NEWS
END OF THE SHOW
END OF THE SHOW
After 5 years, our journey has come to an end. ​
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We would like to thank all those who helped us set up and run our activities:
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our partner organizations, their management and staff, social workers and educators, for their help and thoughtfulness;
all the parents and families;
our dear teachers across the years, Fotini, Yannis, Panayotis and Manos, who brought creativity, patience and a lot of love to our classrooms;
our great project manager, Anna who brought it all together;
but more importantly, every one of you who participated in Spark's activities!
We hope to you enjoyed it, and hope to see you again some day.
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the Spark team
END OF SCHOOL YEAR
JUNE 2022
The school year is over!
We concluded our activities in Action Aid, the KEMPY center of the SOS Villages, Metadrasi, and the Agia Anna and Chistodoulio foster homes.
A great summer to everyone!
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a song with a spark
tHE MUSIC VIDEO IS READY!
november 2021
We are so thrilled to present the final video “A song with a Spark”.
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After rehearsals, some experiments and a lot of music, the children taking part, with the help of the rest of us, finished and uploaded the music video here.
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We threw a small party to celebrate at at ΧÏŽρος 2510, in Exarhia, enjoyed a few live solos on the the small stage and watched together the music video . Most of the team could make it, friends and family, and the people from Spark.
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A big big thanks to everyone!
NEW PARTNERSHIPS:
Metadrasi and actionaid
OCTOBER 2021
We are pleased to announce our new partnership with the NGO Metadrasi and the NGO ActionAid.
We are expanding our activities in two new locations. We will offer weekly courses for children 8-12 years old, at Epikentro of ActionAid in Kolonos and at the new educational center of Metadrasi in Kallithea, next to the railway station.
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We are so glad of this new programme and once more we will adjust our activities based on the cultural backgrounds and personal histories of our students.
Growing our network of students, enable us to shrink the digital gap.​
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Please contact us for more information.
new activities!
classes for adults
OCTOBER 2021
We are looking forward in our new collaboration with Socialinnov, which will offer parents the opportunity to participate in their children’s digital education. This particular round of classes which will last for 3 months and it is in pilot phase, will take place at the SOS Children’s Village’s educational center in Kipseli.
Socialinnov’s educator and expertise on the topic have been key for this exciting pilot program.
Back to school
September 2021
We are excited to be finally resuming in-person activities.
We are resuming our classes at SOS Villages KEMPY center in Kipseli for the third year.
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We are also launching dedicated small-class groups at the Agia Anna and Christodoulio foundations, both of whom we collaborated with in previous years. This time we will be working with small groups of children for more targeted, personalized teaching. This is also better-suited to the size of these organizations.
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We have also launched tow new partnerships, for 2021-2. Stay tuned!
A SONG WITH A SPARK!
SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2021
For five weeks in September and October 2021, in Athens, hosted by Musikarama, children from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Iran, Somalia, Syria and Greece
come together to play music and to sing, in Arabic, English, Farsi and Greek and to record a music video, and learn a little about digital editing of sound and video in the process.
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At the core of this effort is a cross-cultural activity aiming to bring together children from different ethnicities and backgrounds, and was inspired by the multi-national collaborative project Walk with Amal. The digital component is taught by Spark teachers, while the core music sessions are organized and run by our collaborating musicians, Γιάννης Ζαρίας and Μηνάς Λιάκος.
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Pictures, videos and comments for this collaborative, cross-cultural activity can be found in our dedicated mini-blog.
IMPORTANT!
LOCKDOWN MEASURES RESUME,
SOME CLASSES GO VIRTUAL
NOVEMBER 2020
As we feared, lockdown measures have been imposed again on schools, as part of the Greek government's virus-suppression measures.
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With regard to our classes at Evropaiki Ekfrasi, we both deemed it appropriate to continue in-person instruction, subject of course to all the required precautions. In the case of SOS Villages' ΚΕΜΠΥ centre in Kipseli, that was not possible, and we switched to fully virtual classes.
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We have made preparations for this eventuality, and we hope to be able to remain as productive and engaging as possible, during this time. However, no doubt it will take some time until all issues are resolved and online classes run smoothly - please bear with us. If you have any questions or suggestions, or need help in any way, please contact Spark's Project Manager, Anna Kamperou at anna.kamperou@sparkprojects.org.
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You can also visit our Coronavirus Update page for ideas on how we can help.
New program!
Classes for refugee children
OCTOBER 2020
Starting this September, we are expanding our activities to include class for child asylum seekers and recently granted refugees.
Building on our partnership with the ΚΕΜΠΥ centre in Kipseli, and thir recent introduction of activities for children from the refugee community, we will join them in that effort with 4 weekly classes in digital literacy.
In addition, we are please to announce we are partnering with the NGO "Evroapaiki Efrasi", to offer Spark classes on the premises of the two hospitality centers for unaccompanied minors they run in Athens.
We are proud of this new programme and hope to be able to expand it in the near future. As always, we will be tailoring our teaching goals and material to the needs and interests of the respective groups of children, mindful and respectful of their cultural backgrounds and personal histories.
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Please contact us for more information.
Back to school
September 2020
The school year has started, and Spark classes are starting again!
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We are continuing and expanding our partnership with the after-school care center (ΚΕΜΠΥ) of Greek SOS Villages, in Kipseli. For our core classes, in addition to standard digital skills we are adding special training in online collaboration and online classes, as well as fun activities like 3D design.
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We are also continuing our partnership with Christodoulio, under a new format: after two and half years of Spark activities, the girls are more than ready to deal with digital tasks on their own! They will have some dedicated weekly time with Spark laptops, plus more time on request, and we will be visiting monthly to show new things, give them ideas and provide help. And we will of course be available to provide remote help, when needed.
