ICAN SCHOOL

Final session of the course
LCA together with Aha, slovenčina!

On January 13, 2023, the final lesson of the course was held, which was prepared for teachers teaching Slovak as a foreign or second language by experts from the iCan language school and certified teachers of the innovative Learn & Lead method in cooperation with the Association of Language Schools. The individual lessons of the course were focused on developing the skills of teachers to take into account the needs of the student in the teaching process, as well as effective work with the textbook Aha, slovenčina!
The professional guarantor of the course was prof. Gabriela Lojova, PhD, professor at the Faculty of Education at Comenius University, who opened the course in the first lesson and evaluated its contributions in the final lesson.

The completion of the course took place in a hybrid form, some of the participants were present in person at the premises of the iCan language school on Panónska cesta, while others were connected online. At the beginning, everyone was congratulated by the expert lecturer of the course Mgr. Sonya Petrashova. Greeted by prof. Loeva and co-author of the course PaedDr. Yana Chynoradska.

At the final lesson, we listened to the reports of six teachers who signed up for the course and passed it. Each of them in his speech focused on evaluating the benefits of the course. We gradually got acquainted with the methodology of work in the classroom in diverse groups of children learning Slovak as a foreign language. The teachers vividly presented to us what they encountered in the lessons of the Slovak language, how they tried to motivate the children, get them interested and keep their attention. How we worked with the textbook Aha, slovenčina! using the exercises in the textbook and workbooks related to the textbook. Each speaker was given 20 minutes to report. There was room for questions after the presentation and an interesting discussion ensued around each presentation. Each presentation was evaluated in terms of fulfilling the requirements contained in the LCA method to approach the needs of the student, professional guarantor prof. Salo. Gradually, during the presentation, teachers from different parts of Slovakia who work in primary schools or teach Slovak as a foreign language in language schools: Grabovska, Sedlyakova, Petukhovskaya, Gashkova, Dubovska and Bernat.
With their presentations, the graduates of the course confirmed that the course (course size - 30 teaching hours) was of great benefit to them. From Professor Loev, the graduates of the course received valuable advice on what else to focus on, as well as gratitude and encouragement to continue the direction they had begun.

The course just completed was a pilot course, and its progress, final lesson and evaluation of the course contribution filled us with optimism that there is interest among educators in such a course. Therefore, we plan to continue this trend and again organize a similar course in 2023 for our teachers.