KROSSS

My name is Finn W. Fosen, I am 58 years of age and I live in Kopervik, Karmøy together with my family.
I am a teacher at Karmøy Adult Centre, where I have been working for the last 20 years. This year I am a teacher for Nepali/Bhutanese and Somali illiterates. This is a very humoristic and friendly class, they are fast learners and as to their reading and writing skills, they have had an impressive development since they arrived in Norway in February 2009.
In addition to my studies in becoming a teacher, I have one year special education and a two-year degree in mass media, specializing in films/filming. I have attended a lot of different courses and seminars in teaching Norwegian as a second language (Norsk 2).

My main interests and hobbies are: music, sport (soccer), history, travels, politics (domestic as well as foreign) and reading biographies. Some years ago I was the manager (= forretningsfører) for my local football club, Kopervik (KIL) and I attend on a regular basis the meetings and social gatherings at The KIL Footballers Veteran Association. My favorite team in Norway is Viking (Stavanger) and I am a dedicated supporter of Everton.
Each summer we arrange a music festival in Kopervik, BackBeat (www.backbeat.no), which focus on music from the 60s and 70s. Last year we had the You-never-walk-alone artists Gerry & The Pacemakers on stage. In my spare time I am a critic of music books in our local paper, Karmøybladet (www.karmoybladet.no)

To be involved in international Comenius projects is always very interesting and fascinating, and it gives you new ideas, contacts and knowledge. The subjects usually deal with how to integrate immigrants and refugees in different European countries. So far I have been working in three different projects: MANY COLOURS, JUSTICE and LILAC. The KROSS project seems to have every indication of being a great sucess, therefore I am looking forward to it very much.

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I am Renato Flis and I will be one of the participants of Kross seminar in London at the end of April. I am coming from Slovenia, from city called Maribor. It is the seconds biggest city in Slovenia and center of northeastern part of country. Here are the websites of slovenian tourist organization and website of my hometown:
www.slovenia.info
www.maribor-pohorje.si
I am working in secondary school in my city as a teacher. I have stuyied history and geography and now I am teaching geography, social sciences and allso some hours of psyhology. The name of school where I work is Srednja šola za oblikovanje Maribor. If I would translate this, it would mean Secondary school for design. At the school children can finished for three profiles: hairdresser, media tehnician and tehnician of designing. For last two years am allso takeing care for education of adoults at my school. At the school is around 500 – 550 children and 50 teachers.

In my free time I like to do some sports, reading, go to cinema or some concert. I allso like sports and if I can tell something about my countrys sports. Where there is just two millions of us and at the last olympic games we get 5 medals, I think three of them where gold. And we qualified for the soccer World cup which is going to be this summer in South Africa. One of my favorite hobbys is traveling with bagpack. For New Years holidays for example, I was traveling in Jordan. Well, Thing this is going to be enough.  

My name is Henrik Dahl, I am in my twenties, 30 in August but I am living in denial.
From early years I have been into different sports; football, tennis, floor hockey, table tennis. As the years passed I also got involved as a coach for a junior football team, an activity that I really enjoy, but it takes a lot of time.

After finishing my O-levels I had a few years not knowing what to do and since people who don’t often teach, I decided to try that too, and to encourage young minds. Teaching is a job that I have had for four years now, and I think that it is really inspiring. I teach physical education and maths, the pupils are 13-16 years old.
I was born and raised in a small village in the southwest of Sweden called Svenljunga (about one hour from Gothenburg) and I work in Tranemo, a village not far from Svenljunga.
If a get any spare time after work, coaching my team and playing football myself, I usually try to get involved in the building of my new house. I’m going to build it at a lakeside and it is (hopefully) going to be great. This is the view right now.

