Comenius Central
1 Dec 2009
"Cardonald College? It must be like Comenius Central in there" was the comment which met us on arrival at a recent British Council seminar on setting up Comenius-funded European partnerships.
Yes, the last few weeks in the College have certainly been very active in terms of European activities, Comenius or otherwise. As our German and Finnish visitors departed, we blearily but happily congratulated ourselves on having reached the end of yet another intense but immensely rewarding project meeting. We knew we could tick the boxes towards achieving our objectives of:
- strengthening links with other educational institutions
- broadening cultural horizons
- improving language skills
- gaining an international perspective on enterprise
- improving IT skills of staff and students
to mention but a few. However, what dawned on us very forcefully this time was how much we owed the success of the event to the fact that so many people went that extra mile to help us out:
- Andrew, our HND Admin & IT student, who put together a welcome pack for each of our 14 visitors - containing our 2nd national drink, Irn Bru, macaroon bars and tourist literature
- The tour guides at Kelvingrove Museum & Art Gallery, who tailored the "Highlights" tour to include several Scottish exhibits or themes
- The Brasserie Manager at Oran Mor, who put together a Scottish themed menu for a fixed price and displayed it on a souvenir menu with the college name at the top
- Representatives of GSWRA, who welcomed the visitors to their quirky Enterprise Centre (set in the old Govan police cells) and presented an extremely useful programme of speakers from Business Gateway and PSYBT
- Hazel and Joe, our HN Business students who took our guests by bus to Braehead, shepherded them to Xscape by the agreed time then proceeded to lead them in a LaserQuest session which was much enjoyed by all
- The wonderful Arthur at Glengoyne Distillery, who made the world of whisky come alive in a most endearing and humorous fashion
- Santa and his reindeer, who made an unexpected appearance in Buchanan Street and delighted our visitors (although the Finns were somewhat confused as they thought they'd left Santa behind in Lapland)
And, let's not forget our own:
- Duncan, for a welcome that hit exactly the right note - informative yet informal
- John, for the best cake Cardonald has ever seen
- Paul, for grubbing about on the floor and raking through boxes at very short notice, in order to unearth corporate gifts which should have been ordered much earlier
- Scott, for his cheerful photography skills
- Jacky, for her enthusiastic participation as a new project member
- Jennifer, for helping out with swapping classes
- Jonathan, for letting us invade his Statistics class
- Yvonne and David, for enabling Frank and I to have a very flexible timetable this week, and for supporting us throughout
Sounds like a list of credits at the end of a film - but in these gloomy days of recession it is important to remember, and to acknowledge, how important all these small acts can be. I believe that on their journey home, the German students regaled anyone who would listen with stories about their wonderful trip, how friendly everyone was, how they were dying to come back to Glasgow - so a BIG THANK YOU TO ALL!
Helen Williamson