Let’s teach how to teach!
After almost 30 hours of travelling a group of 7 Ukrainians finally managed to come to Münster, Germany. From the 19th till 26th of October 2015 media professionals from Lutzk, Lviv, Kiev and Odessa were taking part in the media camp organised by Bürgerhaus Bennohaus and European Youth4Media Network.
It was a long travel. After hours of driving, after thousands of kilometres covered, participants from Ukraine could finally join the training in Münster. ‘The travel was maybe exhausting but worth it’ – admits Nataliya Kasyanenko, a young journalist from Odessa.
Two experienced media trainers from Germany took care of the atmosphere and the professional input. The aim of the meeting was to prepare Ukrainians to the role of a media trainer. ‘It was interesting on one hand to teach the guys without any pedagogical experience and on the another to tell the university teachers how different from their job, the role of a media trainer is’ – says Max Hafemann, a media trainer from Bürgerhaus Bennohaus.
The seminar contained workshops about communication rules, methods, trainer’s competences, teaching styles, evaluation, preparation and self-presentation. Each part of the theoretical input was supported by many practical tasks, games, discussions and energizers. One of the teachers from Kiev University - Olha Sukhomlyn – summed up: ‘I didn’t suspect that I will learn so many examples of games which would be so connected to the topic and which I could use at my university’.
The biggest challenge for the participants was the second part of the training. After the theoretical part, young Ukrainians needed to change the places with their trainers. Each of them prepared their own workshops and simulated the role of a trainer in front of the others. Thanks to this operation on one hand all received an additional input about journalism, radio, social media and video making and on the another the trainers could have checked how much everyone has learnt during the week. ‘I didn’t even imagine that it is so difficult to share my knowledge with the others. I am an experienced journalist but teaching it is something else’ – admits Tetiana Litvinova – a journalist of Espresso TV from Kiev.
During that busy week participants also had the opportunity to visit Münster and spend some time in the local restaurants and pubs. The highlight of the program was the intercultural evening where Germans and Ukrainians exchanged their national food, drinks and music.
This meeting was the second main parts of the project Citizens Media for Intercultural and Political Dialogue. During the first one in Kiev participants had possibility to learn about media: public relations and video making. That was the beginning of the preparation for creating a media centre in Ukraine which is the main goal of the project.
It is also worth mentioning that 8 additional participants from the Ukrainian delegation at the same time travelled to Ludwigshafen, where they took part in a media camp in order to develop their skills. The week was organised by OK Ludwigshafen.
The project is organised by AKO Bürgerhaus Bennohaus and Forum of Ukrainian Journalists with the partners: European Youth4Media Network, Institute of Journalism of the Kiev University and BVBam. Citizens Media for Intercultural and Political Dialogue is sponsored by The German Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Daria Jaranowska
