EVS - on arrival training

Last week (from 11 to 17 of May) some volunteers from Semper Avanti were in Warszawa for an EVS training.

 
The main idea of this training was to give as some knowledge about our work as volunteers and our rights. And also was a very interesting learning using non-formal education methodologies.

25 new volunteers who are working in different places in Poland come to the Warszawskie Centrum Sportu Młodzieżowego "Agrykola” for this training. The hostel was half an hour by walk to the city centre, located inside of one big and very beautiful garden park. 

 

The training started on Monday, and finished on Saturday, with lot of activities between 9:30am to 6pm. We learned lot of energizers to use in our own workshops as volunteers, and also we developed lot of skills and competences related with ourselves and our character. We did many activities to improve our communicative skills and our emotional intelligence.

After that we had some free time to spend in the city with the other volunteers. And we can say that was a very intensive week meeting lot of people and working together!

We only can say thanks to the Erasmus+ program, because it give us this amazing opportunity. And also thanks for all the volunteers involved in this week, who made the experience even more great!  

One nice event took place on 27 of April 2015 – Ukrainian cultural evening.

I would like to share my expression about it as organizer. The main idea of this evening was to share Ukrainian culture through national folk songs and dances with young polish and foreigner guests. I can say that the main goal was succeed.

It was so nice to see that people from other cultures striving to learn more about my culture, trying to understand similarities and differences between them. I was happy to see that participants were fully involved in all activities: dances, traditional games, and even some of them tried to sing Ukrainian songs. 

I had nice adventure during the preparation time. At the beginning I had have no idea how to organize and what to show during this evening, in what way can I share my culture. I just wanted to do it in interesting and interactive way. So that`s why I decided to search for talented Ukrainians in Wroclaw. Likely, I found them. So nice, friendly and open- minded people – Ukrainian band “Spivogra”. They agreed to support this idea and helped me to do successful evening.

I would like to say a lot of thanks firstly to Semper Avanti for administration support, to all volunteers and friends who helped me with realization.

Now everyone is expecting to know more about Georgian culture.

 

About cultural event in childrengarden

All April I was sharing Ukrainian culture with small children from one Wroclaw kindergarten ( 4 -5 years). Let`s see how it was.

Firstly, I can sat that children were good prepared for the meeting. They were expected for guest from Ukraine. I am so happy that I could practice my polish with so small and cute children. Sometimes they were confused that I am already big girl , I could understand and even speak polish( I have started to learn it in Ukraine), but still I have some mistakes in pronunciation. I explained that we have similar languages and speak more properly I will be able after some practice.

On the first meeting, before my presentation started I asked children to share with me their ideas about my country. I wasn’t expected so much from them, but can you imagine my surprise when they said to me that there is a war in Ukraine and they were worried about this topic and asked me some questions.

When I told them that polish pierogi originally came from Ukraine they were confused and even didn’t believe me, but then I shared the story about vareniki.

All month we were learning Ukrainian culture through folk dance, song and national food. As a result we had final day of Ukraine where parents of all children were invited. We had opportunity to demonstrate them our Ukrainian-Polish integration. 

I believe that in this way ,we teach children from early beginning to be open- minded, tolerant to other people and cultures.

About Wendy!

Cześć! / Hi! / Hoi!

Now that you've met Avtandil, Jose, Julia and Umur, it's time to introduce the newest member of our current MLC team: me! :)

My name is Wendy and I'm from the Netherlands. I grew up in Ossendrecht, a pretty small village in the south of the Netherlands, close to Antwerp in Belgium, but when I was 18 I moved to Amsterdam - or actually, to a town almost surrounded by Amsterdam, named Diemen - in order to study Linguistics at the University of Amsterdam. In my final year of Linguistics, I chose 'Second Language Acquisition' as my minor, and this topic really caught my attention (and my heart, in a way). How do people learn a new language? What helps them in the process, and what doesn't? Is there a formula for instant language learning success? …Loads of questions that could impossibly all be answered in just one small minor, so after I finished Linguistics I studied 'Dutch as a Second Language', and I got my MA-degree in July 2014.

In the meantime, my love for different cultures and languages found other ways of expression. I worked for Vluchtelingenwerk Bergen op Zoom (a NGO that offers practical support to refugees and asylum-seekers), as a volunteer, and from 2012 until 2015 I worked for a publisher, creating lesson materials for people who want or have to learn Dutch. These jobs gave me the opportunity to meet other cultures while staying in the Netherlands, but eventually I wanted to be a bit more adventurous. So in 2013 I traveled through Central-Europe for 3 weeks, on my own. (Back then, I was in Wrocław for two nights!) And last year I went to Slovenia and Croatia. Yes, the famous travel bug bit me!

Thus, on one hand there's a passion for languages and on the other an obsession with meeting other cultures – what more do you need to join the Multicultural Language Cafe? Well, at least one more thing: you need to become an EVS-volunteer! 

On Friday the first of May I arrived in Wrocław and right now, after only ten days, I have to admit I feel overwhelmed by all the new experiences – living in a shared apartment, in a Polish city, speaking English on a daily basis, slowly learning Polish (it’s so difficult!), working for Semper Avanti and the MLC as an EVS-volunteer, getting to know people from many different countries, making friends for life (or just for one party)… Overwhelming, for sure, but in a very good, instructive and enriching way. I’m really glad I’m here, and hopefully the next 9 months will be as amazing as the first ten days.

Na razie! / See you later! / Tot de volgende!

About Umur!

Merhabalar!!!

I am Umurhan, from Turkey. I arrived Poland 1.5 months ago and have things to say about these time period. Everything started when I was chosen by Semper Avanti to become a volunteer. I was mentally ready but I did not know what to expect from this experience. I got my ticket, packed and waited for my departure date. Until I board to the plane from Istanbul, none of these preparations were seemed real. It was just like a dream. Yet, there I was, flying on the level of gods and dragging myself to new type of adventure and experience.

When I land to Warsaw, new life had started! I had an amazing time in Warsaw, got a little bit of Polish history thanks to a free walking tour (I strongly recommend it!). When I saw a little of Warsaw, I came to Wroclaw to start everything from scratch. I met with amazing people, got a little bit drunk during my first night, slept in a hotel and so on. Later I met with stuff of Semper Avanti, and they told me about my duties as a volunteer. Without even realizing, I became a part of the team and I was ready to boom!

I went some schools for presentations, some schools for workshops. Kids in these school loved me! They showed me and my country so much interest, which made me really happy. Beside my volunteering related life, I had amazing journeys through some regions of Poland. I went to Torun, Poznan and a pearl in Far East, Bialystok. And I still want to see more!! You should hear my other stories as soon as I have some. Until I do something crazy again, görüşürüz!!!

Intercultural Education

Good morning everybody!

The MLC team was started a new workshop called “Intercultural Education”. This workshop pretends to be very interactive using the keys of the non-formal education, trying to make some games and activities with the students.

We are making this workshop in different schools, and we have to say that is a great experience, and also is good for our own knowledge to prepare the contents.

These contents are focus in four important points: Ethnicity, Language, Nationality and Religion.  The main idea is to open the student’s mind and prepare them for be a good citizenship in the future.

Best regards,

MLC team.