3 month ago 12 exchange students with a help of ESN Lithuania in cooperation with “Invest Lithuania” and ESN VGTU started their new adventure in a totally different role – they decide to become their native language teachers. Except one brave Lithuanian student who decided to teach not his native language, but Russian.
The others were teaching German, Chinese, French, Croatian, Spanish and Turkish languages. It was a big challenge for them, because almost nobody had experience in teaching, but still it didn‘t scared them!
At the begining of this project some languages (Spanish, Russian, Chinese, German) gained a huge interest and it was even impossible to teach everyone, that‘s why registration were made and just 25 lucky students had opportunity to learn these languages. The other languages were less popular, but for their students it was a big advantage, because each of them got more attention and even became friends with their teachers.
Here teachers of Turkish, Russian, French, Spanish and Chinese languages shared their opinions about this project:
Why you decided to take a part in this project and become a teacher?
Romain (French): Because I wanted to share my knowledge and my culture and have a new experience (teaching).
Andrius (Russian): I think answer is in the question: “to become a teacher”. Isn’t this a wish of every student? To be that person who finally gives homework and not does it. Of course, it is not the most important point. I decided to participate in this project to prove myself that I can do this; that I can be that person who can help others to improve their language skills or learn something new.
Eva (Chinese): I wanted to get more experience and share my language, and the most important is meet the new friends.
Serkan and Celilsemi (Turkish): There was a big opportunity to introduce our language and culture to foreigners. Also, this kind of project makes us more sociable. That's why we decided to take a part in this project.
Alejandro (Spanish): I decided to join this programm for improving my English, learning from my students and not to be scared of talking in public in the future.
How was it to be in the teacher's role? Did you like it?
Romain (French): It was a very great experience, I loved it !
Andrius (Russian): This is a question for my students. I hope, I wasn‘t a horrible teacher. However, I liked teaching. It is a wonderful feeling to help others and even better feeling is seeing how my students are improving themselves.
Eva (Chinese): Being a teacher is really good, because you can share your knowledge and get more experience. I like this project and like to be a teacher.
Serkan and Celilsemi (Turkish): We liked it. We enjoyed it so much with our dear students.
Alejandro (Spanish): I liked to be a teacher, of course :)
What kind of experience did you gain in this project?
Romain (French): I gained oral presentation practice, preparation of presentation (PPT).
Andrius (Russian): Firstly, with every next lesson I became more self-confident. I lost my fear which was over me in the first lesson when I had to stand up in front of almost 30 students who were sitting and looking at me with their wide eyes. Secondly, this project made me more organized because I had to prepare all material for students. And of course, I made a lot of new friends. It was strange, but sweet when someone saw me and said to me: „Hey, I am your student. What are we going to learn next week?“ :)
Serkan and Celilsemi (Turkish): We got some experience from this project such as teaching, searching information, leadership, leading and managing our studentassss:), teamwork etc.
What is your opinion about this project? Do you think it's useful?
Romain (French): Very nice project, useful for "teacher" and "students".
Andrius (Russian): I think that project “Multilingual Lithuania” is a successful idea. There are a lot of students who really want to learn foreign languages and this project is the best solution, because you are being thought by students from countries which language you want to learn. I admire all teachers and students who participated in this project and gave their time for teaching and learning. Great job! You made this project awesome!
Serkan and Celilsemi (Turkish): It is definately useful for improving language and teaching skills. It is making easier to understand other cultures.
Alejandro (Spanish): I think this programm is a really good idea.
Tell about your teaching methods
Romain (French): We prepared presentation at home firstly, then we presented it to students. All presentations are divide in 2 part: a lecture part and cultural part. We also made a quiz about what we just learned and sometimes about what we have learned previously.
Andrius (Russian): I’ve tried to make an informal atmosphere as much as I could by talking with my students and letting them to speak (in Russian, of course). I wrote on blackboard that students could improve their writing and reading skills. Sometimes I asked them to come to blackboard to write. Moreover, after all lessons we all together reviewed past lessons. I was just walking around students asking them some random words or sentences and they were answering in Russian.
Serkan and Celilsemi (Turkish): We used almost everything we can use, PowerPoint presentations, blackboard, music, pictures, example sheets from some other resources.
Alejandro (Spanish): I used a PDF for self learning, and I tried to get as more feedback as possible. I think it‘s better to listen and speak a language instead of learning only grammar.
The most memorable lesson?
Romain (French): The most memorable lesson was maybe the lesson about French cuisine (talking about eating snails and frog legs).
Andrius (Russian): I will never forget my first lesson when I introduced myself in Russian and I saw how confused my students were. Unforgettable…
Alejandro (Spanish): The best lecture: that day just two students came. I was teaching some grammar and later a lot of funny expressions, we were laughing a lot during that lecture.
Your wishes or suggestions to future teachers.
Romain (French): Don't be scared everybody can do it. Enjoy this moment!
Andrius (Russian): Have patience and believe in yourself.
Serkan and Celilsemi (Turkish): Before starting lectures, they should advertise their lessons to get more students then don‘t forget to keep students till the end of the semester. If they find a book to give papers for students, it will be more useful and easier for them and their students. We wish they will enjoy time with their students.
Alejandro (Spanish): Be patient.
All in all, “Multilingual Lithuania“ project was beneficial for both - students and teachers - teachers have gained a new experience and students got an opportunity to learn new languages totally for free!
We approve this project and really hope that it will last for a long time!
Thank you Kathleen, Eva, Romain, Hugues, Kenny, Brian, Marina, Iva, Andrius, Alejandro, Serkan, Celilsemi and Ozan – you are the best!
Currently "Multilingual Lithuania" project covers seven languages - Spanish, Turkish, Latvian, French, Japanese, German and Russian. International students as participants of this project not only had an opportunity to become lecturers but also teach language using various, unconventional methods. Before the start of the project there was a registration process to enter language classes. Some of the languages such as Spanish, French and Turkish acquired such a huge interest that not everybody could get in the language groups. Languages of small countries were not left behind, for example Latvian language. Student from Latvia Ilzė who arrived at Vytautas Magnus University through Erasmus program, told that in the beginning she was quite scared that there will be just few persons interested in her mother tongue as this language cannot boast about its huge popularity. However everything turned out otherwise. Now Ilzė has even 16 students in her language group. Although in the beginning it was a bit strange, now Ilzė enjoys the process. She claimed that presently she understands the difficulty of the lecturer work. Person must observe the situation in classroom, prepare for the lectures and always arrive on time as student are already waiting.
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