The day before, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine held a meeting of foreign language methodologists of regional institutes of post-graduate pedagogical education on issues of teaching the subject in 2015.
According to Yuriy Kononenko, director of the department of general secondary and preschool education, high-quality teaching of children in foreign languages, in the context of European integration of Ukraine and approximation to European standards, is a priority of the Ministry of Education and Science. He also emphasized that today the activity of the Ministry is aimed at improving educational programs in various subjects, including foreign languages.
"The Ministry is looking for different approaches to ensure high-quality language learning for children. One of such non-standard approaches is the creation of foreign language summer camps," said Yurii Kononenko.
It is the quality of these camps that is important for the MES of Ukraine, not their quantity.
Oksana Kovalenko, chief specialist of the language policy sector of the Ministry of Education and Culture, discussed the principles of summer language camps and emphasized the difference between them and summer pre-school camps.
Foreign language summer camps are designed to encourage schoolchildren to practically apply knowledge of languages acquired during the school year, to create opportunities for communication in foreign languages.
"Participation in a language camp will help children to reveal their talents and gain experience in communicating in a foreign language. At the same time, the child's knowledge will not be evaluated as in school, and the child will perceive learning as a game," emphasized Oksana Kovalenko.
Also, issues of methodical provision of summer language camps were discussed. In turn, representatives of international organizations offered their own development of programs for foreign language summer camps and free trainings for their future teachers.
Taking into account all wishes and changes, in the near future Order of the Ministry of Education and Culture No. 89 of 02.03.2015 "On the implementation of measures for the organization of summer language camps" will enter into force, and the Ministry will develop methodological recommendations regarding the format, content and activities of language camps.
