Статья "Внеклассная деятельность. Из опыта участия в международном детском фестивале "На Великом Чайном пути""

 

Extracurricular Activity

(from the experience of “On The Great Tea Road” Festival)

Being a secondary school teacher as you know, you should be creative, active and professional. I want to share my teaching experience with you, especially in extracurricular work. Every teacher knows how important extracurricular activities are for successful pupils. It’s a pity but we don’t have many opportunities to participate in different contests and festivals of foreign language in our town.

I’d like to tell you about one of such festivals. It is the International Children Festival – Fair “On the Great Tea Road”. It started more than 9 years ago. The organizer of this festival is the International Association of Cultural Tourism – a public organization, alliance of Russian and Mongol specialists in the sphere of education and tourism. The participation in this event gives a good chance for children to improve English, to widen their horizons, to explore new. As for us, teachers, it helps to develop professionally and show the pedagogical professionalism. This event is held annually. Our school takes part in the festival every year, since the beginning, when the first contest – excursion in English took place.

This festival includes three stages:

1.     Ulan-Ude, Russia in January

2.     Ulan-Bator, Mongolia in May

3.     Erlian, China, in November

The project “On the Great Tea Road” is based on the historical heritage of Russia, Mongolia and China. It combines talented children and creative teachers of three countries.

Our school traditionally takes part in two contests: “Theatre Ethno-Performance and “Young guides”, both in English.

As for guides, pupils should find the information about historical place, event or a person. The presentation should be interesting and informative for tourists, who are interested in our region and its history. To do the best, I always help my children with the presentation and correct English speech: pronunciation and fluency. It is an individual work and takes much time.

Theatre ethno-performance is my favourite contest. The participants should show a reconstruction piece of national holidays, ceremonies, folk life events or tales for tourists. The performance can be in Russian, Buryat or English languages.

The process of preparing is not easy, but interesting for pupils. First, I think what thing to choose. We succeeded in all the performances we had staged.

There were “Legends of Buryatia”, “The Swan-Girl”, “Ecological Fantasy”, “Kolobok”, “Multinational Buryatia”, “Seasons”, “Russian Maslenitsa”. All the scripts are written by me, it is rather hard, but the result is worth doing. Pupils are always glad to be in the process and we have to train hard. It is a real pleasure to watch their happy faces, especially when they win the first prize.

In conclusion, I advise you to encourage students to participate in extracurricular activities since they benefit pupils in many ways. Such activities offer opportunities for children to learn the values of teamwork, individual and group responsibility, physical and psychological strength, competitive feeling, diversity and a sense of culture and community. Extracurricular work provides a channel for reinforcing classroom lessons, giving children the opportunity to apply academic skills in a real-world context, and is thus considered part of a well-rounded education. Recent research in the arrangement of extracurricular work at school proves that participation in them can increase students’ sense of engagement or attachment to their school, expand English communicative area and motivate for learning English.

Application

The script of “Russian Maslenitsa”:

Speaker:

What a holiday! Haven’t you heard about it?

Great holiday is here – the meeting of Winter and Spring!

Farewell to winter saying

Welcome spring with pleasure having!

Winter:

Hello everyone! I come to say farewell to you

Spring is coming!

Speaker:

 Wait a minute, dear Winter! Children want to have some fun! 

Winter:

Ok, what can I do for you?

Speaker:

Let bliny appear!

Let all taste them and enjoy!

For  a week we’re having joy!

Winter:

This tradition is well known!

Maslenitsa should be shown!

Two skomorokhs appear:

1.     Open windows and doors! Come on, all!

2.     Russian fun is coming! Everybody is glad to see you!

1.     We have no time!

2.     It’s high time to have some fun!

Maslenitsa:

Spring is here, spring is here,

Winter has gone and the flowers appear.

Little birds begin to sing

Bicycle bells begin to ring,

Children come out and jump the rope,

Spring is here now, I hope.

Speaker:

Maslenitsa has 7 days, each has its own name.

Monday:

I am Monday. People call me welcoming. They meet Maslenitsa!

Tuesday:

I am Tuesday, people call me “the Game day”. They ride sleighs, meet skomorokhs.

Wednesday:

People call me «a Tasty day». They bake blini and many other tasty things

Round shape and golden colour means richness

Thursday:

I am Thursday. It is the day of Wide Maslenitsa. This day is famous for fairs, chastuski singing, dancing and fist fights.

Korobeinik:

Step aside, Korobeinik is walking!

Different goods: red ribbons, funny toys and wooden spoons.

Let’s buy musical things!

 Our neighbour had a talk:

Geeze in gusly, ducks in dudky

Tap dance in tryshotky, seagulls in balalaika,

Starlings in bells

Two tits play with spoons

Play and play, everyone enjoys

These funny entertainments

A person with a bear:

Hey, look here! You have never seen it before!

Hey, Mikhailo Petrovich, turn around!

Look, people wonder to watch your tricks!

Let us show how girls look at the mirror!  

Mikhailo Petrovich, show us how guys are going to work?

And how do they come back home?

Show us a headache! - No, it’s not a head! Where is the head?

-         Ok, dance, Misha, please! Your legs are really good!

Friday and Saturday:

I am Friday. People call me “a Mother-in-Law’s Day”. On this day sons-in-law invite mothers-in-law and arrange parties with blini.

I am Saturday. People call me “Sister-in-Law’s Day”, the entertainment, all relatives meet.

Sunday:

I am Sunday. People call me “The Forgiveness Day”. Everybody says “Forgive me” and the other person answers “God will forgive you”. People burn a straw man as the final act of saying good bye to winter.

Spring:

Spring makes the world the happy place,

You see a smile on every face,

Flowers come out and birds arrive,

Oh, isn’t it good to be alive?

Final song:

Spring, spring is coming soon, grass is green and flowers bloom,

Birds returning from the south, bees are buzzing all about,

Leaves are budding everywhere, spring, spring is finally here!

In conclusion, I advise you to encourage students to participate in extracurricular activities since they benefit pupils in many ways. Such activities offer opportunities for children to learn the values of teamwork, individual and group responsibility, physical and psychological strength, competitive feeling, diversity and a sense of culture and community. Extracurricular work provides a channel for reinforcing classroom lessons, giving children the opportunity to apply academic skills in a real-world context, and is thus considered part of a well-rounded education. Recent research in the arrangement of extracurricular work at school proves that participation in them can increase students’ sense of engagement or attachment to their school, expand English communicative area and motivate for learning English.