MY TURKISH DICTIONARY/ TURKEY

Aslı Altan Altundal, English Teacher of Türkkonut Emel Önal  Primary School/Turkiye

MY TOWN: ANKARA



Welcome to Ankara! To know a city passes through sharing its secrets.... Let's see what this town will tell you about itself? First it wishes to tell its legends. Maybe, sweeping you to a fairy tale world. Tell you how splendiferous a life it as lived although you call it a step today. Wishing to show you its 1001 face through a looking glass. If you are ready to listen, let's have a journey to history.

Ankara's history dates back to Bronze Age. Small palace remaining of Bronze Age found on the digs at the southwest of the city, Ahlatlıbel and Koçumbeli, shows us the existence of small principalities during prehistoric period. Later Ankara and environ seized by Hittites and Phrygians. The most favorite legend about the city is about the origin of the name Ankara. It's presumed the name comes from the word "Anchor". According to legend, Phrygian King Midas hears a voice on his dream: "Find a big anchor on your land and build a big city there. That city will bring you happiness and prosperity". He ordered his men to find this anchor and many days later it is found at a hill where Ankara Kalesi stands today. Midas immediately builds a city there and names it Ankyra. Between B.C. 750-500 Ankara has been an important center for Phrygians and various works of that period found on diggings are now being exhibited at Anadolu Medeniyetleri Müzesi (Museum of Anatolian Civilizations).

After Phrygians the city has been under the sovereignty of Macedonian King Alexander the Great and has again an important trade center. After his death the city was the capital of Kelts (Galats) who have been migrated from Europe to Anatolia in three wings. Another legend of Ankara of that period: When Galats beat the Egyptian fleet on the Mediterranean; they have brought back the anchors of those ships as the symbol of their victory and placed them to the temples.

From then on they call the city Angora. Probably Galatians were longing for sea and filled their temples with anchors. Who knows maybe this is the reason of people of this town missing the sea so much and running to seashore in summer.
Galatians were worshiping the God Men and Goddess Cybele. When Roman Emperor Augustus had Galatians under Roman sovereignty Ankyra or Angora had been the capital of Roman State Galat. Then in homage to Augustus the name of the town has been converted to "Sebaste" (Respected) and Augustus had built a temple to his name: Augustus Tapınağı. Ankyra showed a very fast development and became an important military base where the emperors and armies rest during the eastern wars. The city had its gorgeous period in the 2nd century A.D. by expanding its borders from the Castle to today's Kızılay.
This development had reached a stop due to the Roman Empire's circumstances and a period of chaos dominated the city. Later, with the spread of Christianity in the mid-4th century Ankyra became an important religious center.

Two council meetings took place in 314 and 358 and ecclesiastics took important decisions. Emperor Julianus stayed there and had new laws to strengthen the city management. When the Roman Empire was divided in 395 the city became a part of East Roman Empire. Beginning from the 7th century Arabian attacks ruined Ankara Kalesi several times and restored by Roman Emperors. And then Ankyra under the sovereignty of Byzantine Empire had a calmer period until 11th century.
When Seljuk Sultan Alparslan beat the Byzantine army in Malazgirt on 1071 Ankara has been seized by Turks first as a city of Seljuk Empire then Danişment Domain. The name of the city was converted to Engürü meaning "Grape City" in Persian. During the Crusaders the town has again been seized by Byzantine and had been an eastern border castle of the Empire for a while. In 1169 when Kılıçarslan had the city and ensured Anatolian Seljuk Unity. Later the city has been under the Mogul invasion and at last had been a city of Ottoman Empire in 1356 and Ankara was the field of Ankara War in 1402 between Timur and Sultan Yıldırım Bayezit that was ended with the defeat of Ottoman army. During the period Timur's withdrawal from Anatolia the governance has been changed for a few times more. Now let's hear a legend: What is the origin of the word "Anatolia", as we call Anadolu. After the defeat Yıldırım Beyazıt's army began to withdraw and arrived a village. A very old woman has met the army and prepared ayran for the tired soldiers. They quaffed the never-finishing ayran and as the soldiers hold out their cups the ayran bowl was filling again. The old woman was wandering among the soldiers and filling their cups continuously and the soldiers call her "Ana Dolu" (Mother, Full). Well, this is the origin of the name Anadolu.
State organization was founded as a result of Ottoman Empire's expanding and Ankara has been the center of Anatolia State. The most important income source of the city was the trade of "mohair" and cloths made of mohair and leather. The fame of Ankara goat has already passed over the borders and has been a favorite fabric. The goat statutes decorating the parks and gardens of today's Ankara emphasize their importance. Although you cannot come across one single vineyard, Ankara was full of vineyards those days. However it is worth to mention Kalecik and Kalecik Karası brand wine of environ Ankara at least for the sake of yesterday's Ankara and "Engürü" meaning Grape Town!
Ankara has been visited by various European travelers. An oil painting of Ankara of an unknown 17th century artist is still being exhibited in Rijks museum in Amsterdam. Don't miss to drop if you pass by Amsterdam.

