EVS prostovoljec Roni je bil povabljen v OŠ Spodnja Idrija, v 6. razred, kjer se je z učenci pogovoril o jezikovnih ovirah. Pri tem pa je izpostavil, kako pomembno je, da se trudimo govoriti v jeziku, ki je poznan vsem, pa čeprav je to neverbalna komunikacija. Prav tako jim je želel sporočiti, da ni prijetno, če si izključen iz družbe, samo zato, ker ne govoriš istega jezika.

Več o sami izkušnji pa je zapisal tudi sam [zapis je v angleščini]:

"On Monday 1^st of October I gave a class in Spodnja Idrija elementary school for 6^th graders about importance of communication with those who don’t speak the language of the majority. When I first heard the topic of this request from the school I was excited, because this was exactly what I’ve also been struggling with and I could put my knowledge of the issue to a test.

The class has one student from another country and other students were having difficulties with communication, thus excluding her, without intent to do so - of course. So, it was my job to tell them about the importance or at least trying and maybe even give them the tools to do so. The original plan was to have the class (or at least parts of it) in Finnish, but I felt that my skills in drawing and body language were not good enough to explain the fine workings of communicating without language, so I decided to present myself in Finnish and have the other parts in English. I also chose to divide the lecture into four parts: my story and introduction, eye contact, body language and mime and guidance through touch.

1^st activity - My story and experiences with language barriers. This was mostly done by a normal lecture method of me speaking, first in Finnish but later changing into English, and the students were listening. Here I told them about how a human is tribe-oriented creature and will feel bad if left outside the group.
2^nd part was about the importance of eye contact. I used a more active style of teaching this. After introduction to the matter we went outside the classroom to play a game that focused on this subject. In a big circle the students were told to switch places whenever they made eye contact with others. After a noise complaint we decided to move back into the classroom and move on.
3_^rd part focused on body language and mime mixed with simple words. Everyone chose a partner near them and tried to communicate what they needed (a pencil, paper etc.) only through mime. This worked out pretty well and I hope the kids understood that spoken language is only a part of communication. I also emphasized that everyone speaks “body language”, but we’re not attuned to read it like normal language. After a while of speaking mime the students caught up that this also needs practicing like any other language.
4^th part focused on sense of touch. After introduction we split in pairs and the other pair closed their eyes and the other guided them through the classroom while avoiding obstacles. Hilarious moments ensued, and laughter was not short.

I hope that my class gave them some tools and courage to take contact with foreign girl. There were several teachers in the room following my class and taking notes. Especially my method of making the class concentrate on me by echoing claps was met with “O.O” – I was pretty happy about that :)
After the class one student came to me and told that he really liked the class and the active style of teaching. I hope the teachers also learned something new and would implement active methods in their teaching, although they probably already do, but there’s always room for some kinesthetic learning as sitting down mostly caters to auditive and visual learners.

EVS and village (circus) idiot
Roni Jernfors"