This year, the Training Course for Teachers of Armenian Language and History and Organizers of Education, which was part of the 2016 “Diaspora” Summer School Program, hosted teachers from different Armenian communities of the Armenian Diaspora who had a chance to exchange experiences, gain new knowledge, establish contacts and make helpful and cognitive visits and received more ideas and energy in the homeland. One of the participants was director of the “Hayordats Tun” Armenian youth center adjunct to the Holy Cross Armenian Apostolic Church of the city of Samara of the Russian Federation and Armenian language teacher of an Armenian Sunday school Azatuhi Ghukasyan. After the summer school program, Mrs. Ghukasyan didn’t rush to Samara and is still in the homeland.

In an interview with Hayern Aysor, the teacher talked about the problems and daily activities of the Armenian Sundays= school, the need to maintain an Armenian environment and the effectiveness of the “Diaspora” Summer School Program. 

Hayern Aysor: Azatuhi, it is my pleasure to see you again, and this time out of the scope of the “Diaspora” Summer School Program. Please tell us a little about the activities of the “Hayordats Tun” Armenian youth center of Samara and your mission.

Azatuhi Ghukasyan: The “Hayordats Tun” Armenian youth center, which is adjunct to the Holy Cross Armenian Church of Samara, is a real center for the preservation of the Armenian identity where I carry out my mission by teaching at the Armenian Sunday school. The youth center is under the auspices of the Church and is guided by the excellence of the Armenian apostolic pontificate. It is not by chance that our director is pastor of the Holy Cross Armenian Church, Fr. Priest Kirakos Aghoyan. We also try to provide the children with a Christian education with the conviction that the homeland and the Armenian Church constitute a unified power. We wouldn’t be able to carry out the process of preservation of the Armenian identity in its entirety and achieve outcomes, if it wasn’t for the Armenian Sunday school, which will be marking its tenth anniversary this year. The number of our schoolchildren is growing every year and reached 50 in the 2015-16 school year. We hired new teachers and now have a team of great professionals. The schoolchildren attend lessons on a regular basis and are engaged in the learning process. Of course, we also have our internal rules of procedure, according to which the child is dismissed in case of inexcusable absences for three consecutive years. As if the fact that the classes are held once a week isn’t enough, every absence has an impact on the child and makes the learning process ineffective. 

Hayern Aysor: I suppose an Armenian education is not just limited to classroom activities.

G.: Yes, you are right. Our students are very happy and excited to be members of the Varaga Song and Dance Group. Of course, the Armenian education would be incomplete without Armenian songs, dances and culture, and our major purpose is to our students have the attitude of an Armenian. I communicate with the children every day and feel that they want to receive that Armenian education and the “Armenian soul food”.

It is obvious that a lot also directly and essentially depends on the parents, who are also motivated and interested in preserving the Armenian identity. There are Armenian families that quickly adapted to the Russian environment and integrated quickly due to their jobs and daily activities, but we don’t spare any effort to help them all return to their Armenian roots, as well as to identify national values, make them recognizable and emphasize their importance. We try to show that a person becoming detached from identity becomes amorphous and loses the connection with his or her roots. In this sense, we especially need to work hard with the children. Even outside of the school, we continue to create an intimate environment and help them communicate, even by gathering in the park, playing Armenian national games and speaking in Armenian.

We also publish the Narek newspaper, which presents the activities of the Armenian Church, the “Hayordats Tun” Armenian youth center and the Armenian Sunday school, reflects on every cultural event and sheds light on our events. The newspaper’s editor is the Sunday school’s history teacher Aregnaz Khachatryan. 

Hayern Aysor: Azatuhi, many teachers of Armenian schools in Russia complain that Armenian is only used within schools and that schoolchildren mainly communicate in Russian. Why? How can this stereotype be changed?

