Free English language classes have been organized in Our House for children of Belarusians in exile and Ukrainian war refugees. Over 40 children have studied English during this year.

All parents who love their kids want to give them all opportunities for their healthy and full-fledged development. Studying English from the very young age in our times is a necessity.

Unfortunately, Belarusians who had to flee their home country due to repressions of the regime of Lukashenka and Ukrainians who had to do the same due to the war unleashed in their homeland, often cannot afford to send their children to any language courses.

In cooperation with the international charity organization, the Salvation Army, Our House organizes free English language classes for children in Vilnius once a week. The teacher is Reyna, a volunteer from the Salvation Army; she is a native speaker.

A lot of specialists believe such method is the most effective, especially for kids. In order to communicate with a native speaker, one should quickly learn new words, and children are very willing to do that. Also, their listening skills improve a great deal.

English classes for children in Our House are not boring lectures, they are fun, full of laugh and interesting activities. The emphasis is put not on theoretical knowledge, but on development of skills of each child, and that arises their interest to the language. Classes are held in a game form, and kids enjoy them.

For example, at one of the classes, Belarusian and Ukrainian children together made gingerbread men, at another class they made butterflies and snowflakes to decorate a Christmas tree, at one more class they made presents for their parents and grandparents. At the same time, while doing all that, they are learning parts of the body, seasons, everyday words, and get immersed into the English-speaking culture. Kids learn a lot of words, used in everyday life and communication. In that manner, first of all, they are taught not to be afraid of the new language, because practice makes the uncertainty disappear very quickly.

Besides teaching the English language, classes also become a sort of a psychotherapy for the children, because they need a safe space where they can run, be very active and adapt in a form of a game, while subtly learning a foreign language. Another important thing is that they see very different people: Reyna is from Indonesia, so she does not look like Belarusians or Ukrainians. Thus, children see, that there are very different people in the world, and they are very friendly and treat each other with kindness and respect.

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