DDCD 2019 - Session 3 by STOSKIENE RITA

Rita

rita100 — 2019-11-06 20:44:59 UTC

As a teacher I always enjoy a visit to a local school. I feel very lucky to be able to enter a school in a foreign country. It allows to better understand local people, their character, their life, their dreams and their problems.
Our focus of today was the applied arts/crafts and their heritage. We built up on our previous day's experience at the local market where we observed seed jewelry, musical instruments, national dresses and fabrics. The children at a very young age get familiar with these objects thus starting their journey of understanding, caring, appreciating and valuing their national heritage.

Anders

TeacherASH — 2019-11-06 22:47:42 UTC

Today we could see small kids doing their best to preserve and maybe develop the culture of Guadelope. At the same time as they, by creating pictures with things that the nature in Guadelope is offering, the kids also learn another language (English) and they get the opportunities to develop the culture in Guadelope.

And I guess that is the responsibility all generations have – to look backwards, at the current time and forward. Maybe the kids we saw today will do something similar with their kids and grandkids – but in another way? And maybe those who are playing Kankes in Lithuania will keep on playing, but maybe other songs?

We saw people selling typical Guadelope things yesterday and I liked the colours on the clothes. Unfortunately I don’t think it suits my white skin so well …

In my movie, I put in three pictures symbolizing Sweden. First the Dala Horse. It is sold at all tourist shops and everybody knows about them. They started as a way to get extra incomes for farmers, so they made this carving of horses. The next picture shows the Midnight sun, that is part of our culture that the nature provides us with. And, at last ABBA – our biggest musical cultural contribution ever.

SILVIA

2019-11-06 23:07:15 UTC

The school visit today was inspiring to understand how meaningful traditions are.
I realized traditions are deeply rooted in our conception of Life and
Death and are a way to answer to our ultimate questions.
Kankles, a Lithuanian musical instrument, and the Dream Chatcher are some
of the illuminating examples are teacher gave us; they are a way to comfort us
and respond to our most profound fears.
Learning about the meaning of traditions is fundamental to realise the
universal need to get answers which is interpreted by different peoples in
different ways, but they answer the same needs.

NIVES

2019-11-06 23:38:29 UTC

The first association that comes up with the word tradition is the past. There is no tradition without the past. Everything that has passed from generation to generation is part of the tradition. Tradition is also an essential part of the present and the future. The notion of tradition arouses emotions in the memory of home in the family, arouses events of the past, evokes the scent of favorite foods in the grandmother's kitchen.

Today we visited a school where everyone created with seeds. The activity reminded me of events in my kindergarten. In our kindergarten, we often invite the grandparents of our children to introduce us to various activities of the past, discovering with them all the beautiful things that have been preserved over time and inspire us even today. Children get to know their hometown and their culture and learn how people lived and what they did, learn about traditions, holidays, crafts and customs.

Mateja

2019-11-06 23:46:20 UTC

Today we visited a school The English solution. We could observe pupils learning English with an American teacher living in Guadeloupe. During the class they learned the language combining with crafts and dance. The intervaving of learning material with cultural heritage is an important element in preserving cultural memory that shapes us. So the kids decorated the Guadeloupe sign on a cardboard with the seeds the locals use to make necklaces.

Our heritage is a special treasure. For me bobbin lacemaking is a strong connection with my ancestors. Together with them I am weaved in a fragile pattern which gives me the strength and the beauty of an individual. In the short movie you can see also some the other handicrafts typical for Slovenia.

Daniela

danielafunck — 2019-11-07 03:04:43 UTC

Today I had the opportunity to get to know lessons at a specific Wednesday school. The uniqueness of that school is, that everything is said and told in English, to prepare the students for the secondary schools, especially to lead them up to this language, to affect them and to practice a living use of it. 
Very impressing was the combination of language and cultural action in the creative and active contact with traditional materials of the island. By decorating the boards, their beauty and diversity is made aware to the students and the meaning of these seeds is maintained.So that here,the link between culture and language became quite obvious, too.

So, as teachers, we have a responsibility to maintain our own culture by involving our teaching in a variety of ways. That might be traditional songs and dances, which could be practiced in the music lessons, or the use of old German instruments, like the “Schifferklavier” or the “Zither”, which can be played or shown. And even to use local plants and material in a creative way in arts and crafts, or in the cooking lessons, are only a few ways of using. Important is, that the students don’t forget them at all. 

Due to the dark past, many German are very critical towards their own country and their culture. The German identity is more denied rather than lived, so much of it gets lost with the generation of our grandparents. Our role as teachers is, to counteract this development and to remind students in many ways of their roots and traditions.

danielafunck — 2019-11-07 03:14:07 UTC

Daniela
"Gartenzwerge"