Evalutation training in Biebrzanski Park Narodowy

Dzień dobry!

The EVS adventure is already coming to an end for most of the volunteers in Pułtusk and Warsaw. For Jaqueline, Jana, Saskia, Marie, Tuğçe and I, it was therefore time for a two day evaluation training with our coordinators Sylwia and Grzegorz. This year, it took place in Gugny, in the national park of the Biebrza River.

We were wonderfully welcomed in the guest house of Pani Bronia, who treated us with delicious Polish food and kindness during our stay there. 

The first day was about exploring the surroundings and we went for a walk in the nature, armed with our mosquito repellant, which was very much needed as we were attacked by huge clouds of mosquitoes and flies.

But we still got to enjoy our lovely homestay garden and play badminton or sit by the bonfire.

The second day was dedicated to evaluating our volunteering experience and we did so through discussions, and various activities. For instance, we had to list positive and negative things about the various aspects of our year and discuss them afterwards. We also had to bring an object that reflects our feelings about our EVS. It was interesting to see the different objects and the meaning behind them. We also prepared for our youth pass, the document we will have to fill before the end of our volunteering. It was very useful and enriching to exchange about our experiences with all the volunteers and to reflect on this year.  

Thank you to our amazing coordinators, Pani Ania, Sylwia and Grzegorz (and to Ernest! 😊 ) for organising the evaluation meeting in this beautiful place and helping us all along our EVS. 

We still have  a few weeks left before the end of our adventures in Pułtusk so stay tuned!

Na razie,

Julia

International Day at Kindergarten

Dzień dobry!

Last week, we had another event with children, this time with Marie and Tuğçe's kindergarten. Thus, we decided to organise an international day for the children, in order to give them the opportunity to discover more about a variety of cultures. For this occasion, we invited the volunteers of Warsaw and Pomiechówek to join us in Pułtusk! We were also helped by our three wonderful translators: Iga, Dawid and Sylwia.😊

Each group of children could, in turn, visit different rooms dedicated to different countries : Germany with Jaqueline, Mexico with Genny, Belgium with Saskia, France with Marie, Turkey with Tuğçe and China with Julia. Here is what each of us did and thought about that day:

Jaqueline:
 
My activities for Germany in the kindergarden were separated in two parts. At the beginning I gave the children a short overview with information about my country. Later I gave them an introduction for the game "fruit bowl". We were standing in a big circle with one person in the middle. This person had to tell one thing, for example a piece of clothing in a certain colour and everyone who were wearing a piece like this had to change places, so that in the next round another person is in the middle. In my eyes the children liked it but I realized that for the younger children the information and the game were maybe to difficult. But for the older it was possible to work together and I think they liked my presentation.

Genny:

My activities were to work with representative pictures of my country, divided into 4 categories: food, typical clothing, Mexican symbols, famous people. The children selected them and put them on each poster, I explained the names and meaning of each photograph. The second activity was a Mexican song "the viper of the sea" that the children danced. I loved working with the kids, I thought it would make it difficult to work with them for their age, but it really was a very interesting experience, and the children performed the activities very happily.

Saskia:

My activity was coloring a smurf with crepe paper after a short presentation from Sylwia. I was really happy that she helped me because alone and with my Polish "knowledge" it was unfortunately not possible for me doing it alone... I was also surprised that the children were slower than I thought but in the end they made some beautiful pictures and everything was fine.

Marie:

Bonjour! This is a useful word I taught the kids during this international day. To represent France, the idea was to prepare something interactive and easy for the kids to remember: that’s how it was decided to teach them Frere Jacques (Panie Janie) with a little choreography to learn better and then homemade maracas to make the rhythm… It went really well, the kids were calm and attentive. As this activity was quite short, I had also the occasion to introduce France, see what they knew and teach them some useful words… When the very first group came back in the room at the end of the event, some kids were singing the song again! Pleasant surprise! 😊

Tuğçe:

Dzien Dobry! I am Tuğçe from Turkey. On Monday, me and other volunteers visited mine and Marie's kindergarten for a fun day! I was representing Turkey and since I work in that kindergarten, I've done most of the Turkish activities with the kids. This time, I've decided to do something with the Turkish language. I had an imitating activity. I had a very famous song for animals which every child loves in Turkey. It is about farm animals. So I gave each kid a card of an animal. We listened to the song 1 or 2 times then for the next time, the children had to imitate the animal they have. I think it was really successful. The children love animals and it was perfect for their age. I also prepared cards which had animal icons on them and the children played a naming game if we had time after the song. They also loved this activity but it was harder but they still managed to do it and had fun I think.

For smaller children, I had another activity. I had 15 cards for Turkish dishes and I divided children into groups and they had to divide the cards into categories such as breakfast, lunch and dinner. This activity was really funny for me. Although some children managed to do it correctly. Most of them were mistaken omlette with soup. One time, I saw how different Turkish and Polish cultures are but the children and I had fun!

Julia:

Marie doing activities on France already, my room was instead dedicated to China, as I lived for one year in this country. I first showed the children some pictures of Chinese streets, parks, landscapes, food, etc. and illustrated them with objects that I brought back from my stay there: chopsticks, Chinese banknotes and coins, lucky charms, calligraphy, posters and postcards. Our coordinator Sylwia, who stayed for nine months in China, also showed some beautiful pictures that she took. Afterwards, I taught my young students how to count and write from 1 to 10 in Chinese, before teaching them some positions of Tai Chi, a contemplative and slow martial art.
It was so nice to see the children so curious and excited about the pictures and the different objects. It was completely new for them and I really enjoyed sharing my Chinese experience with them. They also really gave a try at the various positions of Tai Chi, as well as at speaking and writing in Chinese, even if it was not easy. Some of them were even asking how to write numbers to 20! 

As you can see, it was a really fun day and we were so happy to give the children this chance to travel the world from their kindergarten! 

Na razie,

Julia