The XV Summer School «Step to Ukraine» by the International Institute of Education, Culture and Diaspora Relations brought together great students from nine countries. We continue to share their stories and impressions from study.
Natalia Koroliuk, a native of Argentina. This year she got acquainted with the Summer School from the International Institute of Education, Culture and Diaspora Relations and began to systematically study her grandfather’s native language.
– My grandfather is a native of Ukraine, he was born in Ternopil region. For many years he participated in the development of the Ukrainian community in Argentina. We have a family with whom we communicate. Grandpa shares his memories a lot. I always felt close to Ukraine, – says Natalia. – I am a plast member and I also dance in the Ukrainian ensemble of the Prosvita Society in Argentina. In addition, I help in the Ukrainian school, I try to continue the work, which was started by my grandfather. I know about IECDR due to various events that were held together with our community. And this year I received a WFUWO scholarship and I am very glad that I have such an opportunity to deepen my knowledge. I am very interested, and I plan to continue my studies with IECDR.
Teacher Oksana Trumko says that this time all students had a basic knowledge of Ukrainian, as most are of Ukrainian origin. They learned the language at home, so there was no need to translate words or different grammatical constructions. Regarding the teaching methods used by all IECDR teachers, as Mz. Trumko emphasized, one of the advantages is the communicative approach. It is important to show how to apply knowledge in practice, so a lot of attention was paid to conversational practice.
