Western Armenian Summer Education Workshop: The Next Steps

Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation brought together 41 educators and creators in Western Armenian from 9 countries

SINTRA, Portugal””The Armenian Communities Department of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation brought together 41 educators and creators in Western Armenian from 9 countries, to collectively develop learning tools for language acquisition. The workshop took place in Portugal during the week of July 9-17, 2016.

The group was composed of educators, academics, writers, musicians, artists, actors and IT specialists. The participants were divided into seven groups. Each group worked on finding tangible solutions for specific challenges related to the revitalization of Western Armenian. As a result, seven initiatives were undertaken which will directly contribute to learning Western Armenian through modern and innovative means.

The initiatives are:

1) The organization of a summer academic program of continuous education for teachers, combined with a summer camp for students, which would take place once a year.  Learning from each other, students and educators will together develop best practices for Armenian language acquisition. These practices will then be shared widely.

2) The development of tools and curricula for formal and informal settings which focus on contemporary reading and writing methodologies adapted to Western Armenian.

3) The organization of a forum for principals and education leaders, where topics such as school culture, curriculum reform and other related issues would be discussed and best practices shared.

4) The creation and adaptation of games for both children and young adults connected to social media platforms, which would enhance language acquisition and practice.

5) The production of music that connects song and language. This would include the creation of new songs, re-recording of existing songs and other musical genres of learning.

6) The publication of a series of translations of children’s books into Western Armenian from the following languages: English, French, Portuguese, Arabic, German, Japanese, Chinese, Dutch, Hebrew, Persian, Italian, Polish and Swedish. The books would be for several age groups. The goal is to release 60 titles in three years.

7) The set-up of a web-portal through which the above-mentioned information and tools will be shared and communicated, connecting stakeholders around the diaspora with one another.

These projects will be developed and implemented by the participants of the Summer Education Workshop and other invited experts.

In addition to developing the above mentioned specific initiatives, the week-long intensive workshop produced a remarkable group dynamic. Creativity and practical outputs went hand in hand. “What an achievement!”