The Centre for Foreign Languages Study of Polotsk State University gathered a group of 50 schoolchildren to give them a golden opportunity to practice and improve their English during almost 2 weeks on August 19-30 of 2019.
“The first language school was such a success that there weren’t any places left for August before the first one had finished!” Explains Olga Zhuravskaya, Head of the Centre. “It’s important to mention that many of Summer Hype-1 participants decided to participate again in August.”
There were English language lessons in the first part of the day and diverse entertainments like orienteering and Chinese language studies in the second part of the day.
The lessons the Centre for Foreign Languages Study provided to schoolchildren were totally different from standard ones. Even working with the text was once an active sports game and then a creativity competition. However, the tasks were followed by conversation practice not only with the instructors but also with native speakers. Traditionally, Jocelyn Pihlaja and Bob Eckhart took an active part in talking to schoolchildren.
Besides, thanks to their help the Centre for Foreign Languages Study could arrange a Skype conference call with Jared Goldman, who visited Belarus in August of 2019 to find information about his ancestors. It was a truly fruitful and informative conversation that paved the way for large-scale projects carried out by the School participants.
Thanks to the communicative approach used at the lessons each participant felt that he or she had the capacity to language learning and succeeded in speaking, which is the best motivation to further language learning. Overcoming of much talked-about language barrier is painless in such conditions.
As it has been already said, the participants devoted their time to entertainments after the lessons. And each of the entertainments turned into a vivid conversation practice.
In the second part of the School days, besides visiting a rope park, laser tag and well-loved board games, the participants could dive in authentic Chinese culture, practice ancient craft of cutting from paper and even learn some phrases in Chinese, guided by Jang You, who is a teacher at PSU for this academic year.
As her master-class was held in English, the school participants used it as a means of studying and not as a subject of study for the first time. It was a completely new and an extremely useful experience.
The audience learnt more about the university campuses as the lessons were held in each of them, including the one in Mezhdurechye. A tour around the campus and its Courtroom was provided in English there. After that, the participants were engaged in a game where they could take on the role of a true detective.
One of the days was dedicated to sport. The teachers at the Department of Physical Training and Sports held a competition in orienteering in English. All the participants saw with their own eyes that professional sportsmen can’t but use foreign languages in their lives.
The Tourist and Excursion Centre organized a large amount of events like an exhilarating disco, an intellectual contest, unusual tours and excursions in English and a weekend visit to Vitebsk.
The schoolchildren actively communicated not only with the instructors and volunteers but also with the following PSU students: Yulia Maulikayeva, Ashyr Jemirov and Arthur Rimovich. They are permanent English Clubs participants and have been helping the moderators for the second time with the Summer School organization. We are glad that we could communicate with international students, such as Ally-Mbenza Mubenga and Alias-Issa Abkara and their friends Carter Rivez and Jonah Marlow.
The Centre would like to remind the schoolchildren that they can take part in a Young Philologists School, which will take place during autumn holidays.
The Centre for Foreign Languages Study expresses appreciation to the schoolchildren and their parents for taking part in the school, the students for their help, the guests for communication and the university administration for support and assistance in organizing the School events. Also, the Centre gives special thanks to the Tourist and Excursion Centre, the Strategic Communications Centre, Department of Economics, Law Faculty administration and the Department of Physical Education and Sports.
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Centre for Foreign Languages Study