Following World War I, Ankara became a center that Atatürk gave great importance. After the independence war Ankara has been the capital of the new Republic of Turkey and developed fast since then.

Religion in My Life: Islam / Turkiye

I’m Berke. My religion is Islam. Islam appeared over 1400 years ago in Mecca, Arabia. The followers of Islam are called Muslims and I’m a Muslim boy.

ALLAH

We, Muslims, believed that there is only one god. The name of our god is Allah. We believe in Allah and all the prophets such as Adam , Moses and Jesus.

QURAN

We believe in our holy book Quran. Quran was sent to the Muslims via one of Allah’s messengers Mohammed. He is the final prophet and We, Muslims, believe in him.

SHAHADAH

The basic statement of Islamic faith is “Shahadah” It means that Allah is the only god and that Mohammed is Allah’s prophet. A Muslim believes in this statement with his whole heart.

EZAN & SALAH

Ezan is a chant that is used to call Muslims to salah. Muslims perform salah five times each day. Allah ordered Muslims to pray five times a day.

MOSQUE

The sacred place of we , Muslims , is Mosque. A mosque is the worship place of a Muslim. It has one or more minarets. A minaret is a tall thin tower. A muezzin stands at the top of the tower and calls Muslim prayer.

PRAY

For us, lifting our hands up for praying before sleeping or eating or anytime we need is enough to be heard by Allah. We don’t need any other people or things to hope wishes from Allah.

KAABA

The holliest place for Muslims is The Kaaba. It is a cube building in Mecca . Allah told the Prophet Mohammed that he should use the Kaaba to do his worship.Muslims must go to Hajj at least once in their life if they can afford.

ZAKAT

In the eyes of God all people are equal in race, gender, poor or richness and one of the ways to keep that equality is giving ZAKAT for poor people. We, Muslims, give ZAKAT for people to help them . Zakat can be given as money or food. A rich Muslim has to pay to benefit the poor and the needy each year.

RAMADAN

Ramadan is one of the most important event in a Muslim's life. We, Muslims, fast during Ramadan. It lasts almost 30 days. We don’t eat or drink anything from dawn to night. After sunset , with the evening salah , we start to eat  a big dinner with our family.

EUD UL -FITR

After Ramadan, We celebrate the festival of Eid ul –Fitr. It lasts for three days. We dress up and visit our relatives and friends and gather candies and chocolate.

NOAH'S PUDDING DAY : ASHURE DAY

Ashure is a traditional Turkish dessert cooking in the Ashure month. It symbolizes the true friendship and unity among God’s people.
In this day, our mums prepare the huge amount of ashure and share with families , friends and neighbours by serving in the small bowls.
We , Muslims believe that the prophet Noah and his family mixed all the storage and cooked pudding after the great flood to save themselves from starving. Now , Noah’s pudding is called ashure.

