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Speech – new fashions
– You, a resident of Klaipėda, were still studying at a time when Russian was common in the port city: there was a commercial port and many families of Russian-speaking sailors lived here. What language is mainly spoken here today?
– He speaks Russian, compared to that time and now, it is much less. We lean the other way: concepts in English, company names. But I don’t see a great tragedy here. This is part of language adaptation. Young people speak English better, there are more families with parents of different nationalities, which makes it difficult for children to be successful in Lithuanian. I would say that perhaps it is even fashionable to speak with an English accent, intonations. But it happens, the Lithuanian language has resisted and will continue to resist its positions.
– What you have listed also determines the decline in popularity of the Lithuanian language state test among graduates?
– In fact, some people no longer need a state exam, students choose the school because they are going to study and live abroad. But I still don’t understand this choice, why buy an inferior product for the same price? The school exam is a little easier. Even from graduates of Klaipėda high schools this year, I heard that some regret not choosing the state exam because the plans for the COVID-19 virus, which restricted travel or the nature of studies, have changed. Also, children whose parents are foreigners often do not take the state test. Sometimes, it is difficult for a child to speak Lithuanian fluently.
– Although the popularity of the Lithuanian language state test is declining, Klaipėda Lyceum is among the schools that have won more than hundreds each year. Maybe she counted how many of you managed to prepare such talented students in total?
The teacher seems to be constantly standing on the edge of the winds.
– Oh, I didn’t really count. But I do know that there were three hundred years in a year, we have one or two almost every year, since the list of Olympic winners is very long. It is also necessary to assess the fact that Klaipėda Lyceum has smaller groups of final classes, other schools have 30 students each, and the lyceum has 8-15 students, so the total number of hundreds in the lyceum is large. But generally speaking, the Lithuanian language test is a lottery. This year’s example: a guy got less for an essay than we expected, so his right is to write an appeal. After reading the essay, I rated it at least 10 more points. To be absolutely sure, without saying how much it was scored, I sent it to colleagues who are correcting or correcting essays on state tests. All of them rated this trial 10 or more points. This student has appealed and what do you think? He lowered his grade by two more points! This is a truly subjective assessment. Grammar, spelling are those objective elements where it cannot be interpreted, but let’s say style is a subjective thing. It is the responsibility of the repairman. But I also understand them: it is a very tedious, responsible and poorly paid job. I worked for him myself and I know how difficult it is.
What is a dahlia and a clover?
– And is it possible to learn Lithuanian perfectly?
– Frankly, if you don’t have an audience, it’s very difficult to do so. You need to hear the language. It is a common stereotype that if a person is a “mathematician” by nature, they are not successful in Lithuanian. The Lithuanian language is the same as mathematics: it is punctuation, grammar, rules and their application. But listening is necessary for you to hear those other linguistic nuances. On the occasion of the Lithuanian century, I had even compiled such a list for students: “On the occasion of the Lithuanian century, I will learn to spell a hundred words correctly.” I have noticed that those “popular” words that students cannot write begin with the consonants “t” and “v”, so they must be written separately: “not all”, “not always”, “not so much”. anyway, children no longer recognize many words. We read the plays and ask: what is that dahlia, clover? Of course, many new words are also emerging.
– Are you talking about terms created by Lithuanian linguists? How do you rate them?
– Language is a living organism and people do not always accept what linguists offer. If something new came up, it was up to the linguists to suggest a name, “baptized” in Lithuanian. But we decide for ourselves if we integrate that word into the language or not. If the “monitor” did not agree and did not stick, that’s fine. Language itself is like God, it cleanses itself, it does not accept itself. There are also very successful examples: skateboard, roller blades, computer mouse; we have used these words to the best of our ability and we use them successfully.
– How much do you think it is the task of parents to teach the language to the child? And in general, how much to participate in the educational process?
– Sometimes I have noticed the opinion that if parents bring a child to school or even pay for education, they expect him to become wise under the school roof. But both children and parents also have responsibilities. A common attitude of parents, of the public, when lecturing, comments that teachers do nothing, why pay them? But learning is a two-way process. The child must work first. The teacher maybe 30 percent. can add up to total “income”.
Like a sequel to the holidays
– You mentioned scathing comments about teachers. Is this one of the reasons for the decline in the prestige of the teaching profession?
– Absolutely. There must be a change in attitude towards the educator as a person. I really liked an essay by the writer Romualdas Granauskas, in which he writes that there are three vocations: priest, doctor and teacher. For me, teachers were ideal in my childhood and my mother also respected them a lot. But a teacher is also the same person as everyone, he can be angry and broken because he is working hard and responsibly. The teacher stands in front of the class with a bare heart, and the student, especially in the classroom with 30 children, can do everything: record, film, make fun of what he cannot. As long as this is observed, nothing will change. Pay for work means a lot too, but will you go to work if you have that attitude? It is as if the teacher is constantly in the winds: everyone sees, controls, decides his work, only he has the minimum rights. Generally speaking, as a teacher, I will allow myself to joke: if God punished a woman, He did it as a teacher and punished her twice by making her Lithuanian.
Photo by L. Vinčienė / A. Pelakauskas
– How do you feel today when you no longer need to perform the mission of a teacher?
– So far I have not felt much difference, it is like a continuation of the holidays. I live on a farm in the village, I don’t see children going to school. Also, I prepared for it for a long time. I am 65 years old and I plan to retire at 62. When I was still working in another school, I had planned to do so, but then I received an offer to join Klaipėda high school due to the reduction of classes. Then I joked: why change anything else for me? Except hair color and hairstyle. But looking back, I found incredible opportunities to work at high school. I came to a closet equipped with modern means. And the students are young, they never get bored of them anywhere and never. I can safely say that both the student and the teacher are noticed and valued at the high school. This is probably the approach that allows you to achieve good job results.
Visiting card
L. Vinčienė reveals that the teaching profession was a natural choice for her. After losing his father early and living with his mother, he pursued the sciences close to home, so he decided to study Lithuanian studies and conducting at Klaipėda University, from which he graduated in 1977, and has worked in schools since then. the port city.
For many years he taught at the Klaipėda Vytautas Magnus Gymnasium and joined the Klaipėda Lyceum six years ago.
The old professor realizes that both the Lithuanian language and its use are evolving, it is like a living organism affected by a fashion, a social and economic situation, which in turn seems to “cleanse itself” of foreign bodies, new terms that do not they attach.
The teacher-methodologist, who has trained more than a hundredth and an Olympic winner, says that he believes that the teaching profession has not become prestigious at all, believes that educators do “black” work and have the fewest rights throughout the process educational.
Until the attitude towards the teacher as a person changes, the teaching profession will never have prestige in Lithuania.
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