2024-07-15 16:43:54
Today the artist lives between Vilnius and Greece. According to Gintarė, the flight lasts only three hours – it takes longer to get from Vilnius to the seaside by car. In the Lithuanian school, the artist chose to teach children the language through creativity activities and tasks. At first, she was worried whether creativity would involve the children, but today the teacher is happy with the fruits of her and her colleagues’ hard work – the creative Lithuanian school “Giliukai” is attended not only by Lithuanian children living in Greece, but also by students from 10 different countries.
A creative approach to language teaching
At the Lithuanian school, Gintarė does not call her lessons lessons, but rather a meeting. When performing creative tasks, children must name the means and process in Lithuanian. “This is how children learn new Lithuanian words, remember them and communicate with each other. In the creative process, the Lithuanian language flows freely among the children. My goal is to encourage children to think creatively, not just to learn a language,” says G. Stokonytė, creator and implementer of lessons that develop creativity.
For the third year in the summer, Gintarė participates in the Lithuanian Studies at the Academy of Education of Vytautas the Great University (VDU) in Vilnius, where she meets with teachers of foreign Lithuanian schools and heads of Baltic studies centers.
“During these studies, additional inspiration and a desire to look at the teacher’s work qualitatively, to convey the latest and most relevant material to children, and to creatively and professionally teach the Lithuanian language appear. Last year, Lithuanian studies encouraged me to enroll in a second master’s degree. A month ago, I finished the first course of the master’s degree in art therapy,” says the artist.
An important mission is to preserve the language abroad
Currently, there are 248 non-formal Lithuanian schools in the world, and their number is growing every year. More than 9 thousand people study in such schools. students, more than 1000 teachers work. For six years now, VMU has been inviting teachers from foreign Lithuanian schools to Lithuanian studies. According to Vilma Leonavičienė, the organizer of the studies, head of the Center for Lithuanian Studies and International Programs of VMU Education Academy, these teachers are inspiring heroes.
“They exchange their summer vacations for studies in Vilnius, attend lectures and excursions from morning to afternoon, establish mutual contacts. New friendships and projects are born, and we are fascinated by the stories of teachers and their professional transformations. These are emigrants of love who were driven to Brazil, Puerto Rico or Norway, Lithuanians of the diaspora, who have been living abroad for several decades, work in offices and laboratories on weekdays, and volunteer in Lithuanian schools on Sundays. Their important mission is to help the children of Lithuanians who have left to preserve the Lithuanian language”, says V. Leonavičienė.
Currently, V. Leonavičienė also organizes Lithuanian language and culture summer courses at VDU Education Academy in Vilnius. She notes that in recent years, Europeans are beginning to learn the languages of their neighboring countries. A few years ago, Vilma herself went to the University of Wroclaw in Poland, where she studied Polish.
“It was my ambition to learn Polish. Invaluable experience – I studied the Polish language for the whole semester, I was in the scientific, artistic and cultural environment of that country. Look, Germans know the languages of their neighbors, but we don’t know Latvian, Estonian or Polish,” says V. Leonavičienė.
Learning a language eliminates phobias
Today, more than 80 foreigners from 22 countries of the world are studying Lithuanian language and culture summer courses at VMU in Kaunas and Vilnius. According to Vilma, it is good that many foreigners are returning to learn Lithuanian, even with their families.
“Americans with Lithuanian roots – two brothers and a sister – continue learning the language again. Their Lithuanian mother asks: how are the children? Have you learned a lot yet? Another student, Sinan, did an internship at our university a few years ago, participated in courses, fell in love with the language so much that he came this year as a volunteer to learn the language. Such stories of students inspire us to move on,” says V. Leonavičienė.
According to V. Leonavičienė, learning foreign languages destroys phobias. “Foreigners come timidly, but in Lithuania they discover themselves through our language, even their personal lives have changed. Scientific studies have proven that people who know more than three foreign languages are safer, survive crises more easily, communicate with people more easily, experience less stress when changing the environment and react to crisis situations faster,” assures V. Leonavičienė.
2024-07-15 16:43:54