The end of autumn break

For almost a week children for the Social Centre and others spent with a motto “Generation’s history through the history of nation”.

Ms. Aliena Andrushkevic, a teacher of journalism and one of the key people to organise the autumn break programme, pointed out that “this programme is a series of show-and-tell classes and activities under one topic. During this break children created their own projects – a book about themselves. It includes family matters, faith, famous Belarusians in history. This project is a beginning of a great journey towards understanding oneself as a part of a nation”.

Aliena also told us that teachers chose the format enjoyable for children: games, quests, creative classes, trips. And all that was an element of research. “We tried to provoke children to ask questions and look for the answers.For example, during their visit to Jakub Kolas’s land they got secret questions and had to find the answers to them. Someone had to count the number of windows in Kolas’s house, someone counted trees around the house and so on”, — she added.

“All those activities led children to answer the question “Who am I?”. In what way are my family and I, our traditions connected to the history of our people? We talked about All Saints and specifically the people who are Saints, we talked about family, traditions, ancestors, made a coat of arms and a family tree, discussed the personality of Jakub Kolas, read his poems, showed children how people’s lives are interwined together in time and how important it is to remember who you are. I think, children were able to understand themselves as a part of the history they themselves created”, — said Aliena.