Turkey

Our school is located in Tarsus-Mersin, a province in the southern coast of Turkey in Mediterranean Region. Our students are aged between 5-14.There are 1444 students in our school and 108 of them are staying in the dormitory.These students are originally from the villages of Tarsus which don’t have secondary schools.They stay in the dormitory during their education period in a year to have a better education.Most of these students' families concern with animalcule and agriculture so that they aren’t in a good situation economically. Tarsus is an important city because it takes lots of migration from other cities and the villages around the city. Especially around our school’s district there are a lot of people migrated from other cities and villages.

Tarsus is a special district in which you can see the harmony of various cultures and religions from the past because many different nations have lived in Tarsus you can easily see the effects of these nations in our city.As our city was once the center of many nations, a great number of tourists visits our city every year.Unfortunately Tarsus is in a social economically disadvantaged area with a high ratio of unemployed people.So these families aren’t able to sufficiently offer opportunities for their children’s need of education.

Our school is a partner in this project and we are all very excited to take part in it. It is seen as an exciting opportunity by staff and pupils. Taking part in this project enables us to cooperate with other European schools in order to enlarge educational views of our children, know each other’s culture and the most important is that our students will have the opportunity to use English effectively and by the help of this project they start to believe in themselves. We have students who haven’t had the opportunity to see even the near neighborhood cities in Turkey. This project will be a great opportunity for them to enlarge their point of view maybe even effect their aspects to the future. With this project they will not only have the chance to communicate in English but also learn and know the natural beauties of other European countries. We would like to offer better qualified activities at our school and integrate the students, teachers and families into the learning process. 

Goreme National Park, which we will work on in this project, has a great importance for our country. It was formed naturally because of the volcanic erosions. It is a UNESCO World Heritage since 1985.