Little Gems Montessori Nursery - Larnaca, Cyprus 11 - 24 April 2020

Workshop Information Booklet

Little Gems Montessori Nursery
Larnaca, Cyprus

           11 – 24 April 2020

Why choose Little Gems Montessori Nursery?

Firstly - the weather! You are guaranteed sunshine
throughout your stay in Cyprus. Many of our previous
students have brought their partners and/or families and
combined their workshop with a holiday.
Our location is nestled in the middle of the city, which
means that most amenities are within walking distance.
Little Gems is a beautiful and spacious environment. It also
registers less students than other workshop centres, which
means that you have constant access to materials,
opportunities to practice frequently, and plenty of attention
from your tutors. There are two fully Montessori equipped
classrooms which allow students to work with duplicate
pieces of material simultaneously.

Where are we?

Little Gems Montessori Nursery
Evagora Pallikarides Street 20
Sotiros                        Telephone us on +357 999 50070

Larnaca 6050                          or +357 965 57661

Travel                               Click here to open the map in your browser
Larnaca is well served by an international airport. A full list of airlines that operate flights
to Larnaca can be found here. This includes the low cost airline EasyJet that flies out of
Liverpool and Gatwick in the UK from £35 each way if you book in advance, as well as
Ryanair and Monarch.
Larnaca has a good public transport system as well as an abundance of Taxi services and
Rental Car companies. A Taxi from Larnaca Airport to the workshop location costs
€15.00. A taxi from the airport to central Larnaca hotel/beach front is around €20.00
depending on traffic and location.

Distances
Airport to central Larnaca: 10 minutes by car.
Airport to Little Gems Montessori: 15 minutes by car.
Central Larnaca beachfront to Little Gems Montessori: 5 – 10 minutes by car,
15 – 30 minutes walking.

Accommodation

Larnaca is a tourism destination and boasts many hotels ranging the full spectrum of
star ratings. Most hotels are beach front/sea view and there are a few city type hotels. The best
way to search is using one of the many online hotel booking sites. We have listed a few below for
the purpose of convenience, but we have no previous experience with them in any form of
recommendation.
The workshop dates fall out of the tourism season, however, the earlier bookings are made the
better the chances of price and availability.
City hotels close to Little Gems Montessori:
   ·   Vizantium Penthouse Apartment. 4 Vizantiou Street, Apartment number 41, 6030 Larnaca

   ·   Sea Front Apartment. Ichous 13, 6021 Larnaca

   ·   The Acropolis Apartment. 27, Grigori Afxentiou Avenue, 6021 Larnaca

   ·   Villa Francesspa. 11, Christoforou Papanicolaou str., 7560 Larnaca

   ·   easyHotel. 1 Kimonos Avenue, Larnaca

Accommodation recommended by previous workshop attendees:
   ·   The Acropolis Building, 27 Gregory Afxentiou Avenue, 6021 Larnaca.

   ·   Elysso Hotel, 28C Demosthenous Street, 6058 Larnaca. Tel: +357 24635900

Several students have found their accommodations to both a suitable distance, as well as price,
using the popular search engine, Airbnb.com.
Beach/sea view hotels within 15 – 30 minutes walk, or 5 - 10 minutes by car, to Workshop location:
     There are too many to list but the street/district locations are:
   ·   Fainikoudes area
   ·   Athenon boulevard and the surrounding area
   ·   Makenzie Beach area is further away but still within 20 minutes of the workshop location

Please Note
MCI & this training centre accepts no responsibility for the quality or availability of your
accommodation
It is advisable to make accommodation arrangements in advance of the commencement of your
workshop - we recommend you apply three to six months prior to starting

Places to Eat and Local Amenities

Food
Being a tourism town, Larnaca has many food and restaurants covering all types of
cuisine and prices. A local lunch tavern can be found within 3 minutes walking
distance from Little Gems. A sushi take away is also nearby and within walking
distance, as well as a supermarket. Delivery outlets are also available.

Amenities
Shopping areas are within a 10-20 minute walk from Little Gems, or 5-10 minute
drive. You will find a variety of shops with everything from local Cypriot items to in-
ternational brand shops. Ice-cream parlours, coffee houses, bars and pubs, and
more.
Weather
Cyprus has a fantastic Mediterranean climate where our spring is the most beautiful
period in the year, with its cool summer temperatures and still green surroundings.
April & May temperatures are usually between 18 – 25 degrees during the day –
shorts and skirt weather, with cooler evenings – jeans/slacks and cardigan weather.
Absolutely perfect!
Extra-curricular Activities
If you are not too tired from your daily studies, Larnaca and its surrounding areas is
guaranteed to offer all types of pastimes to suit all tastes. Especially sunshine!
Beach within walking distance, water sports, as well as yoga & exercise classes near-
by.

Tourism
Apart from the beach life, Larnaca and the neighbouring towns and cities is rich in
ancient and archaeological sites. A walk around Larnaca’s Salt Lake is also a lovely
experience.

