MR. DANIEL, POLISH TEACHER: MY WIFE IS KAZAKH, WE RAISE A SON

14 February 2019, 02:49 2113

Ethnolinguistic schools of the Assembly of people of Kazakhstan in Astana attract students with interesting lessons and unique teaching methods. For many years, graduates who have studied here have been successfully studying at various universities not only in Kazakhstan, but also abroad.  

People go to the Ukrainian ethnolinguistic school "Ridne Slovo" with great enthusiasm. On Sunday people along with learning Ukrainian language with pleasure made dolls-motanka "Nemovlya". (baby). In folk belief, it is a shore puppet, which was placed in the lullaby as a shield from evil spirits.

And students of another group cut out "Vytynanki" (paper cut out). Everyone tried to cut patterns out of paper, but did not know the name of this art. "It is possible to cut out not only snowflakes, but entire paintings as well," teachers at the school say.

"To date, about 50 people go to the Ukrainian ethnolinguistic school. We are located on the base of school-gymnasium No. 19. Lessons are free of charge. Along with native language lessons, children can attend art, vocal, dance and puppet theatre classes. In turn, together they organize performances, programs, and participate in city and republican competitions," teacher Ukrainian Sunday school Olena Saenko says.

Meanwhile, Polish language lessons are attended with great interest by all comers aged 16 to 18 years, today – it is 65 people. Mr. Daniel Zatorsky, who has been teaching here for two years, came to Kazakhstan at the invitation of “Polacy” association.    

"I liked it here very much, so I extended my term for the second year. In 2011, I worked at an ethnolinguistic school in Pavlodar and we came to Astana for one contest. Then I saw this school and I wanted to work here and in five years I came back, as they say - dreams come true. "My wife is Kazakh, we raise a son," Mr Daniel said.

Lessons with children aged six are held in the form of game. Children go to Polish language, dancing and vocals for years. They enter to the relevant educational institutions in Poland, for example, over the past 5 years 250 people have already been admitted, and some of them have returned and continue to work in Kazakhstan.  

The Russian ethno-linguistic school is located next to the Polish one in the building of the school-gymnasium No. 5. Along with the basic programme taught at secondary school, children can additionally study Russian language and literature, go to vocals and choreography on a budgetary basis. Other classes are also interesting and provide an opportunity to understand the basics of culture and tolerance through the knowledge of folk traditions. As noted by the organizers, the main purpose of Sunday schools is to educate and develop national consciousness among students, and enrich intellectual, creative, cultural and linguistic potential.

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