Grade 5 students from St. Vladimir school visit UofA and engage with students from the "Slavic Folklore and Mythology" (SLAV 204) course. Congratulations to students and Dr. Kononenko on this successful university-community engagement event!
The students of SLAV 204, Slavic Folklore and Mythology, have spent the past semester reading Ukrainian, Russian, Polish, Serbian and other Slavic folktales, legends and songs and they have been using these to learn about beliefs and practices. On Friday, March 16, they shared their knowledge with the grade 5 students of St. Vladimir School. The St. Vladimir students spent the week at the University of Alberta through the USchool program run out of the Office of the Senate.
During their visit to the SLAV 204 classroom, the St. Vladimir students watched a video about the writing and the symbols of Ukrainian Easter Eggs (pysanky). They also saw a demonstration of doll-making (motanky) and heard how these faceless dolls are used to ward of sickness [see the journal entry by one student!!! in pictures]. Afterwards they had a chance to make their own dolls with the help of the SLAV 204 students. Some chose to work with our online egg colouring tool, again with the university student help. The third option was to listen to SLAV 204 students tell folktales.
Text from Study Ukrainian at the UAlberta's facebook page.