If a teacher loves his job, he will be a good teacher. If a teacher loves his students, he will be a better teacher than he who has read all the books, but doesn’t love his students. If a teacher loves his job and his students, he will be a perfect teacher.

                                                                                                Lev Tolstoy

Within the scope of the Training Course for Teachers of Armenian Language and History and Organizers of Education (part of the “Diaspora” Summer School Program of the RA Ministry of Diaspora), I was lucky to meet with devoted Armenian teachers from different Armenian communities of the Armenian Diaspora. I refer to them as devoted teachers, but the great Russian classic author would refer to them as perfect teachers in this case. They are people who, having many worries, families, children and problems with earning a living and living the good life, have dedicated and continue to dedicate their lives to the great task of preserving the Armenian identity. Today, some of them are in the homeland and have traveled from different parts of the world, stretching from the Near East to Canada.

Talking about the possible assimilation of Armenians within the Armenian communities, very often they state that the risk is more noticeable within the Armenian communities in the post-Soviet region, particularly in the Russian Federation. However, this evaluation doesn’t correspond to the reality at all, and to stress that even more, we talked to the Armenian teachers from the Russian Federation. Hayern Aysor will present their thoughts, observations, as well as comments and suggestions in separate articles.

During her years of study at Yerevan State University, Gohar Tunyan couldn’t even imagine that she would find herself in Pyatigorsk one day. The two-day Armenian school, which is adjunct to the Saint Sargis Armenian Church in this Armenian-populated city, has been around for a decade, and one of the founders of the school was Mrs. Tunyan. The latter pursued her teaching career and has been teaching at this school since then. However, the job is very different here in the homeland where there seems to be no struggle for the loss of identity, but in Northern Caucasus, Armenians need to be alert every second in order to preserve their Armenian identity. At the local Armenian Sunday school, Tunyan teaches Armenian language and history. Language is the guarantee for preservation of the Armenian identity, while history is the epic of our past.

“The level of teaching and instruction of Armenian language and history is quite high. The problem is the number of children. True, Pyatigorsk is an Armenian-populated city, but there aren’t many schoolchildren, and there are several reasons for this. Firstly, according to the parents, their children already have a lot to do at the daily schools and are members of various clubs. Secondly, there is no time left for going to an Armenian Sunday school, but there is a great desire. I don’t know how good this reason is, but there is a truth. Children of the 21^st century have a problem with comprehensive development. They are busy throughout the day and have a lot to study. However, allow me to note and emphasize that I have never heard any Armenian family say that the children don’t need to know Armenian and that Armenian is not used,” Tunyan said in an interview with Hayern Aysor.

The school does everything it can and will even form a class with only one student and make sure the lessons are regularly held, if necessary. Anyone wishing to learn Armenian and visit the Armenian school isn’t left out and is integrated into the school. Besides gaining knowledge, the children also make friends and meet their compatriots who might have been born abroad, but are linked to Armenia the homeland.

“The Armenian community and church play a huge role. There are lessons on religion, wonderful meetings and excursions to Armenia. All this helps make it possible to preserve the Armenian identity, provide us and our generations with an Armenian upbringing and carry out activities for national preservation in Pyatigorsk,” Tunyan stated, not forgetting to express her gratitude to the Ministry of Diaspora, which is a link between the Homeland and the Diaspora.

“We don’t have any student who is forced to come to our school. It is an informed choice. Of course, parents are a great factor in the case of children. They come to all the lessons, are patient and consistent. Many start from scratch. This makes our job harder than it already is, but anything is possible. We start by developing their conversational skills. We encourage them to speak, even if they make mistakes and have trouble speaking. The important thing is for them to speak and think as Armenians when speaking. They not only speak in school, but also outside. Pyatigorsk is a small city. The children meet often. We can’t force them to speak Armenian or follow them to make sure they communicate in Armenian, but we encourage and motivate them, and the student speaks the Armenian learnt with their families and friends and “takes” the language to his inner world where he will talk to himself in Armenian and think in Armenian. We try to make the Armenian language the language of the soul,” Tunyan stated.

Although Tunyan has years of teaching experience, she is participating in the “Diaspora” Summer School Program with great motivation. According to her, the basis of the problem of Armenian teachers of the Diaspora is the same and the only thing that is different is the geography. “It is interesting to know the teaching methods of Lebanese-Armenian, Canadian-Armenian and German-Armenian teachers. We are learning from each other every day. Of course, we also learn great lessons from our wonderful lecturers who are the top experts of Yerevan State University,” the Russia-based teacher said. She recalls how the Armenian community of Krasnodar hosted a very successful conference sponsored by His Holiness, gathering Armenian teachers and encouraging Armenian schoolchildren. “Let there be more conferences like that and let them be pan-Armenian conferences. I would really like to see reciprocal visits. I would like for teachers of Armenia to come, be introduced to our experiences and follow our activities, just like we come here and exchange experiences with them. There is always something to learn, and in this case, a teacher is more obliged to teach and learn at the same time throughout his or her life,” the highly experienced teacher said.

Amalya Karapetyan