On March 29, a general meeting of all members of the club «Let’s speak Ukrainian!» took place on the Zoom platform (about 1,000 people registered) with Ukrainian teachers from the International Institute of Education, Culture and Diaspora Relations, Lviv Polytechnic, and volunteer teachers who joined this important mission to help everyone who wishes to improve their knowledge of the Ukrainian language or switch to Ukrainian completely. The first classes in groups took place on March 31.
Ukrainian and foreign media got interested in the event. In particular, representatives of the Belgian radio were present at the presentation meeting, and on the first day of the speaking club the film crew of the Ukrainian TV channel Rada visited IECDR. Journalists interviewed teachers and students of the club.
According to Iryna Kliuchkovska, director of IECDR, learning the Ukrainian language is a key factor in forming a conscious nation that will be able to nurture Ukraine without a «Russian world» in the future.
So, the period of the war, mainly its acute phase, which takes dozens or even hundreds of people every day, of course, has not passed without a trace for the members of the club «Let’s speak Ukrainian!». Most of them, saving themselves and their relatives, moved to the western regions of Ukraine, where they continue to help the Ukrainian army. These bloody and at the same time heroic pages of our history have become a powerful catalyst for changes in the worldview of many participants. After all, now each of them is united by a common goal – to speak Ukrainian fluently, get rid of the language barrier, and build a healthy nation.
The IECDR team would like to express their gratitude to the Department of Education and Science of the Lviv Regional State Administration for their help.
Remember: language does matter!