Registration and Itinerary

Registration
The Apparatus workshop will start at 9am on the first day, please ensure that you
sign in by 8.55 at the latest, please telephone us on +357 999 50070 to let us know if
you will be unavoidably late.

Eligibility for Registration
Students on the Diploma Early Years Educator course – must have paid fees in full (or at
least two instalments, if paying in instalments), have completed at least the first semester
of the course and must attend all sessions of the Apparatus Workshop.
Students on the Introduction to Montessori Practice course – must have paid the full
course fee, successfully completed the first three assignments and must attend all the
sessions of the Apparatus Workshop.

Itinerary

  Week 1                                     Week 2

    Sat 11th         Philosophy and AEL        Fri 17th                Literacy

   Sun 12th                    AEL            Mon 20th                 Literacy

   Mon 13th               Sensorial            Tue 21st                  KUW

                                              Wed 22nd     KUW and Preparation for Practical
    Tue 14th      Sensorial and Numeracy
                                                                    Assessment

   Wed 15th       Sensorial and Numeracy       Thu 23rd                Practice

   Thu 16th        Numeracy and Practice       Fri 24th          Practical Assessments

Workshop Hours and Preparation

Workshop Hours
For the Apparatus workshop hours will be between 9am and 6pm which will include
two hours of supervised apparatus practice.
The days off will be Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th April.
Remember to bring notebook, pens, coloured pencils and a laptop/tablet will be useful
to access the VLE whilst here. The training centre will provide free Wi-Fi.

Preparation for Apparatus Workshop
You will need to refer to MCI modules 6 - 10 during the sessions (AEL, Sensorial Education,
Literacy, Numeracy, KUW). We advise you to work from a hard copy, in printed form,
which you can either print off in advance or buy from the office of the training centre.
(The Literacy and Numeracy modules should be printed in colour). The complete set of
PDF’s of all your Modules is available in the resources folder in Moodle (in the sub-folder
Complete Module Texts).

If you wish to view and work with the modules electronically you will need to bring your
laptop/tablet with you. Electronic devices should be brought to the training centre fully
charged. For health and safety reasons, devices cannot be plugged into the mains in the
classroom.

Prior to the workshop please read all the introduction sections of the curriculum modules
if you have not yet reached them in your schedule. This will support you in the oral
professional discussion that forms part of your final assessment for the workshop.

Practical Assessment

Students on the Early Years Educator course (EYE) and Introduction to
Montessori Practice course (IMP) will take part in a practical assessment and
professional discussion on the final Saturday of the Workshop. This is a compulsory
component of the workshop.

Early Years Educator students will be assessed against a range of assessment criteria
which will be either met or not met. Any outstanding assessment criteria not met during
the practical assessment and professional discussion will need to be reassessed through
an additional and final assessment opportunity. This may involve having to attend an
additional workshop, dependent on the assessment criteria not met.

Introduction to Montessori Practice students cannot be awarded with the MCI certificate
unless the practical assessment is successfully completed. Students who do not
successfully complete this part of the course are invited to book for another workshop,
which will incur an additional charge.

The practical assessment and professional discussion will last approximately 1½ hours and
you will be allocated a specific time during the workshop. The schedule will be posted
prominently on the notice board during the second week of the workshop. If you plan
to travel home on the Saturday, please let us know in advance so that arrangements can
be made for an early slot.

Refreshments and Facilities

Refreshments
Coffee and Tea will be provided during all breaks but may not be available before
lectures start in the morning. There is a separate room and an outside space for use at
break-times.
Lunch will be provided for students on Wednesday 4th April at 12:30
If there are any changes to the timetable then the tutors will advise you.

Facilities
    Free Wifi is available at the centre.

    Childcare - some of Little Gems' staff members are more than happy to watch your
     child while you are studying. This would take place from their homes and would be
     privately arranged between you and them. This service works on a 'first-come, first-
     served' basis and has limited spots. Please contact us asap, should you be interested.

Professional Placement (for Early Years Educator Students) briefing
If you have recently started, or are thinking about starting your professional placement,
there will be an opportunity to talk to tutors about placement during the lunch hour on
Monday 9th April.

Contact Us

Email Carola Lang-Howard, the lead trainer:
littlegemsmontessori@gmail.com
Telephone on +357 999 50070 or +357 965 57661
Visit the nursery website at www.littlegemsmontessori.com

          Testimonials from previous students

 Thank you for all your love, patience, resilience and creativity that you
   lavished on us during these two weeks of a brilliant workshop. A life
      changing experience for me, and probably for the others, too!

                                                          Angela

   Once again - thank you that amazing workshop. Highly valuable,
                      inspiring, unique experience!

                                                          Anna-Maria

Thank you for the life changing experience of the Apparatus Workshop. A
piece of my heart remained within the walls of your nursery. And pictures
          of you will remained imprinted in my mind for good.

                                                              Justyna