<p class="p4"><span class="s1">The second trip of the team of the University of Athens for in situ observation of the SFL program implementation took place on 02-05 December 2015 in Bulgaria. The team formed the Professor of University of Athens Georgios Kalkanis, Dr. Rania Gkikopoulou and PhD candidate Efstratios Kapotis.</span></p>
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<p class="p4"><span class="s1">The team arrived in Sofia on Wednesday, December 2nd. The visits to the two schools in the country participating in the SFL program had been scheduled for December 03 and 04, in the morning.</span></p>
<p class="p4"><span class="s1">On December 03, in the morning, Professor Kalkanis and and PhD candidate Efstratios Kapotis went at Knyajevo to visit the school <b>Uwekind</b> (International School Uwekind), where SFL program is being implemented combining the teaching of Chemistry with the German Language. There, the school teachers welcomed the team very warmly. In the brief discussion that preceded the course they informed them about the way the program is implemented this year, the classes, the methodology and how their students respond. Afterwards they visited the premises and classrooms of the school. </span></p>
<p class="p4"><span class="s1">At 10:00 started the course with the teachers Monika Liutova and Radostina Kirina and 18 students of the 5</span><span class="s2"><sup>th</sup></span><span class="s1"> grade. The members of the team of the University of Athens were observing the process seated in the back of the room. The duration of the course was an hour and the thematic related to mixtures and ways of separating them (in particular the sedimentation and filtration).</span></p>
<p class="p4"><span class="s1">Initially the teachers handed out to the students the worksheets. The worksheet was written in both languages </span><span class="s3">​​</span><span class="s1">(Bulgarian - German). The 18students were divided into groups of four or three. Initially the teachers asked questions in order to hear the students’ hypotheses (eg. how we can separate a mixture, do components of the mixture determine the procedure to be followed, which substances can be separated by a magnet, etc.). Then there were presented the separation methods, the vocabulary and the instructions for the experimentation.</span></p>
<p class="p4"><span class="s1">At the beginning the students had to name and fill in their worksheets some examples of homogeneous and heterogeneous mixtures they know. Then they had to complete in a table in German the ingredients of some mixtures well known. Students then experimented with various mixtures and their separation, for example they dropped into coffee cups beans and polystyrene and separated the mixtures by filtration. In the next experiment they created a mixture of salt and iron filings, which was separated with a magnet. In the end they had to find examples from everyday life for the appropriate way of mixtures separation.</span></p>
<p class="p4"><span class="s1">Throughout the course, students were collaborating during the experimentation. Students used the German language during their discussions with the other students or their teaches. The teachers wrote each time the vocabulary in German in the blackboard (eg. magnet, sieb, filter, filtrieren, absetzen). The students could expressed in German their hypotheses, conclusions and results of experiments without difficulty. </span></p>
<p class="p4"><span class="s1">Upon completion of the course, the team of the University of Athens had a conversation with the teachers and the owner of the school about the Program.</span></p>
<p class="p5"><span class="s1">The next course started at 11:00 with the same teachers and 19 students of the 6</span><span class="s2"><sup>th</sup></span><span class="s1"> grade. The members of the team of the University of Athens were observing the process seated in the back of the room. The duration of the course was an hour (40’) and the thematic related to chemical changes in substances and chemical reactions, in particular to what chemical reactions are, what is the difference between them and the physical and how they are represented visually.</span></p>
<p class="p4"><span class="s1">Students were also divided into groups of four or six. In the worksheets that were given to students were initially presented in Bulgarian questions, the materials of experiments and the procedures that they would follow. Then it was given a German glossary with all the words and terminology needed by students. At the end there were diagrams to be filled by the students.</span></p>
<p class="p4"><span class="s1">Teachers asked students to predict the result of the chemical and physical reactions and after a short discussion, they started experimenting. They asked the students to smell the sulfur form a test tube and then a student shuffled the sulfur with iron filings. The teachers asked the students to choose the easiest way of separation of this mixture into its components and after discussion they filled in the stages of the process in their worksheets and a student wrote it on the blackboard. The terminology and the procedures were expressed by the students in both languages.</span></p>
<p class="p4"><span class="s1">Afterwards there was a demonstration of an endothermic chemical reaction in a test tube and the students felt the temperature change gripping the tube. In the next experiment there was a discussion about what will happen if phenolphthalein will be added to a solution of sodium. The teachers added it and students observed and schematically designed the reaction in their worksheets. Students wrote in German their conclusions about physical and chemical reactions and were asked to choose from some reactions which are possible and which are not. Then they wrote in German a small suggestion on how one can describe a chemical reaction and read it to the others. </span></p>
<p class="p4"><span class="s1">For the next experiment, they threw baking soda in a balloon and vinegar in a bottle and placed the balloon at the mouth of the bottle, so as to drop the soda inside. Students were asked to predict, experiment and record their findings, but in Bulgarian. Latest activity of the course was the classification of phenomena of everyday life based on the reactions they represent.</span></p>
<p class="p5"><span class="s1">In both classes the students were interested, involved, collaborating responded easily to what requested by the teacher and used the vocabulary of the section in German.<span class="Apple-converted-space">  </span>Also, it was evident that both teachers had successfully prepared their lesson with worksheets and experimental materials. The course in both classes is considered very successful, not only because of the very good preparation of the teachers and the useful worksheets, but also because of the impressive response of students.</span></p>
<p class="p4"><span class="s1">Upon completion of the second course, the team from the University of Athens discussed with the teachers implementing the SFL Program. They said that they consider very important its activities, the course is enjoyable for their students and interesting for the teachers. They also noted an increased interest of students in science after the implementation of the program, which impacts very positively also in the learning of the foreign language. They said that in some cases students with lower performance in the language, after the course, began to speak and to express successfully, to the point that impressed their teachers.</span></p>
