From the middle of February 2023, the "New Earth" hub in Bialystok has been holding Belarusian language and literature classes.

The idea appeared in the summer, when Anna's children went to school No. 4 in Bialystok.

"Belarusian classes are held there, but only for children of the national minority, that is, those who have Polish citizenship.

Together with the Belarusian diaspora of Bialystok, we tried to change this situation, conducted a campaign to collect applications from parents who would like their child to learn the Belarusian language.

We submitted 44 applications to the Bialystok Department of Education.

But in January this year, they were refused.

And in order not to waste time, not to lose the children, I started conducting Belarusian language and literature classes for them myself," shares teacher

Anna Dar

.

At this moment, two groups were formed: younger and older.

A total of 20 children visit them.

"The classes are held in an open format, I try to combine and give children Belarusian language and literature, a little bit of history.

They take place in such a more informal, friendly atmosphere, I don't give any marks, I don't fight for mistakes.

If we have time after classes, we play language board games.

Here I was giving the topic "Famous Belarusian Migrants" to the older group.

I thought it would be interesting for them.

We looked at the figures of Františko Skaryna, Barys Kit, Natalya Arsenneva, Maksim Bogdanovich, studied the poem "The Pursuit".

In past classes, the children studied the topic of Belarusian legends and traditions, says Anna.

The teacher attaches grammar to such topics.

He says that most of the children come from Russian-speaking families, but they don't have any big problems to speak Belarusian.

"Children absorb everything.

Yes, some have difficulties to express their opinion in Belarusian, then they can insert Russianisms and Polishisms, but to some extent they understand everything, only some words need to be explained.

I orient myself and teach Belarusian as my native language, not as a foreign one."

Anna Dar

"We need to speak Belarusian at home too"

Anna says that now there are enough resources on the Internet to help a child learn the Belarusian language and to support it.

Among them, the teacher advises, for example, "Budzma", "Language anew" and "Gavarun".

"You can start looking for Belarusian-language cartoons with translations, create a Belarusian-language playlist of musicians, gather bands - this is for younger people, of course, because you can't impose your taste on older people.

But older people can look for Belarusian-language bloggers, initiatives, films in the Belarusian language."

You should also read books in Belarusian with your children, here Anna advises the Belarusian Internet Library.

"Undoubtedly, it is necessary to speak Belarusian at home, and to go to classes as well, so that children have some kind of community where they can hear the Belarusian language and talk to each other.

It is especially important for preschool and school-aged children to learn to read and write so that the language does not remain only at the everyday level."

Anna says that it is important for her to hold such classes so that the Belarusian language remains a native language for children.

"I always had a desire for children to have a community.

And now the children of other Belarusians have arrived, I saw the need to learn my native language.

After all, the language of the environment can replace the home language in a child within two or three years, if it is not supported.

Parents who want to preserve the native language for their child need to make certain efforts so that the child knows their language at the level of the native language.

After all, the children will learn the Polish language anyway in a Polish school.

The language should be supported with the help of books, additional resources.

Of course, it is very good if at least one of the parents speaks Belarusian," says Anna.

Find details about classes on the page of the "New Earth" hub.

Secure communication


with our editors.

HERE