My name is Cristina Sarmento and I`m from Portugal, Cascais, where I live. (Take a look at the links of Cascais and you`ll be amazed with the beauty of this touristic village).
www.portugalvirtual.pt/cascais-estoril/index.php
www.travel-in-portugal.com/Cascais/
Until last year, I was a Geography teacher in a secondary school. This year I`m having a new experience as a library teacher in my school, where I help students to research in internet and acquire skills and pleasure in reading.
I decided to apply KROSSS, especially because I have great interest for multiculturalism ( I`ve lived in Madrid for 3 years, where I took a master degree on that subject) but also because I need to improve my English (urgently!).
Finally, in my spare time, I play tennis, read and go to concerts...

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My name is Fritz Michler. I am the vice principal of a vocational college in Neustadt a. Rbge., 20 km north-west of Hannover, the capital of the State of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen), in the Region of Hannover. www.bbs-nrue.de Our college has about 4,200 students and 220 teachers/lecturers/finstructor in various areas of trade (business studies, mechanical and electrical engineering, catering, social care, hygiene, constructing, decorating) most of them in the dual system of training (attending college and in-company training) We have students in preparatory courses as well as students obtaining qualification for university entrance. The catchment area comprises five towns with approximately 200,00 inhabitants.

About 10% of our students are from 40 different countries, and there ist a higher percentage of students with a migration background, mainly from Turkey and Russia.
There us a suppoting staff of 28 people on three campusses. In the college I am responsible for students’ and parents’ matters, for international partnerships, the internal organisation, disciplinary problems, anti-aggression projects, event management, our homepage and others. As a college we have international cooperations with partner regions of the State of Lower Saxony in Poland, South Africa and Russia. As a vice principal I still have to teach 14 lessons a week. My subjects are Business Studies and English. But due to the high demand for English I have been teaching English for the past 10 years.

I have been to Britain (especially to London) for about 50 times with groups of students but also on private trips and I always enjoy beeing back in London. In my spare time I do not enough sports, walking or cycling ;-) (my doctor always wants to motivate me). But I like watching... I am engaged in our community in church and social projects, as a part of the community comprises a social problem area.
I really look forward to seeing everyone in April.

Best wishes Fritz
michler.fritz@bbs-nrue.de

My name is ANDREEA POJAN and I am one of the participants at the course. I live in Constantza a town in the south-east part of Romania. Take a look to some pictures from this beautiful city . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constan%C5%A3a
I work in a small town called Murfatlar 20 km far from the city of Constantza .Before I moved to Constanta I lived for 20 years in the town of Targoviste a small town near the capital city Bucharest. I teach English in a school called Murfatlar High School.It is a school with 600 students and 60 teachers with pupils from 7 years to 18 years old.

In my spare time I like to travel ,to read and to spend time with my friends. Looking forward to meeting you all in London in April

Best wishes. Andreea

My name is Mette Negendahl, I’m 29 years old and I live I Copenhagen, Denmark.

I’ve finished as teacher/social worker in pedagogical/physical education in January 2009. I work as an assistant teacher at a primary school, named Herstedøsterskole, in a town called Albertslund, which is about 20 km outside Copenhagen, Denmark. Our school is the 3rd largest school in Denmark, and we have 943 pupils. My job is to teach a small class off seven which all, in their own way, have social and emotional disorders.

In my spare time I play handball 4 times a week at division level and it’s a very big part off my life. I’ve always had my interest in sports and I’m of the conviction that physical activities are a positive way to social integration. Working at a school with a high percentage off the pupils having an ethnic background, I find this course very interesting and I’m looking forward to a week with new inspiration.

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My name is Synnove Nornes. I live in Vedavagen on the island of Karmoy.
I am a teacher in Vedavagen primary school. I am also responsible for teaching Norwegian as a second language at my school.

I also work with Family Learning (FL) at the adult education center ( KVOS) in Karmoy. FL is fairly new in Norway. We have had a Wider FL project running for two years here in Karmoy. Our FL has focus on getting to know your local areas well as Norwegian school system and society. Our aim for FL is to expand our network and get new ideas from future partners.

I look forward to meet you in London

My name is Barbara Garzelli and I will be one of the participants of Krosss seminar in London at the end of April.

