The modern method of learning the Abkhazian language for children was developed and presented by the Bagrat Shinkuba Charitable Foundation for the development of the Abkhazian language.
The Bagrat Shinkuba Charitable Foundation for the development of the Abkhazian language in Sukhum presented a new modern method of studying the Abkhazian language.
The director of the foundation Levan Mikaa said that the working group, which included famous teachers and specialists in the field of the Abkhazian language, had been compiling a textbook and methodology for over two years. The group was headed by a member of the Supreme Council of the WAC, Abkhazian linguist Viacheslav Chirikba (Chirikba is also the chairman of the Bagrat Shinkuba Foundation - ed.)
At the beginning, the specialists analyzed the existing effective methods for studying various languages of the world. The new program is specially adapted for the study of the Abkhazian language, and for children.
The impetus for the development of the technique was a study carried out several years ago. Then Viacheslav Chirikba, together with a group of specialists, analyzed the situation in the knowledge of their native language by children of preschool and school age. One of the main conclusions of the study was the fact that 70% of children in the towns of Abkhazia do not speak the Abkhazian language.
“The practice has developed that children who do not know the Abkhazian language are sent to a preschool institution together with children who know the Abkhazian language, so that the first ones can learn their native language. However, in practice, it turns out that those children who know the Abkhazian language switch exclusively to Russian. Therefore, we set ourselves the task of teaching children who do not speak the Abkhazian language, using a special method, “without mixing” them with children who know the Abkhazian language,” said Levan Mikaa.
The director of the foundation emphasized that the new methodology is aimed “specifically at children who do not speak the Abkhazian language”.
“We realized that we need to start by teaching children from the age of three. The technique is divided into three levels. The first one is designed for children of three to five years old. The first-level training complex is ready, and it will be introduced as a pilot project in some private kindergartens in Sukhum,” Mikaa said.
More than 150 children will participate in the pilot project.
The new methodology provides for an integrated approach, said one of the authors of the program, Lyubov Tsveiba. The training is based on a set of textbooks, including the main textbook for the teacher, where each lesson is planned step by step.
“We are launching the entry level, which consists of five books. One book for the teacher, the rest for children: class book, workbook, there is also a large storybook. They are all illustrated. There are audio and video tutorials. Studying them, a child draws, cuts, sculpts, which helps to consolidate the material covered. The entire educational process is built in a playful way,” said Tsveiba.
She added that the methodology is designed for training in a group.
“The group should be small, no more than 12 children. Only in this case our curriculum will give the desired result,” the specialist noted.
Viacheslav Chirikba, complementing his colleagues, told why it is effective to start teaching the language from an early age.
“We start at preschool age, as it is at the age of three or four that the language is laid. Further, we plan to prepare textbooks for children of early school age. Our methodology is indeed very thorough. It describes every action of the teacher: exercises, words and phrases, games, songs, drawing, various tasks. The learned material is regularly repeated both in exercises and in poetry, songs and on DVD,” said the group leader.
According to Chirikba, the specialists who worked on the method “hope for a good result.”
“Within a year, we will understand how the technique works. We are aimed at success. We hope that during the year children who do not know the language will be able to speak it,” said the scholar.
The Bagrat Shinkuba Charitable Foundation for the development of the Abkhazian language plans to continue developing new and effective approaches and techniques aimed at successfully teaching children the Abkhazian language.
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