The 15th Gathering of students of Supply Teaching Lessons was held in Klašnice near Banja Luka on 11 and 12 October 2014.
The gathering was prepared by Union of Slovenian Associations “Europe Now” and this year’s event was organised by the Association of Slovenians “Triglav” Banja Luka.
Children and youth studying Slovenian in BiH always gladly meet. Students from Banja Luka and Slatina were in the company of students from Prijedor, Teslić, Tuzla, Sarajevo, Kakanj and Zenica, but we also had guests from Elementary School Bežigrad from Ljubljana.
On Saturday afternoon, students took part at literary, music, drama, fairy-tale and art workshops. We asked what was happening in a magic place and each group of children and youth offered their answers. Students in literary workshop noted down which place was magical for them. Their mentor was Slavica Pavlović.
Under the lead of Ingrid Djukanović students were looking for the most beautiful word in the magic place. Ana Pulko presented to her group national fairy tales from the book “Grandma tells stories”. Maja Rakun led the children in an art workshop which resulted in an interesting display of a magic place. One can hear songs in the magic place. Music workshop was led by Senada Begović.
Is Ljubljana a magic place? Barbara Hanuš borrowed from Elementary School Kašelj models of famous buildings of Ljubljana which had been made by students under the lead by Nina Kononenko. At the stage of the hotel one could see the Fortress of Ljubljana, Franciscan Church, Slovenian Parliament, Slovenian Philharmonic Building and Skyscraper.
In the magic place one cannot stay hungry. Dinner was under the care of participants to culinary workshop. They cooked under the lead by Barbara Pribožić Leka. There were 130 hungry mouths and they managed to feed them. They baked homemade bread, prepared cream and cheese, made pumpkin soup, goulash, Kranj sausage, pickled cabbage and potato salad. They did not forget the dessert – they made gibanica of Prlekija. Prior to dinner, children told us something about Slovenian cuisine and the importance of the dishes we all were thrilled to taste.
Young cooks presented themselves on Saturday evening while participants to other workshops did that on Sunday morning. In Beli dvor hotel one could hear Slovenian songs and words. We all agreed the most important thing was that children were active, that they socialised and created. Many of them organised a tour of Banja Luka prior to going back home.
We are happy that with us we had Tatjana Jurkovič from the Ministry of Education and Sport of the Republic of Slovenia, Eva Jurman from the Education Institute of the Republic of Slovenia and Janja Žitnik Serafin and Marijanca Ajša Vižintin from the Institute for Slovenian Migration at ZRC SAZU. Participants were also greeted by consul of the Consular Office of the Republic of Slovenia in Banja Luka Branko Zupanc.
Barbara Hanuš