G.: Yes, this is a current issue. The reasons vary. Sometimes it is simply more appropriate for the children to communicate in Russian, and sometimes their parents start speaking to them in Russian and improve their knowledge of the language. There are many reasons. After all, we are in a foreign environment with a different culture, language and morals. The teachers work endlessly to try to make Armenian the language of communication and awaken in them the awareness that the native language is the major attribute of an Armenian and that Armenians must speak in Armenian. In this case, a school plays a major mission. I would like to thank the Ministry of Diaspora for the textbooks and all the books without which it would be very hard to organize our lessons. Of course, we would also like to have a specific curriculum or three-year and four-year schools, but I must note that every teacher develops a program every year and organizes the lesson in his or her own way. Besides Armenian language, we also teach the children Christianity and Armenian history and try to provide them with a comprehensive Armenian education.

Hayern Aysor: Do the children wish to continue their education after the mandatory three-year education? Are there foreigners among them?

G.: At the end of the last school year, those who finished their mandatory three-year courses wished to continue their education. We created a group of translators who provide with more advanced education devoted to Armenian studies. There are young Armenians who wish to continue their education in the homeland.

The school is open for all ages. Our eldest student is 73-year-old Janna Tigranovna (that is how we refer to her). She was born in Georgia, lived there and moved to Russia, but she never managed to learn Armenian. She has taught German, and today, she is learning with the desire to be fluent in Armenian. We also have Russian students who also attend the lessons with great pleasure.

Hayern Aysor: You participated in the 2016 “Diaspora” Summer School Program. What did you get out of it?

G.: Of course, it was an effective training course. We gained new knowledge, met new people and established new contacts that will be very valuable for us in the years to come. The training course also provided us with an opportunity to understand that our school is on the right track in terms of organizing education and that we need to continue with the same spirit and new ideas. I would really like for the teachers of Armenian daily and one-day schools of the Diaspora to be divided into separate groups during the next Training Course for Teachers of Armenian Language and History and Organizers of Education. I think it will be more effective. The summer school program served as a wonderful platform for the exchange of new ideas, knowledge and experiences.

Hayern Aysor: Thank you, Azatuhi! May the new school year be more successful and may you implement all your plans!

Amalya Karapetyan

This year, the Training Course for Teachers of Armenian Language and History and Organizers of Education, which was part of the 2016 “Diaspora” Summer School Program, hosted teachers from different Armenian communities of the Armenian Diaspora who had a chance to exchange experiences, gain new knowledge, establish contacts and make helpful and cognitive visits and received more ideas and energy in the homeland. One of the participants was director of the “Hayordats Tun” Armenian youth center adjunct to the Holy Cross Armenian Apostolic Church of the city of Samara of the Russian Federation and Armenian language teacher of an Armenian Sunday school Azatuhi Ghukasyan. After the summer school program, Mrs. Ghukasyan didn’t rush to Samara and is still in the homeland.

In an interview with Hayern Aysor, the teacher talked about the problems and daily activities of the Armenian Sundays= school, the need to maintain an Armenian environment and the effectiveness of the “Diaspora” Summer School Program. 

Hayern Aysor: Azatuhi, it is my pleasure to see you again, and this time out of the scope of the “Diaspora” Summer School Program. Please tell us a little about the activities of the “Hayordats Tun” Armenian youth center of Samara and your mission.

Azatuhi Ghukasyan: The “Hayordats Tun” Armenian youth center, which is adjunct to the Holy Cross Armenian Church of Samara, is a real center for the preservation of the Armenian identity where I carry out my mission by teaching at the Armenian Sunday school. The youth center is under the auspices of the Church and is guided by the excellence of the Armenian apostolic pontificate. It is not by chance that our director is pastor of the Holy Cross Armenian Church, Fr. Priest Kirakos Aghoyan. We also try to provide the children with a Christian education with the conviction that the homeland and the Armenian Church constitute a unified power. We wouldn’t be able to carry out the process of preservation of the Armenian identity in its entirety and achieve outcomes, if it wasn’t for the Armenian Sunday school, which will be marking its tenth anniversary this year. The number of our schoolchildren is growing every year and reached 50 in the 2015-16 school year. We hired new teachers and now have a team of great professionals. The schoolchildren attend lessons on a regular basis and are engaged in the learning process. Of course, we also have our internal rules of procedure, according to which the child is dismissed in case of inexcusable absences for three consecutive years. As if the fact that the classes are held once a week isn’t enough, every absence has an impact on the child and makes the learning process ineffective. 