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Finally, we are launching a new program on unaccompanied refugee children - stay tuned!
IMPORTANT!
RESUMING in-person CLASSES
MAY 2020
Having patiently awaited the end of lockdown, we are now once again available to resume in-class activities, where our partner organizations deem it appropriate. We continue to uphold social distancing measures - for example, we will be splitting classes in two, so as to limit the number of children in a room at any given time. We will of course follow recommended hygiene practices, in addition to respecting the internal policies of each organization.
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For now, classes are restarting in the SOS Villages centres in Kipseli and in Vari. In Kipseli, we are only resuming classes for secondary school children, following the tiered reopening plan of the Ministry of Education, while in Vari we will be resuming activities across the board. More coming soon.
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Given the time lost, we are extending Spark activities through the end of June, where possible. We are excited to be seeing the children again and, worry not, we will keep a light, fun schedule!
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Stay healthy and sane!
Spark Projects
IMPORTANT!
REMOTE CLASSES during lockdown
MAY 2020
During lockdown, we were able to run remote lessons with children from the SOS Villages centre in Kipseli, the Christodoulio Foster Home and the Public Library of Piraeus. Giving the children a chance to socialize and express themselves during this difficult period was a priority. The children learned how to create their own GIFs and made Word Clouds in shapes they chose. Expression is important for all of us!
If remote classes is something that could work with children in your organization too, please reach out to us
Stay healthy and sane!
Spark Projects
While we are all in lockdown, we can help in a number of ways:
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We can provide computers for your children's school's online classes
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We can offer technical support, e.g. with your for children's school's online classes
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We can suggest suitable digital educational content
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We can offer remote tutoring of your staff
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We can offer remote personalized classes for 2-6 children at a time
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More information can be found on our corona-page. Please contact Anna Kamperou or your Spark teacher.
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Stay healthy and sane!
Spark Projects
URGENT!
how we can help during lockdown
APRIL 2020
URGENT!
CLASS SUSPENSION DUE TO CORONAVIRUS
MARCH 2020
As you all know, among other measures, schools and tutoring centers have been closed to suppress the spread of Covid-19.
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As a result, all Spark in-class activities have been suspended.
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We hope to restart as soon as possible, but we cannot give a time at this point. We expect to follow the guidance from the ministries of health and education, as well as any particular restrictions of our partner organizations.
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We will stay in touch, and we are here to help where we can. More information can be found on our corona-page.
Stay healthy and sane!
Spark Projects
New activities!
Computer Clinics for parents
january 2020
To help the children with digital skills, we think it is crucial for parents, too, to be able to find technical help when they need it.
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We also felt it is important for us to help the parents understand their children's digital activities, to be able to monitor, but also to be able to engage, when they feel it is appropriate. And so, we are piloting
Computer Clinic sessions for parents
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in the Piraeus municipal library and the SOS centre in Kipseli.
Please contact Anna Kamperou for further information.
New activities!
Holiday activities at Spark
december 2020
A number of Spark activities ahead of the Christmas break!
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At the SOS village in Vari, we invited Athens Makers Space to do a live demonstration of 3D printing
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At the SOS Villages centre in Kipseli, we invited parents for drinks and cookies, made our own 2020 calendars, printed them, bound them and took them home!
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At Christodoulio, we also made our own 2020 calendars, now for a second year in a row!
Volunteer assistant teacher in Kipseli
november 2019
Some great news from Kipseli, where we welcome Nayia, as a volunteer assistant teacher.
Nayia will be assisting Yannis with Spark activities for both Friday classes. Since Spark runs interactive, hands-on activities, any help in class makes a big difference, helping children cover more ground, helping the class run more smoothly, and is just more fun.
A big thanks to Nayia and everyone at SOS Villages who helped arrange this.
New PARTNERSHIP:
Piraeus municipal library
september 2019
We are very pleased to be launching a pilot to offer Spark classes at the Piraeus Municipal Library, open to children in Piraeus' welfare programs. Participating children come from a range of nonprofit organizations, specifically ΚΟΔΕΠ, Kivotos and the SOS Villages center in Piraeus. We are starting with 40 children and 5 classes, and we hope to materially expand in the future. For more information see our partners page.
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This pilot was made possible with the help and support of the City Council of Piraeus, the municipal Director of Culture, the Library Manager and ΚΟΔΕΠ, as well as the help of the Dept. of Digital Systems at the University of Piraeus.​
Support from the University of Piraeus
november 2019
We are excited to announce that Christina Manoliaki, a research student at the department of Digital Systems of the University of Piraeus, will be working with Spark through February. Christina will observe classes and activities, and gather and analyze data, as part of her research. Christina will also help as an assistant teacher, while in class.
Assessing our progress an the quality of Spark activities has always been important to us, we look forward to Christina's feedback.
In addition, as always, it is very helpful to have an assistant teacher.
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We are grateful to Christina, and to professor Retalis at the University of Piraeus who both suggested this and made it happen.
Back to school
September 2019
The school year has started, and Spark classes have resumed!
We are starting this year running classes at Christodoulio Foundation, Agia Anna Foundation as well as the 6th public primary school in Iraklio.
For more information see our partners page.
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We are also expanding to new locations - more information coming soon.
New PARTNERSHIP:
SOS Villages in Kipseli and in Vari
SEPTEMBER 2019
We are excited to be starting a partnership with SOS Villages. We feel it is a very good fit, and there is a lot of scope to grow.
We will be running 3 classes in the SOS village in Vari, and we will be trying out a new, family-based format.
We will also be running 4 classes in SOS Villages' after-school centre in Kipseli.
For more information see our partners page.