Week 1 (Nov 20-24) - Start of the Program

Monday

I stared my first full day at the school with my Mentor Marcin - I had a Polish lesson, i to była świetna zabawa😌

Then, I spent two hours in swietlica with Ula conducting a painting workshop for the children. I asked the students to recreate Monet's Water Lily Pond or at least gain inspiration from the famous masterpiece.

Photo by Ula

The iconic motif that artists often follow as well as numerous variations of the composition recreated by them and Claude Monet himself have made room for authentic interpretations, which is certainly helpful for children. Because of that, everyone was able to reach authentic results they were satisfied with and proud of while following some basic rules and recommendations I gave.

Then, I had an English class with the 7th grade. After I briefly introduced myself, Emilka suggested I share about the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and I delivered a speech focusing on my experiences, the disruption of social life, education, infrastructure, and the environment.

After that, I had another hour in swietlica, where children had the opportunity to create and present their individual works. Then, we tried some tabletop games, and my first day was finished.

Tuesday

On Tuesday, Emilia invited me to join her class' afterschool gathering.-

Photo by Emilia

There, we were mainly discussing the types of classes I can organize at the school, and I shared my ideas as well as my past materials and projects.

So, we decided that after my on-arrival training in Warsaw, I will focus on these classes:

• Art workshops: creating drawings, paintings, and handicrafts

• Thematic English classes: discussion-based lessons focused on various topics including social, scientific, technological, environmental, artistic, etc.

• Minecraft-based classes focuses on using the virtual platform for designing and recreating various structures and planning sustainable communities

Wednesday

On Wednesday, I spent several hours in swietlica, where I had English classes.

I was reading Peter Pan to the students while they were drawing. Then, we discussed the words and phrases which we found in the text.

Lastly, I had a visit to the mayor of Wasilkow at the city hall together with the principal. It was a nice and pleasant episode, which also concluded my first week at the school because on Thursday and Friday, I had a training by ANAWOJ, my lead organisation, with other ESC volunteers in Bialystok.