

Some of them were kidding me, the others just didn’t do or say anything; but as I went into the classroom everything stopped, they behaved well

with me, actually they were pretending to be my friends.

When the lessons finished everything started again.

I didn’t know what to do, I hardly spoke some Italian and however I was scared!

Luckily two angels helped me: Sara and Laura.

I had immediately noticed them in the class: They looked very different, one blonde, the other with red hair, one thinner, the other quite plump, one always very elegant with a nice blue ribbon in her hair, the other  wearing more casual clothes; but they  were always together and they seemed very close to each other.

One day, while the Italian teacher was congratulating with the class for being respectful and open to welcome new students , they stood up and said the truth about the real attitude of some students and their continuous mockeries. Then many others confirmed it, those who didn’t  dare say anything.

Everyone felt bad but that was the only way to solve the problem and now I have two fantastic friends and I gained the respect of the whole class.

Finally I feel at home again.

Alessio  Carraresi, 

Dennis Tognoni

"We Are The Same"

Tomorrow is Alice’s first day in new school. She has moved from Kenya to the USA. She's very stressed. Her parents are black Africans and Alice has their genes. She's afraid that her new friends won't accept her skin colour. She's 13 and she goes to the 7th grade.

Today is the 1st of September and she is going to watch the new school year celebration. She is nervous that nobody will like her. She's thinking about the moment when she' s coming into the classroom and all the pupils are looking at her. 

Finally, the big moment comes - Alice is in the classroom now.

The teacher is asking Alice to say something about herself.

She is saying that she has moved from Kenya and is talking about the people who live in this country. All the students are listening with interests. She's surprised because she has met people who don’t pay attention to her skin colour. She's very happy. Alice met two new girls - Hannah and Jessica. It's not important for them that she's black . From now on, they are always together.

We think that we shouldn't reject people who have different than ours skin colour. They are as valuable as we are.

Kasia Witkowska

Patrycja Gasidło

The unexpected friendship

           We all know that these three girls are best friends and I am talking about Fiona, Astrid and Kayla. But it hasn’t always been like this and I will tell you the story of how they met.

           It all started on a warm October day. It was the beginning of the school year and everyone was excited to meet their friends and colleagues. Fiona and Astrid were in the same class – 6 A and Kayla was in 6 B. They didn’t know each other, actually they didn’t have any friends at all and that was because they were all very shy and had just moved in this school.

Fiona who came from Scotland had pale skin, green eyes and was red-haired. She liked listening to classical music and reading stories. She loved putting bows and ribbons in her hair and wearing floral dresses.

           The first time Fiona ever saw Astrid she didn’t like her because her desk was covered with a pile of science books, which looked very old. Astrid was a Swedish girl who had blue eyes and blonde hair. Her pale skin looked exactly like milk. She was very clever and good at everything: Maths, Music, Physics, Biology and so on. However, she hated novels and literature. Astrid liked wearing jeans and T-shirts. She also loved rock music. Fiona thought Astrid would be a proud know-it-all, so she didn’t sit next to her.

The first time she saw Kayla, she was in the school cafeteria sitting at the table. Kayla was very different from the other two girls. She had dark skin and brown eyes. Her hair was as black as the night sky. Her favourite school subjects were English and literature, which she was very good at. That noon she was eating sushi. Fiona hated fish so she was too disgusted to sit opposite Kayla.

During the break after the fourth class, Fiona saw a paper on the wall saying “If you have talent in acting, join our school play”. Fiona signed up as she loved acting. There were two more names written on the board, she read them but she didn’t know who they were.

After a few days, Fiona was called by the principle and was told to go to the theatre room. Fiona rushed with excitement in the theatre room because she expected to meet many people. But life is full of surprises.

When she got in the theatre room, she gasped as the two girls standing there were the ones she didn’t like. “What a bad luck”, she thought. After few minutes, a teacher came and told them that they had to make a poster for the play. Fiona’s face turned as red as her hair. Making a poster with these girls was not her idea of fun but she had no choice. Little did she know that the next hour was going to be the best one in her life. She had so much fun with the girls that she was ashamed to have thought that Astrid was a proud know-it-all and she was sorry she hadn’t sat next to Kayla at lunchtime.

           After that day, they hang the posters in the school and a lot of people signed up for the play, which was a success. For the three girls it was an amazing experience because they got to know one another and also made other friends, too.

Cristiana Oanca - class 6A, School no 51, Bucharest

All you need is LOVE

Respect is the most meaningful thing in social life, which means that all our life depends on it. Without respect wouldn’t be any social groups like countries, towns, classes, friends and even not families. We wouldn’t be able to make conversations. Respect is a base for great and successful life.

