To preserve and expand the Armenian language and heritage in the United States, an Armenian church has provided new tools and ideas for Armenian-language educators.
On September 10, 2005, more than 70 educators from New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Rhode Island attended a symposium hosted and designed by the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America to give them direction, advice and resources to spread the Armenian language in their home parishes.
“Each one of these dedicated volunteers is passionate about our history and culture, and they are all working to see that the next generation of Armenian Americans continues to use our mother language,” said Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, primate of the Eastern Diocese. “They are giving their time and skills to teach our children and, for that, each one of them should be commended.”
Facing the challenge
One of the guest speakers at the symposium, Dr. Anny Bakalian, associate director of the Middle East and Middle Eastern American Center of the City University of New York (CUNY), outlined the numbers for the educators.
She said her research shows that the assimilation and the maintenance of ethnic identity are not contradictory – that it is not a zero sum situation. She spoke about immigration, integration in American society, and assimilation.
“It is impossible to find Armenianness meaningful or functional if young Armenian Americans are not taught to appreciate it,” Bakalian said, stressing that culture and traditions are taught, not imbedded in our genetic make-up. “Where is Armenianness nurtured? In the family, with grandparents, traditions and rites of passage.”
She told the educators that to be a “good Armenian” one must also be a “good American citizen.” The solution, she said, is to become bicultural, conversing fluently and comfortably in two worlds.
“The teacher is not an authority figure in the new millennium, but a coach to encourage,” she said. “Pedagogues have discovered that language is best taught when the child is eager to learn. It cannot be imposed by force.”
Celebrating 1,600 years
This year, local educators will be in the spotlight as the worldwide Armenian community celebrates the 1,600th anniversary of the creation of the Armenian alphabet by Mesrob Mashdots. During the symposium, Aram Arkun, coordinator of the Diocese’s Zohrab Information Center, outlined the historical and geopolitical background of the invention of the Armenian alphabet, detailing the evolution of the written word from pictures and hieroglyphics to cuneiform and, later, the Armenian alphabet.
Arkun highlighted the religious and sociopolitical motives for the invention of the alphabet, dealing in unfamiliar details and historical information that attendees said would prove useful in the classroom work.
Fr. Untzag Nalbandian, director of youth and education at the Diocese, spoke about the challenges teachers face and the importance of the collaboration between parents and teachers.
“While it is the parents, initially, who take their children’s hands and walk them to school, it is also the teachers who make sure the children are happy and learning at school,” he said.
Nalbandian elaborated on the educational programs being planned by the Armenian Diocese to celebrate the 1,600th anniversary of the alphabet.
Gilda Buchakjian-Kupelian, coordinator of Armenian studies at the Diocese, praised those long-time educators and stressed the role of teachers to be “the primary and most important factor in language learning.”
In her presentation, the new Armenian studies coordinator underscored the functionality of the Armenian language and suggested stylized, practical pedagogical methods to accommodate the student profiles of different age groups.
“We are as effective as our resources, especially our human resources,” she said. “Not only should we be concerned with training teachers, but we should focus on teacher preparation as well. After all, how we learn is as important as what we learn.”
Many efforts
The local parish Armenian schools are just one of the ways the Diocese is working to strengthen the Armenian language here in America. Through its Khrimian Lyceum, which opened on September 24, 2005, in New York City and is expected to open in Massachusetts, students who graduate from parish Armenian schools attend monthly classes in Armenian language, culture, history, and civic education.
The Diocese is also working to educate adults through its Mesrob Mashdots Institute, which offers weekly language classes at the Diocesan Center in New York City. Two classes with a total of 25 students began on September 21.
Plans are under way to prepare new teaching resources and outreach program to benefit all parish schools.