THE BIRTHDAY OF 
THE PROPETH MOHAMMED

We , Muslims celebrate the birthday of the prophet Mohammed on 20 th April. We believe that our prophet Mohammed smells like a rose. So giving the rose is a custom to greet and hug all people. The prophet Mohammed says “Your smiling in your brother’s face is charity.

Aslı Altan Altundal, English Teacher of Türkkonut Emel Önal  Primary School/Turkiye

My Home- My Family / Turkiye

Şevval Akyıldız , 4th grade student , describes her house and family...



Berke Diler , 6th grade student, describes his house and family...




İrem Gülen , 5th grade student, describes her home and family...

Aslı Altan Altundal, English Teacher of Türkkonut Emel Önal  Primary School/Turkiye

My Hobby /Turkiye

Aslı Altan Altundal, English Teacher of Türkkonut Emel Önal  Primary School/Turkiye

How To Do " EBRU": The Turkish Art of Marbling Paper /Turkiye

Aslı Altan Altundal, English Teacher of Türkkonut Emel Önal  Primary School/Turkiye

MY SPORT / Turkiye

Aslı Altan Altundal, English Teacher of Türkkonut Emel Önal  Primary School/Turkiye

The Posters Against The Violence / Turkiye

Art teacher , Mrs. Özlem Şenyüz and students of art class performed the posters against the violence. A flower in the desert of violence is growing with tolerance.

Aslı Altan Altundal, English Teacher of Türkkonut Emel Önal  Primary School/Turkiye

The Photostory of Tolerance / Turkiye

Aslı Altan Altundal, English Teacher of Türkkonut Emel Önal  Primary School/Turkiye

Martin Luther King /Turkiye

Furkan Dolaşık, 8th grade student,has acted as Mrtin Luther King.
My name is Martin Luther King.I was born on January 15, 1929in Atlanta,Georgia.
I was told that I could not play with my friends because they were white and I was black.
I graduated from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.
In 1953, I was in Boston and I married Coretta Scott.
My most known speech is ‘I have a dream.’
I was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize which was a great honor.

Aslı Altan Altundal, English Teacher of Türkkonut Emel Önal  Primary School/Turkiye

New Year Cards From Turkiye

Happy New Year !
Pupils sent the new year cards to their European friends .They wish them love, joy and happiness in the new year.

Aslı Altan Altundal, English Teacher of Türkkonut Emel Önal  Primary School/Turkiye

Comenius Corner For The First Meeting In Italy/Türkkonut Emel Önal Primary School/Turkiye

We have been displaying all the project material in our hall comenius corner at Türkkonut Emel Önal Primary School , in Turkiye. According to our project, every partner school  set up a corner  where all products  developed  throughout the project and every important information connected with our project are displayed.In this way, every student  knows what is happening. Our first meeting  was in Italy.  All students can see the photos of  Italy trip in the corner.

Our comenius corner has some samples of our works that have been done by the students in the project. For example, models of Colosseum and Pisa tower, posters about Italy are showed. Parents  also   follow the project  and outcomes from the corner.   Here are our posters  which were prepared by our pupils. All posters were done during English class by students.

Aslı Altan Altundal, English Teacher of Türkkonut Emel Önal  Primary School/Turkiye

Italy Days in Türkkonut Emel Önal Primary School -Quiz About Italy/Turkiye

On the 15 th, 16th and 17th November days , some activities were studied and a quiz about Italy was given in Türkkonut Emel Önal Primary School in Turkiye. 30 students, aged 10 , participated the  different activities consisting to learn some informations about our partner country Italy in English lesson. Each of students worked with their partners. At the end of   all activities, they filled out the quiz.

Our first activity was about the location of Italy. We started  our work by answering this question: Where is Italy in the world? Students found the  location of Italy on the earth. They were surprised that Italy is a boot -shaped peninsula.

Students completed the map worksheet. They coloured the map and read  about the location of Italy.

As a second activity, students  learned  about Italian flag .They coloured the flag worksheet with red -white  and green to make an Italy flag.