I live in Bologna, in the north of Italy. I have been teaching since 2002. I work in a Primary School in Bologna. I teach Italian, History, Arts and Sports. I like my job because it's an interesting and creative job. I like to know new theories of learning and different methods and ideas of theaching.

I think that krosss programm will be an opportunity for me to develop new skills about anti-discrimination and co-operation principles.
I am looking forward to seeing you all in London in April

My name is Lars Erik Kron, I am 44 years old and I live in Albertslund, 20 km outside Copenhagen. I also work in Albertslund. www.albertslund.dk

I work on a secondary School with almost 1000 children between 6 and 16 years old. Wee are 100 teachers. www.herstedosterskole.skoleintra.dk I work in a class with 7 pupils from 11 to 15 years old. We have 2 girls and 5 boys. All of them have dream which is being in a normal class. They all have different kind off social problems and therefore they are all going too bee better in this special class. Some off our pupils have a dream to play football together with there friends, but sometimes it’s difficult for them to accepted rules and respect the referee and trainer’s word.
We work together with parents, and one day every week some of the parents are together with their children in school. We call it family class. It is an English model from London call “Marlborough family service London” www.cnwl.nhs.uk/MarlboroughFamilyService.html

I have been working here for almost 3 years and before that, I was working with families with different kind of problems, on a family day unit for 10 years. My special is pedagogic and pshygologic problems.

I use lot of sports in my daily work and I love it. I like my work. I like all sort off sports, but most cycling. I love bike cycling on road, MTB and track in velodrome. I am going to visit the world championships in track cycling in this month in Copenhagen. www.cyclingworld.dk/cph2010/ I have been cycling for 15 year now. My son on 11 year is also cycling. Last year we where on the top of mount Ventoux in France.

See you in London. Best whishes. Lars Erik Kron

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Hello! My name’s Anna De Masi from the south of Italy (the last point of the “heel” of the Italian boot: a wonderful place! You should come and see!).

I’m a teacher of English. I teach in the Primary school of the Comprehensive Institute of Gagliano del Capo. I’ve been teaching for 12 years! I love my job very much: working with the children is always so rewarding. I also like taking part to several school projects. For example, I’m now involved in the Comenius project ( about the fairy tales) and in the “Flick the Switch project” (about energy saving, please have a look at this website: www.flicktheswitch.eu) which can give me the chance to have interesting, exciting and motivating multicultural experiences.

What about my spare time? To tell you the truth, I don’t have much spare time anyway I love swimming and walking along the seaside. I also like reading, travelling and listening to music (pop and classical one).

My dream? Though I like teaching very much, I’d like to have some experiences as a “manager” of international projects. I’m attending this Comenius course in order to learn new strategies useful to help children from different cultures to be at their ease even in a different country. Let’s hope for the best!

My name is Jesper Therkildsen I´m 43 years and I´m working in Albertslund in the department of culture employed as a sport consultant. This is very interesting giving me the opportunity to work with sportclubs concerning different projects, funds, administration etc. I even can start new projects with sports organisations like the Danish Sports Federation or specialised organizations like the Danish Orienteering Federation where we at the moment have several initiatives.

Privately I´m living in a small town called Smørum just west of Copenhagen in a houseshare where everyone have their own house, but at the same time we have common facilities like a gymnasium, kitchen etc. I have 2 kids at 6 and 3 years and they love to live at this place where they always can find got playmates.

My favourite sport is badminton and I have coached for about 20 years in different levels in Denmark, Sweden and New Zealand. Maybe you know Tine Rasmussen who played brilliantly even 15 years ago.

I`m sure we will have a wonderfull time in London and I hope to get a lot of new inspiration.

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My name is Astrid Stotesbury. I live in Kopervik, a small village on the island of Karmøy. On the south west coast of Norway.

I work at Kopervik primary school, with children who have a minority background. At the moment we have 18 kids from 9 different countries. They spend one year in our welcome class to learn norwegian before they join mainstream school. I also work one day at the adult education centre, here I work with family learning. A new way of working in our commune. We work with families who are newly arrived in Norway. We hope for inspiration and new ideas to improve and countinue our family learning here in Kopervik.

