25. 9. 2023 jsme se účastnili Evropského dne jazyků organizovaného Studijní a vědeckou knihovnou Plzeňského kraje. V rámci akce byla připravena řada stanovišť a aktivit. Skupiny studentů jednotlivá stanoviště navštěvovaly, aby se dozvěděly více o pořádajících institucích a vyzkoušely si svoje znalosti. Mezigenerační centrum TOTEM, z.s. letos reprezentovala Laila Meinecke z Německa, která je u nás v organizaci na ročním dobrovolnickém projektu v rámci Evropského sboru solidarity (ESC). I když Laila strávila v TOTEMu pouhý měsíc, stihla již navštívit mnoho námi organizovaných jednorázových akcí, které studentům představila. Také pohovořila o tom, proč se rozhodla vyjet na roční stáž a co by si za rok v TOTEMu ráda zkusila. Studenti se tak dozvěděli o možnosti vyjet po střední či vysoké škole do zahraničí prakticky zadarmo či s našetřenými úsporami. Projekt totiž hradí účastníkům jak ubytování, tak stravné a kapesné. Akce se účastnila také kolegyně Maruška Vašková, které děkujeme za pomoc s překladem do češtiny a obecným představením projektu ESC.
A co k akci říká sama Laila? Můžete si přečíst níže…
„The European Day of Languages“ – at first I didn’t know what to expect from this event but I can remember being very excited about it already weeks before. I knew that I would meet students between the ages of 13 and 18 and that I would have the task of telling them about my personal experience with the ESC and my time in Plzeň.
So I prepared a presentation about myself, how I discovered the European Solidarity Corps as well as my reason for coming to Plzeň and especially choosing TOTEM, and finally how my life as a volunteer has been so far. The day before the event I was a little bit nervous because I thought „Could I have been more creative with the presentation? How will the students react? Will they like it or not?“ But I also knew that the best way to perform was to be myself and to tell them about my experience in an honest and authentic way.
On Monday morning, September 25th, I finally made my way to the Muzeum Loutek, arrived there way too early because I wanted to make sure to be there on time and then met Maru, who was also my personal interpreter for the day ;D. Together we entered the building and I can remember how I immediately calmed down. The setting with all the puppets was so cool that I quickly forgot how excited I was before.
And eventually, when the first students came, the tension was completely gone.
Maru started to tell them something about the ESC and, as always, she captivated me and the whole room with her relaxed and funny manner. And then it was my turn. I told the students more about my personal life and where I come from as well as my hobbies and motivation to participate in the ESC and then continued with a little recap of my time as a volunteer in Plzeň so far and what my typical day at TOTEM looks like. Moreover, I showed them some pictures about the one-time events I attended and then ended my presentation with a little interactive Quiz, where the students had to find the Czech translations of German words I gave them. In the beginning they were a little bit reserved but then they quickly joined in and had a little competition to see who could guess the correct „Germanism“ the fastest. At this point the mood became very funny and relaxed and the students were encouraged to ask me questions afterwards.
In addition, I was also able to put my language skills to the test a bit, as I used not only German in some groups, but also English in others and in some cases even a mixture of both, so that the entire audience could understand me.
In the following classes I noticed that the interest in the topic definitely depended on the age group and that especially younger students were less sure about their path after school. But even in those groups there were individuals, who seemed very interested in the ESC and who wanted to know more about it. That made me very happy because I realized that I could actually reach some people with my talk and that the rest of the group would at least keep the topic in mind.
All in all, I really enjoyed the European Day of Languages and was glad to receive such positive feedback from the teachers and students.
In the end, I left the Muzeum Loutek with a big smile on my face.“
Zde se můžete podívat na Laily dobrovolnický blog a sledovat tak její cestu projektem. Každý měsíc přispěje jedním článkem.