We  also talked about the meaning of the colours of Italy flag. Red  part  of flag means the blood in the independence war   like Turkish flag. Our students realised that we have similarities between the meaning of  colours of  flags. Both , Turkish flag and Italian flag,   have   same meaning in the red colour.

How to say some Italian words? They learned "Hello","Thank you", "Good morning " and "Good evening" in Italian. Students greeted their partners in Italian words. It was very fun.

Another activity was to learn an Italian song. The song is a traditional child song" Giro giro tondo". They learned easily with its English meaning.
Giro giro tondo--------turn turn around
Casca il mondo--------The world is falling down
Casca la terra--------The earth is falling down
Tutti giu per terra-------Everybody's sitting down

On second day, some students cooked sphagetti at home and brought to the classroom. Before tasting, we talked about Italian food that they know and they coloured the pizza  and sphagetti worksheets.

They tasted the sphagetti together as a classroom activity. We disscused about how to cook sphagetti and how its shape is.

Students learned about the Roman Colosseum and the leaning tower of Pisa .They answered the questions:How does it look like?Where is it?

They tried to make a model of colosseum and the leaning tower of Pisa from sugar. Then,  they learned the capital , population , religion and  famous musician of Italy.

On third day, students took the quiz about Italy.

All 8th,7th, 6th , 5th and 4th grade students and all school staffs were informed and showed photos about Italy and our partner school in Italy by the powerpoint presentations.

Aslı Altan Altundal, English Teacher of Türkkonut Emel Önal  Primary School/Turkiye

The First Meeting-Visit a Fascinating Country: Italy

Let's join hands and hug Europe!
Türkkonut Emel Önal Primary School from Turkiye started the comenius project "Join Hands and Hug Europe" in September 2011 with the partner schools from Croatia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Italy.Our first meeting was in Italy , La Spezia /Vezzano Ligure  between the dates, 26th September  and 30th September.We got   very warm  welcome when  we arrived there.

In the first day , It was a pleasure to meet  our European colleagues and friends and our students also knew pleasantly each other. We tasted delicious National Cuisine of Italy and had fun  at dinner.We loved "Sgabei" ,the special dish of Vezzano Ligure Village. It has very close taste to our meal "Pişi". All people were quite friendly, kind and hospitable.We explored our similarities between Turkish and Italian cultures. 

Italian students greeted us with songs and flowers. After that , We strolled to the partner school's classrooms and participated the some activities.

Our smart student, Selim Can Kılıçaslan performed the piano recital.

Talented Italian students and their music teacher presented us a musical banquet.

The headteacher of Türkkonut Emel Önal Primary School , Kenan Karlıdağ made the national instrument, "Saz" show for kids.

In the second day  , we went to the medieval castle of  Fosdinovo near Sarzana which still belongs to the noble family , Malaspina.Dolphins are the symbol of the family. It was very interesting to learn that Dante Alighieri was hosted at the castel and his room has been protected.

Some legends are surrounding the castel even now. It is belived that the original bed of the Marquis Ippolito who died from drinking poison  breathes  and you can hear his heartbeats  from the knobs  of  the bed .We tried to hear the heartbeats ,it was an exciting experience. Another story was about  a girl, Bianca who was loved  by a young  man.But her family didn't accept their marriage. She was closed a tower with a dog and ate only bread and water. It was told that  she and her dog are still moving room by room in the castle. We managed to see some images as a water stain on the ceilling  which recognized Bianca and her dog.

Our last day activity was a trip to a very attractive region,Cinque Terre that is formed by five villages,Riomaggiore, Corniglia, Manarola, Vernazza, Monterosso. We were surprised that there was no car road. We could  reach the villages by train and by boat. People have been living there for 1000 years.Bright coloured buildings of villages are very caracteristic. The  magnificient scenery is  impressive. At night , We had a farewell dinner in Vezzano Ligure together.

We  have great memories.Bye Italy! Bye kind and hospitable  people !

Aslı Altan Altundal, English Teacher of Türkkonut Emel Önal  Primary School/Turkiye