My hobbies in life are cooking, walking and reading. I am a real London fan ,since Im married to a Londoner and I lived on the outskirts of London , Kent , for 10 years .

I really look forward to seeing you all in London. Best wishes Astrid

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Hi : My name is Pilar. I´m 46 years old and I was born in Madrid, the city where I lived until the year 2001 when I moved to Alcalá de Henares. So now I have on one hand the advantages of living in a smaller and quieter place that was declared a World Heritage city in 1998(www.alcaladehenares-turismo.com).On the other hand I can enjoy all the variety ,that Madrid offers, in only thirty minutes.

I graduated in Psychology (Social) at U.C.M (Universidad Complutense de Madrid) and also I have been attending some courses about education, immigration and interculturality. I think that sport can be a good way for developing social values as I could see in some of these courses, and all of us have recently seen through the World Champion in Southafrica.

I worked in a public school on an immigration program(2006-07 and 2007-08). It was a very interesting both professional and personal experience. Also I have colaborated as a volunteer in Red Cross since 2005 with regard to an Interculturality program and Human Rights. In my spare time I like enjoying Nature, cultural visits,travelling, dancing and being with my family and friends.
I expect that the course KROSS that will be take place next September, be an opportunity to exchange experiences, knowledge about the subject, and to share with people from differents countries during a week an intercultural situation.Of course visiting and being inmerse in the social and cultural life of London as it is our host country.
Meanwhile I wish all of you a nice summer. I look forward to seeing you in September Regards. Pilar

Guillermo Camps
I live in a city called Alzira, which is very near from Valencia. I work in a Secondary School in a small town with only 3000 people, it is called Vallada and there are only 154 students in it. The students are between 12 to 16 years old, and, as in many other cities and towns near Valencia, there are some people who come from different parts from Europe and other countries in the world to usually work in the orange industry. I teach Biology, and in my classes I always try to join the practice of sports and having a balanced diet, because I want my pupils to be good friends and keep a correct weigh through sports, so that it doesn’t become a problem for them.

In my free time I go to the cinema, practice sports and go to the beach with my friends, so summer is the best time during the year for me. Waiting for next September to go to London Best regards Guillermo Camps.

My name is Joergen Skjoldborg and I am 53 years old. I live and work in Herlev, a small town located 10 km west of Copenhagen. I work as a teacher in a comprehensive school with around 400 students. I teach English, History, Sports and Social studies. Besides being a teacher I am also international coordinator and I am supposed to inspire and help my colleagues to implement the international/global dimension into their teaching.

Since 2002 we have had several projects together with schools in Hungary, Check Republic, Spain, Sweden and The Netherlands. Like most other European countries, Denmark is a multi cultural society and therefore it is rather important that our students acquire a certain level of intercultural competencies. We are pretty sure that in the future, one of the key competencies is to be able to work together with people that are different from yourself. This requires both knowledge and practice and therefore it is important that we deal with this issue in the school. I fully recognize the values that sport can bring into this field and therefore I find this course very relevant and I am so pleased to be part of it. I am really looking forward to meet you all and I am absolutely confident that we will have a great time together in London.
All the best Joergen

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My name is Vicente Miñana and I am a Physical Education teacher in secondary schools.

I live in Jávea, a small and tourist town to the North of province of Alicante, to one hour of Valencia.

Nowadays I am enjoying working in secondary schools, I am carrying my doctoral thesis and I am membership of several sports associations and clubs for instance Xàbia Chess Club, Xàbia Cyclist Club, and Physical Education and Sciences of the Physical Activity and the Sport Association of the Valencian Community.

From my point of view, I am convinced that the Sport is a privileged tool to control, manage and promoting anti-discrimination and intercultural contexts. In the other hand, I have to say I like learn traveling and meeting new people as a foreign student and I am looking forward to know all of you and to interchange experiences.
Warm regards Vicente Miñana