<p class="p4"><span class="s1">The next day, on 04 December in the morning the whole team of the University of Athens (Prof. George Kalkanis, Dr. Rania Gkikopoulou and PhD candidate Efstratios Kapotis) went to the other school of the SFL Program in Sofia, <b>Benito Juarez</b>, which applies the SLF program combining the teaching of Chemistry and the Spanish Language. There, the school teachers welcomed the team very warmly. In the brief discussion that preceded the course they informed the team about the way the program is implemented this year, the classes, the methodology and how their students respond. Afterwards they visited the premises and classrooms of the school. </span></p>
<p class="p4"><span class="s1">At 09:00 started the course with the teachers Radost Mazganova and Yordanka Yordanova and 12 students of the 6</span><span class="s2"><sup>th</sup></span><span class="s1"> grade. The members of the team of the University of Athens were observing the process seated in the back of the room. The duration of the course was an hour (40’) and the thematic related to chemical elements and pure substances.</span></p>
<p class="p4"><span class="s1">As we were informed by the teachers, these students participated in the program also last year and wanted to participate again this year. Classes for these students are normally in the afternoon, but they had come in the morning to allow us to observe their lesson.</span></p>
<p class="p4"><span class="s1">At the beginning teachers handed out worksheets to the students and watched a YouTube video in Spanish about chemical elements. Students answered questions concerning the content of the video and discussed using the Spanish language. Then each student randomly choose two different cards, where one wrote a chemical element or compound in the Bulgarian language and the other in Spanish another chemical element or chemical compound. Students had to pair their cards. After that students practiced in the terminology of the unity and revised the previous concepts in Spanish: The teacher told the Bulgarian words (eg atoms, molecules, ions) and asked students to name them in Spanish. Students responded in Spanish without difficulty. The educational procedure continued with a video projection that included the periodic table and the students were asked to respond (in Spanish) in questions mentioned in the video and at the end of the video they read a short relevant text in Spanish.</span></p>
<p class="p4"><span class="s1">A game was the next activity, in which there were cards with the names of elements and the students had to place them in a two-column table: chemical elements and compounds. This was followed by a domino game, with the element and compound names were written in both languages, and students had to match the words. Students completed their worksheets with the terminology in both languages. In the last activity, each student stuck a sticker with the name of an element (in Spanish) in the t-shirt and they were asked to form compounds by combining elements of two or more students. The course ended with some homework.</span></p>
<p class="p5"><span class="s1">After a short break, we watched the next lesson, with the same teachers and participants 19 students of the 5</span><span class="s2"><sup>th</sup></span><span class="s1"> grade. We were also observing the process seated in the back of the room. The duration of the course was also one hour (40 ') and the thematic related to pure substances and mixtures.</span></p>
<p class="p4"><span class="s1">The course began with the teachers handing out to the students the worksheets prepared for this theme. The worksheet was written in<span class="Apple-converted-space">  </span>both languages </span><span class="s3">​​</span><span class="s1">(Bulgarian - Spanish). Initially the students were asked to express their hypotheses whether various materials float or not (eg. cork, stone, wood, metal) and then they tested their hypotheses by throwing this materials into the water. They recorded their answers in Spanish.</span></p>
<p class="p4"><span class="s1">Then they made different mixtures and had to answer (in Spanish) whether they are homogeneous or heterogeneous and try to separate them into their components (eg. using a magnet). The next activity was experimenting with solutions. After that they completed the activities in their worksheets and made a sketch of the experiment. The next activity was the separation of the terminology into adjectives and nouns. Each student chose randomly some cards with terms written in Spanish and they were asked to distinguish what was noun and what adjective, placing them in the appropriate box. Last activity was a domino game, with words in Spanish which students had to match with the corresponding images. This unit will continue in next lesson with more activities.</span></p>
<p class="p5"><span class="s1">In both classes the students were interested, involved, collaborating, responded easily to what requested by the teacher and used the vocabulary of the section in Spanish. Also, it was evident that both teachers had successfully prepared their lesson with worksheets and experimental materials. The course in both classes is considered very successful, not only because of the very good preparation of the teachers and the useful worksheets, but also because of the impressive response of students.</span></p>
<p class="p4"><span class="s1">Upon completion of the second course (also during the brake), the team from the University of Athens discussed with the teachers implementing the SFL Program and the director of the school. They said that their students show interest and want to participate in the program and that students participating for the second year have improved their performance in the foreign language. They also stressed that also the teachers are enthusiastic about the program and want to continue. They also said that it will be very helpful for the implementation of the Program if they receive and start using the Mobile labs.</span></p>
<p class="p4"><span class="s1">The general impression of the whole team of the University of Athens is that the SFL program is being implemented with great success in both schools of Bulgaria.</span></p>
<p class="p4"><span class="s1">Students show interest and participate willingly and they respond successfully to the activities of the course. Particularly important is considered that students show great enthusiasm and seem to enjoy throughout the course. They can cooperate harmoniously in smaller or larger groups and they use the German / Spanish language during the course. They seem to understand the instructions they are given in the German / Spanish language and it is not difficult for them use this language.</span></p>
<p class="p4"><span class="s1">With regard to the teachers, apart from the very careful preparation of the course (with worksheets, the necessary vocabulary and appropriate visual material), they also show considerable enthusiasm for the course and especially love for their work, which contributes decisively to the success of program. Important role plays also the very good cooperation between the teachers.</span></p>