AEHT

Virtex4All is a ‘transfer of innovation’ programme intended to ensure that full use is made of the prize-winning materials devised as part of the original Virtex project coordinated by Elzemien Warnink of the Netherlands.
The materials are used for language learning – both in class and for independent learning - for students of the hospitality and tourism professions; the task of the Virtex4All team is to refine and supplement the materials, and above all to clarify the levels of the tasks in each of the six units using the Common European Framework of Reference (CEF). The AEHT has an important role to play in disseminating the project’s materials through its large network of member schools and in testing out the programme thanks to the large number of experienced language teachers working in our member schools in over 40 European countries. The project partners are from the Czech Republic, Estonia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain and Turkey. Our second meeting was held in the Bornova Technical and Vocational High School, Izmir, Turkey.

We were met at the airport and whisked off to the sumptuous Anemon hotel in the Izmir suburb of Bornova; just time for a quick dip in the limpid azure swimming pool before the welcome dinner at the hotel, presided over by the Bornova school’s director Gönül Karaman, obviously pleased to welcome us to her charming city. We were waited on by students from her school currently on placement at the Anemon hotel, who were eager to try out their English by explaining the menu to us; and Gönül initiated us into the mysteries of Raki drinking – a must to accompany the first course of every Turkish dinner, she assured us. Raki is a more potent form of pastis, turning white (rather than yellow) when water is added; it always seems to be served in giant measures! At the dinner Gönül presented us all with an elegant embroidered cloth bag containing some gifts, which had been made by her students in the school’s sewing department which we visited the following day.
On Friday morning our Izmir colleagues Nazan Telli and Alime Zenger organised a motorcade of cars to ferry us the short distance to the Bornova Technical and Vocational High School: the school had pulled out all the stops to make us welcome, placing all their facilities at our entire disposal, and ensuring that staff were always on hand to help. We were impressed by the omnipresence of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic: his statue and extracts from his speeches adorn an external wall (shown here beneath a poster welcoming the Virtex4all team to Bornova school), with similar statues, quotations and portraits inside – he has clearly been a great inspiration to his country and is widely revered.

We were warmly welcomed again by Gönül who wished us every success with our work; then Sezan Firat , Bornova Town’s EU Project Coordinator at the National Education Directorate, expressed her pleasure at welcoming delegates to Bornova; the Virtex4All project makes an important contribution to our students’ knowledge of languages, she said, and this is essential for them when they seek employment; Virtex4All is important not only to the Bornova school, but also to the economy of the entire city. She thanked the meeting for its efforts and cooperation, and wished the delegates a good stay in Izmir.
We worked briskly throughout the morning, quickly picking up where we had left off at the Amsterdam meeting in January. Corine Horstra and Elzemien Warnink from Colorez (an Amsterdam-based agency which is the project promoter) reminded delegates of the projects objectives, and dealt with financial matters. Then Yvonne Vermeulen and Barbara Pluim from the Amsterdam Hotel School led the partners in assessing progress so far and outlining what remained to be done – they thanked the partners for all their contributions to exercises designed to improve and supplement the original Virtex materials.

During the coffee break we took the opportunity to visit the school, looking at the well-equipped kitchens (the cooks and waiters stood to attention as we entered), the extensive sewing classrooms (where our beautifully crafted bags had been created) and – the highlight of the visit - the school’s crèche where the youngest children were just settling in for their sleep!

Then it was the turn of our two distinguished guest speakers, Emma Jane van Muijden and Lotte Hemelrijk, lecturers from the University of Amsterdam. Emma Jane gave a comprehensive account of the Council of Europe’s Common European Framework for Languages, explaining how this could apply to Virtex by providing a system for ‘labelling’ all our materials according to the CEF criteria (from the most elementary level, A1, to the highest, C2). The partners divided into groups to practice assigning a CEF level to sample materials, and all agreed that the CEF is an excellent tool for grading language teaching tasks, especially in the context of a project where partners bring with them their various incompatible national systems.

