The “Diaspora” Summer School Program of the RA Ministry of Diaspora kicked off on July 9 with Accelerated Armenian Language Courses in Eastern Armenian and Western Armenian, and the Course for Armenian Language Teachers and Organizers of Education of the Armenian Diaspora kicked off on July 14.

The classes for the 117 participants of the accelerated Armenian language courses were formed according to the levels of language proficiency and based on the region and knowledge of the foreign language (as the source language).

Merited experts of various Armenian universities host courses on “Phonetics”, “Verbal and Written Speech”, “Reading” and “National Song and Dance”.

Throughout the past eight days, the Diaspora Armenian participants have used their time wisely and have not only improved their knowledge of the mother language, but have also managed to visit several sites and have gotten to know each other better.

Spanish-Armenian Alina Shapaghatyan-Lalayan shared her impressions and mentioned that she has felt more warmth and has felt more straightforward in the Homeland and expressed gratitude to the RA Ministry of Diaspora for developing and implementing such a program through which they not only improve their knowledge of Armenian, but also take courses on native studies.

Ani Yepremyan of Moscow, 19, recited the poem “My Sacred Homeland” by Shiraz, and she cried she recited the words “If I burn for your glory someday, not even an ash will remain” from the poem.

Eleven-year-old Hagop Smith’s mother is Armenian and his father is an American. Hagop feels Armenian and shared all that he had learned after reading an extensive text in a textbook.

Nineteen-year-old Russian-Armenian Ani Galstyan, who learned the Armenian alphabet during the courses and is just beginning to express her thoughts in the mother language, gave a wonderful performance of Komitas’s “Krunk”.

Italian-Armenian Mariam Frangulian, 17, and Nareh Harutiunian, 16, mentioned that they have the opportunity to improve their Armenian in the Homeland and that they’re not sparing any efforts to do that.

The best expert in Western Armenian, Dr. Hilda Galfaian-Panosian, who lectures at the University of Sorbonne and has been hosting Western Armenian language courses in Armenia for the past four consecutive years, presented her teaching methods and talked about the opportunities to raise the level of efficiency of teaching through the use of didactic materials.

There are 25 teachers participating in the Course for Armenian Language Teachers and Organizers of Education of Armenian schools abroad.

The courses on “Key Issues of Teaching Armenian”, “Characteristics of Armenian Language Instruction in Schools of the Diaspora”, “Key Issues of Teaching Armenian Literature”, “Potential of Arts and Culture to Educate”, “National Song and Dance” and other course help the Diaspora Armenian teachers not only receive full information about new teaching methods, but also discuss issues, exchange experiences and become more familiar with programs for Armenian language instruction on the spot.

U.S.-based Armenian language teacher Kohar Balikian Zaher mentioned that such courses provide the opportunity to not only undergo training, but also convey more energy and the spirit of patriotism to students after the visit to Armenia.

Heghnar Kazanjian from the United Arab Emirates expressed gratitude to the RA Ministry of Diaspora for organizing the training courses and providing the Armenian school of the United Arab Emirates with the required textbooks and supporting materials.

French-Armenian Emma Mardirosian mentioned that the ministry had selected a wonderful team of lecturers and professors who transfer useful information through an integrated program.

The participants of the accelerated Armenian language course and the teacher training course were especially excited when they talked about the “National Song and Dance” course hosted by Gagik Ginosyan. The participants assured that they were learning a lot about Armenian national songs and dances and that they would return to their countries of residence with the spirit of patriotism that Ginosyan had conveyed to them.