The first sight of respect, and sometimes the most truthful sight we can see is in our family. Family gives young people values for life and most of the time it teaches to love. Of course, there are also many families that don’t love, but hurt each other, but, in my opinion, they are not real families, because family is a social group, where you stand for each other, not just being together because you are relatives.

Love is a beginning and also the end of respect. If you love someone, you would never on purpose do or say something that will hurt person’s feelings.

We can see respect everywhere. It shows the beauty of human being. It is how we understand and value people who are different from us and don’t judge them for that, like with immigrants in other countries, where people respect them and have similar freedom. And even if we lose some sport game, we must admit that other team was better and deserve that win rather than hate them and behave disrespectful.

I could write a thousand examples about respect and it wouldn’t be enough. Respect is the way how we build our communication, unions and many valuable things like love and trust.

By Paula Amanda Zagorska Form 9 from Zemgales vidusskola

A NEW STUDENT IN OUR CLASS

Last Monday, it was a Monday like any Monday. Though, when the teacher Miss Katy arrived, she brought a surprise with her. A new student from another country! Her name was Fabe. She started introducing herself. Some boys and girls started to laugh because her skin was different to our skin. Though, to me and my friend Jules she seemed to be so nice and friendly. When the boys and the girls were laughing at her, Fabe felt really bad. She sat down alone at the end of the class. In the break, Fabe was alone too so Jules and I approached to her:

• Hi Fabe, I’m Sophie and this is my friend Jules
• Hi Fabe , I’m Jules. Nice to meet you !
• 
  
• Hi ..
• We would like to be your friend

• Oh, that’s nice. Thank you. Nice to meet you both !

Fabe was happy now. We talked about our habbies, the music we liked, the films we had already seen We liked almost the same things.

Fabe also told us about things in her country. The food , the music, the art, monuments..

Now , we’re close friends and we are so happy together!

                                                           By Marta Alfonso & José Manuel Cañamero

IES ISIDRO DE ARCENEGUI Y CARMONA, SPAIN

MOLLY AND HER BIG HEART

            Molly is a negro girl as well as sweet.She usually goes to some countries of the world and stays there to know its culture. The next station is the country “Wish”.This country has positive people. Because people living here are taught love since their childhood. They decide to spend whole school period in the country “Wish”.Because her family wants Molly to have nice friendships and a great school period.They find themselves a nice small house and settle their belongings. Two days later there will happen a new beginning. Molly is very excited. She spends two days by enjoying herself and travelling in the country.

              Today is the first day of the school. She wears her new clothes and shoes. Her mother combs her hair and fastens her buckle.When the time is up,her parents wish her to have a great school period and success and then she gets on the school shuttle after kissing their cheeks. There are two girls and a boy in the shuttle. While the girls are smiling her, the boy doesn’t look at her even.

She sits on a seat and waits to arrive school. When they come to school, she goes to her class and sits on her desk. After ten minutes, the school bell rings. All the desks are full of students. 

Their teacher Mrs Daisy comes into class. She makes acquainted with her students and talks about their holiday. When the lesson finishes,a group of puckish boys comes near her and mocks with her. They entitle some names for her. “ Negro girl, bitter” Molly is so sad and begins to cry. The girls, Ashley and Diamond who smile her in the shuttle are in the same class with her.When they see that Molly is so sad, they become sorrow, too. But they are a bit afraid of Beckham, Felipe and Henry. When these three boys leave her there, these two girls come near Molly and cheer her up. The second lesson bell rings and they go to class. The lesson finishes but again these boys go near Molly to mock. When the last bell rings for the lunch time; Molly, Ashley and Diamond go to mess hall.

While walking in the corridor, Felipe raps her arm and runs away. She gets hurt and decides to talk to her teacher. Their teacher talks to these boys after the lunch. She says that they are good students and they aren’t suitable to these kinds of behaviours. They excuse from Molly and regret from the things they do. Molly forgives them and wants to have friend with them.Beckham, Henry and Felipe agree with this idea and they get on well from this time. They get on the shuttle and go home. Molly’s parents ask her how her first day is and Molly says that;

        “As usual, mum..Again people behaved me biasedly and approached badly. But I loved them and became friends, also new fellows.” And her mother:

                “Oh my sweet, the important one is not the body skin but one’s heart. Do behave well to everyone every time, because you have a big heart.”

By Aleyna Çakır

Bornova Karacaoğlan Mahallesi Ortaokulu

"Respect others to be respected!"

       I was in the 7th grade and I remember that a girl was our new classmate. Nobody paid attention to her and nobody wanted to be her desk mate.

       She was very tidy and hardworking and she always did her homework.

