Спілка жінок Херсонщини

Tomorrow, on 11 August at 3.00 p.m. the 12th lesson of the Ukrainian Language is going to be held at II queue of the mall “Fabrika”. This educational initiative, which was started by Kherson Women Union, has given every Kherson folk a possibility to advance his/her level of the state language proficiency in the interesting and accessible way. The only thing to do is to attend lesson and start learning. We have spoken to the teacher of these lessons – Lilia Vizhichanina – about the peculiarities of the lessons and “traps and pitfalls” of Kherson speaking environment.

Miss Lilia, what are they like these announced lessons of the Ukrainian Language? Everything is as at school?

Lilia: Our every lesson of the Ukrainian language consists of three blocks: lexis (increase of vocabulary), grammar (written grammatical correctness) and coping with Surzhyk (i.e. a mixture of the Russian and the Ukrainian Languages) – speaking. We base ourselves on the learners’ practical needs to be as effective as it is possible.

Which topics are more emphasized by the audience? What is the most difficult to cope with?

Lilia: The key problem of not only our audience, but Kherson speaking community as a whole, is coping with Surzhyk. We work with translations for people to master words-equivalents perfectly well. Special attention is paid to phraseological units for them to understand that they shouldn’t be translated word by word, but it is better to know the equal phraseological unit in Ukrainian.

Does the audience have specific fears?

Lilia: People have complexes very often. There is some fear that having started to speak Ukrainian, they just don’t have vocabulary enough. In such cases I always share checked methods of the language enrichment: to read books in Ukrainian and express thoughts with simple understandable sentences. This way they will always have words enough!

Support of the speaker is also very important. The learners say that they start speaking Ukrainian and turn to Russian very often just because the person you are talking to speaks Russian. We explain that even communication standards do not force anybody to switch to another language, if your talker understands you. Go ahead and speak Ukrainian!

And do you personally have any worries before the lesson?

Lilia: It’s a great responsibility. I am worried before each lesson that I won’t be able to answer any kind of questions. These worries are hollow, but I work myself up that I also learn the Ukrainian language every day. Knowledge is never too much, and our language is a rich one.

What is your favorite topic in the Ukrainian language?

Lilia: Adjective is the most precious part of speech. It is my favorite topic that opens a big fresh ground to work with. We practice making synonymic rows; investigate different shades of words of this row and share our thoughts when it is better to use them.

Also, I really love vocabulary. And my favorite topic is “cuisine”. We share different recipes, speak about our most delicious dishes, share interesting places to eat that we have visited. It’s a very positive topic, a lesson, dedicated to it, is very funny!

Your lessons take place at the biggest place of the mall. Do its visitors react to your vivid lessons?

Lilia: Of course, especially the young visitors keep watch over us. The learners invite people passing by to join us. These invitations are accepted in a positive way, sometimes they join us and ask their questions.

What do you recommend your learners?

To be more confident and not to be afraid of anything. As, if you really want something that much, you will definitely succeed!

At the end of our conversation, Lilia Vizhichanina wished Kherson Women Union success and prospering, and to every member – inspiration to fulfill all good projects. And also she invited us to visit next lesson of the Ukrainian language, the topic of which is happiness. Don’t miss it!