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“НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, ЖОВТЕНЬ 2011 23 TEACHING AND LIVING UKRAINIAN CULTURE a t the University of Illinois, Urbana - Champaign Members of the Ukrainian Student Club at the University of Illinois represent Ukraine at the Krannert Center International Festival (April 2011) In the past five years, since entering the Doctoral program in Sl avic Languages and Literatures at the University of Illinois, Urbana - Champaign, I have had the pleasure and the privilege to observe, help promote, and participate in the Ukrainian academic and student life on this university campus. Thanks to the tremendo us enthusiasm and decades of tireless work by this institution’s Ukrainian Professor Dmytro Shtohryn (now Emeritus), University of Illinois has much to offer both to scholars engaged in research on Ukraine and to students who are interested in various thin gs Ukrainian. During my time in Illinois, I have directly benefited from Professor Shtohryn’s most significant projects, which include organizing (for more than a quarter of a century!) bi - annual international conferences on Ukrainian subjects and buildin g up the Ukrainian library collection to 70,000 volumes (making it one of the largest collections outside of Ukraine). In addition, the Ukrainian pro - gram at the Slavic department, which largely owes its continued existence to Professor Shtohryn’s efforts, gave me a chance to teach Ukrainian language and culture for several years during my studies. It was this experience that brought me into close conta ct with Ukrainian - American students as well as those without Ukrainian background, but with an interest in Ukraine. This experience has taught me much about how language and culture are best transmitted, learned, and internalized. Instructors of foreign l anguages know very well how important it is for their students’ success to relate the language they are teaching to real, lived culture. In my Ukrainian language classes that frequently consisted of both non - Ukrainian students and Ukrainian heritage speake rs (a true teaching challenge, according to current language pedagogy), I found the latter to be a real asset in making the Ukrainian culture more alive and present in the class - room. I encouraged the students of Ukrainian descent to share their cultural h eritage with their American classmates through conversa - tions, reports, and presentations, which often turned out to be more interesting than any pretend situations or made - up characters from the textbook. This type of activity, curiously enough, benefited not only the American students, but also the heritage speakers them - selves: by casting them in the role of “experts” on the culture and the language studied, and by showing that their knowledge was both valu - able and coveted by others, such exercises gave the Ukrainian - American students a new level of respect for their heritage and reaffirmed their Ukrainian identity. Another lesson my students taught me was on the importance of extracurricular activities that would help them learn about Ukrainian culture by “practicing” it. Watching Ukrainian films or cartoons and getting together once a week for a cup of coffee and conversation in Ukrainian became regular practices, supplemented by some students’ participation in the activities of the Ukrainian Student C lub on campus. One of the Club’s events, an annual Ukrainian Coffee Hour, is meant to promote Ukrainian culture to the wider student community through presenta - tions on Ukrainian history, samples of tra - ditional Ukrainian food, and Ukrainian music. Holding this event puts the students once again in the role of “teachers” of Ukrainian culture, and ultimately, is more beneficial to them than any class. As they say, the best way to learn something is to teach it to somebody else. Oles ia Wallo (née Shchur)
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