       She was very quiet, never back-talked anyone even if the other children teased her all the time because she was black. She greeted the staff at our school, never interrupted the teachers like any other child in the school. We all thought she was just weird, but I watched her for a while and she was always very polite. All the kids at my school were always rude to her, to the other classmates and to the staff.

     One day I had the courage to ask her why she wasn’t like the rest of us. What she told me changed the way I acted. She told me that she used to live abroad with her mother because her father died when she was very little. Her mother lost her job and they had no money anymore so she had to move and live with her grandparents.

She loved her mother very much and she appreciated that put her hard work into raising her. She took night shifts, she attended to her school activities, she protected her from the darkness, and that she loved about her mother was the fact she cared and never gave up on her child. Her mother was always there for her. Her mother told her that she had to be prepared for life and to live among strange people. She advised her always to do her best because the life is hard when you are alone. And the most important thing her mother told her was this:” If you want to be respected in life, you’ll have to respect others and by others I mean not just friends.”

      After she said that I started respecting others more and telling other people what I was told.

Rațã Florin, 7th form, Şcoala Gimnazialã “D.D. Pãtrãșcanu”

Tomești, Iași, Romania

A LITTLE MIRACLE

After a long and terrible journey by sea, I thought  the worst was over. Actually I still had to face many troubles!

I really wanted to reach Tuscany and Gavorrano:  a friend of mine lived there and I hoped to get some help from him but, unfortunately, he had left  and I didn’t know where he had gone.

What could I do without knowing any Italian, without a place to stay or a job? I was desperate.

Not far from the village I found an old church and  it seemed that no one had put foot into it for a long time, so I started using it.

My life was very hard: I spent the days begging in front of a supermarket and the nights in the lonely small church, miserable and full of fears for the future.

But one day a little miracle happened.

It was early morning when a five-year-old girl entered the church. She was sobbing  desperately. She was so upset that she could hardly tell me her name: Anita.  She was hanging around  confused and scared. l remember I thought: “ she probably got lost and she’s looking for her parents”.

The little girl said  she lived in Rome and she was on holiday in Gavorrano.

I immediately realized I had to take her to the police station even though I knew I could have been arrested since I didn’t have a passport, I was an immigrant and I had with me a child that wasn’t my daughter. I tried to forget about myself and I went straight to the police station.

As we entered the building we found a man and a woman sitting in a corner and visibly worried. Anita ran to them opening her arms and they clasped her crying and laughing at the same time.

I stayed apart, I didn’t want to spoil that moment of intimate happiness. The girl turned her face and they came up to me.

Anita’s mum gave me a big, friendly hug and her dad took my hands, too moved to say anything.

Later on, sitting in a restaurant, I told them my story, they listened to me sharing my feelings.

I live in Rome now: thanks to that little miracle I have a job, a house and a family.

Alessia Fiore

Chiara Martini

A New Life

Sophia lived a comfortable life in the Warsaw Apartment, but she had no friends. She didn’t like people with different skin color or religion. She didn’t tolerate other cultures as well. She saw nothing wrong with it.

One day she dreamed a nightmare. She dreamed that she lived in an African village. She didn’t have the access to water or food. She felt lonely and distant from the world. Notwithstanding the pain they felt, the people there were happy. They didn’t worry about their poverty and poor and the lack of opportunity to learn. She became more and more interested in these people. After a lot of hours she had spent with them, she got to like them.  

When she woke up, she understood she wanted to help these people seriously and went on a humanitarian mission. She gave up her modelling career. She decided to go to Africa to teach children and help them financially. They were very grateful. Sophia became another person who felt respect and love for her neighbors. She didn't feel lonely anymore. Money was not the most important thing for her.

Iwona Duźniak

Dominik Sokół

Natalia Szumowska

Gabrysia Szarek

Unlimited friendship

           Two girls, Amme and Helena, have been friends for a while, but their parents don’t know that. More than that, the two families have disliked each other.

           One day, the two girls decided to talk to their parents about their friendship as they thought that shouldn’t be a secret anymore. At the beginning of the day, they talk about what and how they could tell their parents. After this, they went and told the parents who were waiting for them in the park near the school, but it ended badly. The two families started quarreling.

Amme said to her parents ”Why do you have to quarrel? Because we have different nationalities and other skin colour? I don’t think it’s fair. We’re all humans, it’s not right to judge people before you get to know them! What do you think about me and Helena? We come from different countries, the colour of our skin is different, but we don’t care because we know each other and we understand one another very well. Take us as the best example of respecting the differences between people.”

           When she heard that, her mum thought a minute and understood she and her husband had been wrong all the time.