Forum in Portugal to discuss innovative teaching methods in Bulgarian Sunday schools abroad

University of Lisbon, 14-16 March 2024

published on 3/9/24 8:05 AM

Photo: Bulgarian School "Slovo" in Oxford

How artificial intelligence can serve as a valuable tool for history teachers, and how innovation can transform the study of Bulgarian history and geography into an engaging journey through time and space for Bulgarian children abroad? In what way is the connection with the Bulgarian public media essential for the promotion of Bulgarian Sunday schools worldwide? These and other questions will be addressed at a specialized forum in Lisbon scheduled for March 14-16 this year. The event is organised by the Ministry of Education and Science in cooperation with the Portuguese-Bulgarian Association "Sts. Cyril and Methodius" and the Bulgarian Sunday School of the same name in Lisbon. Partners in this endeavour are the Association of Bulgarian Schools Abroad (ABBS), the University of Plovdiv "Paisii Hilendarski" and the University of Lisbon, which will host this event.

Vice-President Iliana Iotova is patron of the

So far, 60 participants from 15 countries have registered for the forum "Innovative Methods and Materials for Teaching Bulgarian History and Geography in Bulgarian Schools Abroad". Its patron is Vice-President Iliana Iotova, who is also expected to attend.

And while the efforts of both the Ministry of Education and the Sunday schools have so far focused mainly on teaching Bulgarian in a foreign language environment, the focus is now shifting to history and geography - the other two compulsory subjects for Bulgarian schools abroad. In an interview with Radio Bulgaria, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Adriana Lyubenova, a lecturer at Plovdiv University and a member of the board of the Association of Bulgarian Schools Abroad, explains that the problems with teaching the two subjects are not easy to solve.

"According to a survey we are currently conducting, more than 64 per cent of the children studying in Bulgarian schools abroad were born outside Bulgaria. For them, Bulgaria is a country they learn about at school or visit for a few days in the summer. One of the examples I give is from Cyprus. When I visited the Bulgarian school in Paphos, I asked the first-graders to make a painting of their idea of Bulgaria. One of the children drew a building block with a balcony. Because in Cyprus they live in a house and in Bulgaria the grandparents live in an apartment in a tall building, the child was impressed. That was his idea of Bulgaria. And that's why we decided to do this forum, because there really is a great need.

The keynote of the Lisbon Forum will be very practical. For example, Dr Valentina Alexandrova from the Ivan Stanchov School in London will present the history teaching materials that she herself has developed and implemented; Milena Dimitrova, Chairperson of the Public Media Council of the BNR, will talk about the role of Bulgarian public media in promoting the cause of Bulgarian Sunday schools; and Boris Mihaylov - a PhD student at the Paisii Hilendarski University - will present the Bulgarian artificial intelligence BgGPT and the possibilities for assisted teaching of Bulgarian history. What can artificial intelligence do for Bulgarian history teachers abroad?

"Artificial intelligence is more of a tool which can be used by the teacher to create different interactive materials that the children will find interesting. For example, it can be used to create interactive maps, augmented reality and anything else that would make history and geography more exciting for children. It's very difficult to teach because it doesn't have the cross-curricular relevance that children in Bulgaria have. Because when you explain a work of literature, the child has no idea where the action took place, why it happened in the context of the story and what life was like at the time. There are wonderful opportunities to create different visual materials and quizzes that make the teacher's job easier. For instance, he or she can quickly create an interactive quiz to give to the children and very quickly check what they have learnt from the lesson.