Hans Christoph Pocha's One Month in Armenia

Within the framework of the «Gagarin Project», Mr. Hans Christoph Pocha, a retired teacher of foreign languages from Germany, spent the November of this year in the newly opened teacher's house in Ddmashen. The purpose of his visit was to help teachers of foreign languages in Gagarin, Ddmashen, Geghamavan, Tsaghkunk, Zovaber and Varser schools to apply new advanced methods of teaching in their daily work.

In a video created by the Armenian Volunteer Corps, Mr. Christoph Poch admits that after his retirement, he wanted to return what he had gained through work experience, what he had learned and accumulated. So, out of the trio "learn, earn, give back", the video talks about giving back.

Before watching the video, I want to make one more observation. Germans are generally reserved in expressing their feelings openly. That is why they make an impressive impact when they want to express an emotional stance with a sort of restraint characteristic of them. In the video, there are a few seconds of footage of Hans Christoph walking alone to the Ddmashen school with his backpack, which was an integral part of those days. The shots are accompanied by his words. "I am deeply convinced that these places cannot be forgotten. People here deserve respect and appreciation. They also deserve the attention of the Center."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOmQTIRRKcM&t=2s 

Hans Christoph Pocha's visit to the EduComplex

When he had already finished his mission with the "Gagarin" project in Gegharkunik Province, our German friend's visit to Yerevan coincided with the annual "Harissa Ritual" celebration at the educational complex on November 26. He participated with love and interest in the ritual, beginning from the harissa blessing in Holy Trinity Church, to the harissa tasting and tour about all our schools. Over the years, I have been to our junior schools many times and it seems that I know everything, but it is a completely different feeling and perception when Ashot Bleyan is the guide, and it is an amazing experience for a guest-educator. Mr. Christoph kept asking: "Is this your idea?...and how do you raise the funds?...do you have wealthy benefactors?...and do you have the labor force?..."

Our guest was going to stay at the Northern School-garden Education Exchange accommodation until December 1st. Thus, he would spend three working days at the High School of the educational complex, and I made the program of open English lessons.

According to the lesson plan, the 10th graders (teacher Angela Movsisyan) were supposed to talk about the books they had read recently, but everything went differently, which was even more impressive. They started asking our guest questions. The questions were logical and in competent English. The answer to one question begat another. The questions were about literary genres, philosophy, the German education system and the status of a teacher in that country. Here is a video of that interactive training session.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK9DzCWi8ZA 

The 11th graders of Silva Harutyunyan held an interesting debate on the topic "Gender Equality". Mr. Christoph also joined the debate. Examples were given from family life, work relationships, discriminatory pay of women and men, degree of involvement of women in the government and legislature, marital relationships based only on love.

In the 6th lesson, the 10th graders were waiting for us with their English teacher Irina Apoyan. They presented their "Mock Trial" project. When the class was over, I asked Mr. Kristoff if he felt the effectiveness of project-based learning. He replied that it is very impressive, unique.

The training session on November 29 with the 12th graders was challenging (teacher: Nune Aydinyan). We agreed with Hans Christoph that he would propose the topic of discussion for the day at the beginning of the class. Everything had to be impromptu. And he suggested: "Do Armenians consider themselves Europeans or Asians?" The discussion was heated. We talked about art, literature, music, folk traditions, national holidays, rituals, and we never came to a final unanimous conclusion. it was interesting.

At 2:30 p.m., a meeting-discussion between foreign language teachers and Mr. Christoph took place in the High School reading room. He expressed the opinion that not only the communicative abilities of the students in English, but also their horizons, worldview and broad-mindedness were more than what he expected.

On the night of Thursday, December 1st, our German friend left for Germany, taking with him his impressions of memorable November. Here is an excerpt from his letter to me yesterday: …At the end of this year, I look back to my months in Armenia. Especially the stay in November was an enriching experience for me. I can only hope that I was able to make an impact with my project. But I am absolutely sure that I have made new friends in your country. That makes me very happy indeed…