On this week Tuesday (26.11.2014), I have participated on a seminar in Zvenigovo. The topic was really interesting: “Ethno-cultural teaching competences under the modern circumstances”
The organizer was Olga Vladimirovna Ivanovna, teacher of the secondary school nr.3 in Zvenigovo, where exactly the seminar took place. She invited teachers from the nearby schools (f.e. Krasnyy Yar) as well, so we could exchange ideas and share our experiences.
The seminar was well organized. At the beginning, we were greeted in a traditional Mari way – with freshly baked bread and salt. It was really tasty 🙂
After this nice gesture the “real” work has started. The first master-class was mine. I have made a presentation about Hungary, emphasized the language similarities. The teachers found that interesting, they had many questions.
We had a short break, and then we continued. The next event was an “open lesson” where two groups were competing, whose knowledge is better about the Finno-Ugric culture. The completion was close, but at the end, the first team proved to be the better one.
After we had a lunch-break, than we continued with an another master-class – “How to use texts in a different way in order to emphasize the individual learning process” I found the really useful, and planning to use it in my English class. We have a small quiz as well – who knows better the national culture of the different nationalities. We also discussed, what kind of values could bring the ethno-cultural education.
The last master-class was about the local children art-groups. The pupils of the local schools are taking part in different competitions not just in Mari-El, but also in Kazan and even in Moscow. The children are active and it is visible, that the national culture is close to their heart.
We finished the seminar with a small discussion, and of course with a group photo 🙂
To summarize, I really liked the seminar, and would like to say a big thank you to Olga Vladimirovna, who invited me. It was nice to see, that the local teacher’s community is active. They know culture and the traditions well and they are open for new ideas. I am sure that this seminar was not the last one and such events will take place regularly in the near future already.