euskalkultura.eus

Barcelona, Catalonia.  HABE will teach a two-day teachers’ training workshop for Basque instructors in European Basque clubs, as part of its Euskara Munduan program.  According to information provided EuskalKultura.com, the initiative has been very well received, and there are fifteen teachers signed up for the workshop from the Basque clubs in Madrid, Valencia-Euskaltzaleok, Valencia-Vasco-Navarro, London’s Basque Society, as well as clubs in Berlin, Paris, and of course the hosting club Barcelona. 

As part of its Euskara Munduan program, HABE agrees to provide teacher training to Basque clubs and federations and this is part of that agreement.  This isn’t a new initiative: the Madrid and Barcelona Basque club teachers have participated in prior workshops provided by HABE, and more recently the teachers from Valencia and Mallorca have also taken advantage of the opportunity.  This year, the invitation was expanded to include other European clubs.

More than 600 students

The fifteen instructors enrolled teach more than 600 students among them, but the situation varies greatly from one club to another.  Workshop organizers have noted this and have dedicated the first day to sharing experiences with each other.  “They have a lot to offer each other, especially those with more experience, that introduce the others to activities that they use and initiatives that may work in the smaller clubs,” Kinku Zinkunegi, coordinator of Euskara Munduan, explained.

The second half of the workshop will be dedicated to various items of interest: how to work on vocabulary, how to include cultural content into the lessons, how to integrate students of different ages and interests into the group, HABE’s aptitude tests, and new additional online sources (the new Ikasbil).