Lotte gave us an erudite yet amusing introduction to the concepts of ‘grids’ of various mesh sizes to represent cultural differences which inform intercultural communication: Thus ‘a fine mesh’ characterises communication in a restaurant, whereas interactions in a snack bar fit more into a ‘coarse mesh’; we tried out this system of categorizing intercultural communication by interviewing each other in strictly timed interviews, then reporting the results to another delegate – fascinating! Lotte then moved on to another concept that determines the nature of intercultural communication – power distance; and we tried this out too using the usual ‘three step interview’ described above. Lotte succeeded in making a serious topic into an amusing and productive session, while at the same time quoting respected researchers on the subject and demonstrating that the principles were based on sound academic theories.

We needed a swim after all this work; then it was off to dinner at the splendid Körfez fish restaurant located on the coast just south of the city: the meze (starter) was again accompanied by Raki (people seemed to be acquiring a taste for the fiery milky liquid, also known in Turkish as aslan sütü – lion’s milk) ), after which we were served with very fresh, very tasty sea bass. There followed some highly vigorous raki-induced dancing in the space between our horse-shoe of tables, with Gönül leading the way with energetic gyrating movements to oriental melodies provided by a live band who were very pleased to play our requests.
When we returned from dinner, there was a wedding party around the hotel swimming pool, and, disappointing those who wanted a midnight dip, a display of flowers floating on the water in the pool. The sound of merrymaking continued far into the night!

Back to work at the school on Saturday morning: we discussed the allocation of assignments to be completed before the next meeting, as well matters of dissemination, exchanges and evaluation; and, most importantly, the dates and venues for the next two meetings: Podebrady (Czech Republic) in December 2009 and Kuressaare (Estonia) in May 2010. Then clutching our pack-lunches we climbed into our bus and set off for the ‘cultural and social programme’ – a really interesting visit to two fascinating historical sites.

On the way we witnessed a high-tech tele-working solution to a shortage of tour guides: our hostess on board the bus used her mobile phone to contact the tour guide located in an office in Bodrum a few hundred kilometres away; she then held her phone close to the bus’s microphone so that the guide’s commentary was broadcast to the bus passengers!

Our first destination was the Meryemana shrine, near the town of Selçuk and the famous Greco-Roman site of Ephesus; this is the reputed burial place of Mary the Christian Mother of God, called in Turkish ‘Meryemana’, ‘Mother Mary’, who gave birth to ‘Isa Peygamber’ or ‘Jesus Prophet’. Mary is said to have journeyed to Ephesus with the apostle John following the Crucifixion, and to have lived in a small house on this site. It is interesting that Mary is revered here by Muslims and Christians alike. Below the chapel marking Mary’s burial place, a wall is covered with rags attached to a frame: Turks tie pieces of rag to the frame and make a wish on a piece of paper which they attach to the piece of cloth. It is a pleasant cool spot, shaded by trees and freshened by a spring - but rather spoiled by a profusion of stalls laden with religious objects.

Şirince, our next stop, is a village perched on a hillside 9kms east of Selçuk, accessed along narrow roads first making their way through green fertile valleys flanked by peach, lemon, fig and pomegranate orchards, then winding up the hill with many a hairpin bend; there were gasps of fright as the bus seemed to hover above chasms and abysses. Originally a Greek village, its inhabitants – around 800 of them if you don’t count the hordes of tourists – are Turks who moved here from Salonika during the exchange of populations in 1924. Our guide told us the curious story of the name of this delightful place: a group of freed Greek slaves settled here in the 15th century and, to discourage others from joining them, called the village ‘Çirkince’ - ‘Ugliness’. In 1926 the governor of Izmir decided that the name should be changed to the more accurate Şirince – ‘Pleasantness’. We wandered through the cobbled streets looking at stalls selling fruit wines, herbs, olive-oil soap and ceramics, as well as a vast array of local fruits such as mulberries, peaches and apricots; oh, and there’s a church of Saint John, dating from the Greek era. We then drank tea on a sunny terrace overlooking this astonishing village, once Greek and now Turkish.

And so to the final dinner, at the Ebso restaurant located in the building of the Chamber of Industry right on the seafront, with views over the port and the bay of Izmir. The sun was setting over the Aegean Sea as we sipped our final Rakis and savoured our final Turkish dinner before saying our fond farewells and returning home. The Virtex4all partners have gelled into a friendly and highly productive group, and we are all looking forward to meeting again in Podebrady in December.

Text by John Rees Smith