Hayern Aysor: I suppose an Armenian education is not just limited to classroom activities.

G.: Yes, you are right. Our students are very happy and excited to be members of the Varaga Song and Dance Group. Of course, the Armenian education would be incomplete without Armenian songs, dances and culture, and our major purpose is to our students have the attitude of an Armenian. I communicate with the children every day and feel that they want to receive that Armenian education and the “Armenian soul food”.

It is obvious that a lot also directly and essentially depends on the parents, who are also motivated and interested in preserving the Armenian identity. There are Armenian families that quickly adapted to the Russian environment and integrated quickly due to their jobs and daily activities, but we don’t spare any effort to help them all return to their Armenian roots, as well as to identify national values, make them recognizable and emphasize their importance. We try to show that a person becoming detached from identity becomes amorphous and loses the connection with his or her roots. In this sense, we especially need to work hard with the children. Even outside of the school, we continue to create an intimate environment and help them communicate, even by gathering in the park, playing Armenian national games and speaking in Armenian.

We also publish the Narek newspaper, which presents the activities of the Armenian Church, the “Hayordats Tun” Armenian youth center and the Armenian Sunday school, reflects on every cultural event and sheds light on our events. The newspaper’s editor is the Sunday school’s history teacher Aregnaz Khachatryan. 

Hayern Aysor: Azatuhi, many teachers of Armenian schools in Russia complain that Armenian is only used within schools and that schoolchildren mainly communicate in Russian. Why? How can this stereotype be changed?

G.: Yes, this is a current issue. The reasons vary. Sometimes it is simply more appropriate for the children to communicate in Russian, and sometimes their parents start speaking to them in Russian and improve their knowledge of the language. There are many reasons. After all, we are in a foreign environment with a different culture, language and morals. The teachers work endlessly to try to make Armenian the language of communication and awaken in them the awareness that the native language is the major attribute of an Armenian and that Armenians must speak in Armenian. In this case, a school plays a major mission. I would like to thank the Ministry of Diaspora for the textbooks and all the books without which it would be very hard to organize our lessons. Of course, we would also like to have a specific curriculum or three-year and four-year schools, but I must note that every teacher develops a program every year and organizes the lesson in his or her own way. Besides Armenian language, we also teach the children Christianity and Armenian history and try to provide them with a comprehensive Armenian education.

Hayern Aysor: Do the children wish to continue their education after the mandatory three-year education? Are there foreigners among them?

G.: At the end of the last school year, those who finished their mandatory three-year courses wished to continue their education. We created a group of translators who provide with more advanced education devoted to Armenian studies. There are young Armenians who wish to continue their education in the homeland.

The school is open for all ages. Our eldest student is 73-year-old Janna Tigranovna (that is how we refer to her). She was born in Georgia, lived there and moved to Russia, but she never managed to learn Armenian. She has taught German, and today, she is learning with the desire to be fluent in Armenian. We also have Russian students who also attend the lessons with great pleasure.

Hayern Aysor: You participated in the 2016 “Diaspora” Summer School Program. What did you get out of it?

G.: Of course, it was an effective training course. We gained new knowledge, met new people and established new contacts that will be very valuable for us in the years to come. The training course also provided us with an opportunity to understand that our school is on the right track in terms of organizing education and that we need to continue with the same spirit and new ideas. I would really like for the teachers of Armenian daily and one-day schools of the Diaspora to be divided into separate groups during the next Training Course for Teachers of Armenian Language and History and Organizers of Education. I think it will be more effective. The summer school program served as a wonderful platform for the exchange of new ideas, knowledge and experiences.

Hayern Aysor: Thank you, Azatuhi! May the new school year be more successful and may you implement all your plans!

Amalya Karapetyan