Have I found the.....*gasp* the CURE?

[xBaron Dants]

Hye joghovoort...

By now, I guess you are all aware of my obsession with keeping the future generation of Armenians in the diaspora Armenian. Based on my observation, all three Armenian schools here in Montreal are failing miserably (with one of them pretty much transformed into a french-arab school) and the parents.....well.....no comment about the parents...

This is one of the reasons that pushed me into becoming a cub scout leader at AGBU this year. My "hidden agenda", if you will, consisted of waking these children up to the fun part of being Armenian (cliché maybe, but true), and not force feed them the same stories of killings and dead authors that they have heard for years. To give an example, 3 of my cubs presented my version of Tumanyan's Paregentan to the rest of the group.

The results? Pretty much everyone is noticing that the kids now speak a lot more Armenian than they used to, and not because they're forced to...but because it just feels more right. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND, one parent told my mom that her daughter took her Armenian CDs, and is now listening to them all the time.

So does this mean that there IS a cure? Do we just need major reforms in the schools to keep our following generations Armenian?

And does anyone have any other ideas as to what I can do? This is a subject that I find veeeeery very important, so any help would be much appreciated.

[Anonymouse]

Well, I have always been a believer in reaching out more on an individual basis than in mass psychosis efforts. You are correct in that teaching kids to be more Armenian in the institutional rhetoric is disheartening and often sucks them dry of any interest in Armenian. It becomes chore like, and we don't want that.

[patlajan]

Re: Have I found the.....*gasp* the CURE?

Originally posted by Baron Dants Hye joghovoort...

By now, I guess you are all aware of my obsession with keeping the future generation of Armenians in the diaspora Armenian. Based on my observation, all three Armenian schools here in Montreal are failing miserably (with one of them pretty much transformed into a french-arab school) and the parents.....well.....no comment about the parents...

This is one of the reasons that pushed me into becoming a cub scout leader at AGBU this year. My "hidden agenda", if you will, consisted of waking these children up to the fun part of being Armenian (cliché maybe, but true), and not force feed them the same stories of killings and dead authors that they have heard for years. To give an example, 3 of my cubs presented my version of Tumanyan's Paregentan to the rest of the group.

The results? Pretty much everyone is noticing that the kids now speak a lot more Armenian than they used to, and not because they're forced to...but because it just feels more right. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND, one parent told my mom that her daughter took her Armenian CDs, and is now listening to them all the time.

So does this mean that there IS a cure? Do we just need major reforms in the schools to keep our following generations Armenian?

And does anyone have any other ideas as to what I can do? This is a subject that I find veeeeery very important, so any help would be much appreciated.

I am afraid of you. Good thing you are a force for good.

[Darorinag]

Baron Dants, I commend you for all the good work you're doing in keeping Armenian kids Armenian. This is a very important issue, and not many people are willing to talk about it, because they can't see the problem. It's good that you do, and that you have done something positive towards it.

Good luck. You have all my respect and support (if that means anything).

[TJ]

good stuff baron jan. i have to agree with what you say.

I myself once considered going to Armenian school a chore, although the only part i liked was history. yet it was a pain in the ass. And we were always talking english and being reprimended by the teachers to no effect. i think when i actually graduated after 7th grade is when i finally started becoming proud of my language and culture and actually took pride in speaking Armenian and actually sitting my 5 year old cousin down and trying to give her a speech about why she should preserve the Armenian language. but it didnt work. she is really bad in Armenian. i htink its her parents fault. they were just so eager to learn english themselves that they spoke english at home all the time now the little kid can barely speak Armenian. she doesnt understand conjugations at all and mixes them all up. anyway. i sort of went off on a tangent there. keep up the good work bro.

[Darorinag]

I try to teach my cousin's 8 year old kid Armenian. He goes to an Armenian school, but he never ever does his Armenian homework and doesn't know how to read or write (the others in his class know, which is, I'm assuming, good). But alas, I myself am not great at Armenian, not having spoken it all that much at home, especially when it comes to writing, I find it awkward, I do speaking pretty well. But yeah, it's good to see people actually trying to change the situation. I see Armenian kids who know French and Arabic, and they don't know Armenian (well, one example is that our neighbour's wife is Lebanese, but the guy is Armenian, but his kids don't know Armenian). It's a shame, really. There is no excuse for that. No justification. I'm only half-Armenian, and I still know the language. I don't know. I guess we need to educate the parents first and foremost. That should make it easier to deal with the kids.