Hogy vagy? and Trevligt att träffas

European Days

The European Days were organized by the Consell Comarcal de l’Alt Urgell and the Oficina Jove, with the collaboration of some educational establishments, as INS Joan Brudieu, or the language school Escola Oficial d’Idiomes, from the 6th till 14th of May.

07th May, Friday: we had two guest volunteers from Tarrega: Susi from Germany and Betty from Sweden, who has Ethiopean origin. So we presented four countries/cultures in the Oficina Jove: the German(by Susi) the Swedish (by Kim) the Ethiopean (by Betty) and the Hungarian (by me). We spoke about our countries, our traditions and our languages. After the presentations the participants could taste the traditional foods that we cooked.

9th May, Monday: we held 10-10 minutes long presentations about our countries in the local high school, for sixteen- and later for seventeen-year-old students in the morning. On the afternoon our guest volunteers went home and we continued the day together with Kim. Finally we held our presentations in the language school for adults. We could also learn some Swedish and some Hungarian from each other. For example:

ENGLISH	SWEDISH	HUNGARIAN
How are you?	Hur mår du?	Hogy vagy?
Nice to meet you	Trevlight att träffas	Örülök,hogy megismerhetem
Hello	Hej	Szia
Goodbye	Hej då	Viszontlátásra
I love you	Jag älskar dig	Szeretlek
Thank you	Tack	Köszönöm
Sorry	Főrlåt	Bocsánat

11th May, Wednesday: we went to Oliana and held presentations for students at the local high school. Both the teachers and the students were very kind. I’m looking forward to work together with them on another project later.

13th May, Friday: Although this Friday was the thirteenth day of the month, it wasn’t an unlucky day for us. How could it be? We went to a village with the name of Sort, that means lucky in Catalan. We spoke about both our countries and EVS. I was surprised, because one of the boys knew some Hungarian words and two of the girls have already been to Hungary. :)

Experiences of the week

Through these experiences I could learn a lot about oration.

However, there weren’t a lot of people on Friday, that day was the hardest, a real challenge, because our audience was a group of teenager boys. I think the hardest is to show something exciting for youngsters in this age. But some of them were really interested, I felt sorry that I couldn’t communicate with them later because of the language difficulties. (Unfortunately I don’t speak Spanish yet, my presentation was translated from English – special thanks to Elena.) Later there were some more people and some younger children who came in and tasted our foods. I liked mostly the wondering face of the children, when they tasted something new and unknown for them. The conclusion of the day that we have to show more videos, more musics and the best is if you have Powerpoint presentation.

In the high schools it was much easier. There were teachers who gave information to the students previously, so they knew what to expect and what to ask. Some of the classes enjoyed it a lot, they had questions and they were interested in EVS.

Unfortunately, I could see the differences between teenagers and adults later, after we’ve held our presentations in the language school. I think it could have been better, if I had spoken more about everyday life for adults. For example, about prices or earnings in Hungary, because on that way they could see the differences between our countries.

It was a great experience for me to see and learn how difficult is to held presentations for people in different ages. (Even if it seemed very simple, and I haven’t thought that I should do it differently.) I learnt about other countries and cultures and this whole week was a good practice of giving a lecture.:)