Ukraine’s European Choice is the name of a special creative course designed for students in grades 10 and 11. This year the course is being completed by the third generation of Kyiv students. The students love the new subject. Mykola KAROL, principal of School No. 16, explains.
How was the idea of this special course conceived?
Karol: The European integration course in the foreign policy of our state made it clear that for Ukraine, where diversified relations with the EU occupy an increasingly greater part in its life, it has become vital to provide its citizens with basic knowledge about the European Union even in schools, to teach them the ABCs of the EU. Much has been spoken and written in the press, radio, television, and on the Internet about integration processes in Ukraine. People often come across the acronym “EU,” but few students know what it means, and even less what the European Union is all about. This course was proposed by Hennadiy Druzenko, deputy director of the Center for European and Comparative Law at the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, and together with our students and their parents we agreed to give it a try.
What is “Ukraine’s European Choice” all about?
Karol: It is extracurricular, so no one forces the children attend it. The first time 30 students came and they weren’t sorry they did. This class is interactive, and computer and multimedia technologies are used in the activities. The main emphasis is on research. The students look for data and literature on a given topic in libraries and on the Internet. Most often this lesson is conducted as a game. School students dramatize court hearings or sessions of the European Parliament. They offer their options of reforms and solutions to various problems; they hold debates on resonant issues. This way they master the art of public speaking; they use English, German, and French, which they are taught in school. They learn to think logically and defend their arguments; they overcome the language barrier. With the aid of multimedia technologies the students prepare computer presentations on certain countries; they collect data and correspond with their peers abroad by e-mail.
Eventually this course evolved into sessions of the Euroclub, and it became more relaxed. Spending time this way became much more interesting and energetic. We even organized our own cultural festival. Our children go on virtual sightseeing trips to EU countries.
Where did the students obtain the information required for this training course?
Karol: There were no textbooks, of course, so they had to find data on their own. They asked their parents to help and browsed the Internet; history and geography teachers also helped. During the two years that this course was being held we collected masses of data, and for schools that have decided to launch this course this year there is already a textbook written by Druzenko, the creator of the course.
What are the results of this experiment?
Karol: The children like this special course. They all showed a keen interest in the European integration process. Of the 30 students who initially came no one quit and as many came on board. Blazing the trail was hard, but we want to share the data and experience accumulated over several years with everyone because the children are showing a keen interest in the EU, and collecting information about it is very difficult. This special course is being effectively applied at 10 educational establishments in the capital. This year a research and methodological center will open, based on our school. There everyone will be able to receive maximum information about the European Union, and our colleagues will learn the fundamentals of teaching the course.
What other innovative educational approaches are your students and teachers trying out?
Karol: This academic year we launched several experimental training courses. One of them is a very interesting and useful health-building project called “Is it Easy to be Young?” This is another experiment in the course of which the advantages of a healthy lifestyle are gently explained to children. The entire school is marking Health Week and the project “Equal to Equal.” Eleventh-grade students read lectures on abortions to ninth- graders, who in turn explain the hazards of smoking to seventh-graders. They in turn tell the fifth-graders about healthy foods, and so on, including the first grade.
We also have a special course to teach children tolerance and positive thinking. It is supervised by a practicing psychologist. Children willingly attend these special classes on tolerance. They realize that the next generation’s European intellectual elite will consist of self-possessed, tolerant, comprehensively developed, and erudite individuals without any harmful habits.
