Cooperation with Teachers of Lithuanian Schools Abroad Continues

This summer, the National Library of Lithuania once again invited the participants of the Lithuanian Studies Summer Courses organized by Vytautas Magnus University. The Library has been inviting the participants of these courses for several years now, to discuss topics of interest to teachers, to share their experience and concerns, and to listen to lectures presented by the library experts.

Prof. Dr. Jolanta Zabarskaitė gave an informative and practical lecture on the Lithuanian-reading classroom, in which she discussed different methodologies for children of different ages that can help to develop close reading, comprehension of text and vocabulary. She shared a number of case studies of how these methodologies have been applied in practice.

Dr. Dalia Cidzikaitė gave a lecture on oral history and its application in the classroom and outside of the classroom. She introduced to the genre of oral history, as well as challenges and possible solutions when working on oral history projects. She highlighted and discussed in detail the eight steps of the oral history project that can help to achieve successful results, shared advice on how to prepare for the interview and how to integrate these practices into the school curriculum.

Dr. Dainius Vaitiekūnas shared his insights on the sense of humor in advertising and language teaching. The researcher pointed out that linguistic curiosities found in the ads can be exploited in language learning. He discussed the model of how an advertisement can become an anti-advertisement, the emotional connection created by advertisements and the different types of humor seen in them.

The Library also hosted a discussion on the Integrated Program of Lithuanian Language Education. The discussion focused the integration issues of the program in Lithuanian schools abroad, the challenges faced in different schools, and the advantages of the program. Insights were shared on how to achieve success in Lithuanian language education, what kind of support teachers need and how Lithuanian will be taught in the future.

Photo credit: National Library of Lithuania / Vygaudas Juozaitis