During September 1-7, 2022, a seven-day youth exchange “Eco-together” within the Erasmus+ programme was held on the island of Cyprus with the comprehensive support and assistance of one of the largest youth organizations on the island “YEU Cyprus” in partnership with the Donetsk regional youth public organization “Youth Initiative of the Cities”, led by Viktor Sipieiev. Active participants in this year’s youth exchange, dedicated to global and regional environmental problems, the growth of environmental awareness of Europeans, were proactive student youth from eight European countries – Ukraine, Cyprus, Croatia, Spain, Italy, Serbia, Lithuania and Austria, who shared the best practical experience in solving environmental problems in their own countries.
Students of academic group 301-HF, specialty 035 “Philology” of the Faculty of Philology, Psychology and Pedagogy of the National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic” Valeriia Dubovyk and Vladlena Demikhina became active participants in the project and represented our country at the international level. According to them, it was a unique opportunity to discuss current ecological problems with foreigners and try to find the best ways to solve them at the European level.
During the project, active young people learned a lot of new information about environmental awareness, shared the experience of implementing the best environmental practices in their countries, and improved their intercultural communication skills. In particular, the participants learned to identify similar and distinctive features between different European cultures, established a constructive dialogue among them, and were clearly convinced of the importance of using transcultural cooperation in the fight against environmental problems. During the cognitive training session, young people discussed issues directly related to the project’s topic, and the creative session involved active communication between the participants in international or national teams and the performance of various creative tasks.
“For me personally, this is the first successful experience of participating in a youth exchange. I am extremely glad that I still took a risk and participated in it, because before the project I had an internal language barrier – every time I spoke English, I was too anxious. Thanks to active communication with representatives of other cultures, where I constantly communicated with foreign students, I stopped worrying and significantly improved my own communication skills,” – shared the impressions of project participant Valeriia Dubovyk.
The hectic program of international exchange has traditionally not been complete without cultural evenings, where each national team had to tell about their country in an entertaining format. Translator-students of the Poltava Polytechnic gave an interesting presentation of our country, told various cognitive facts about it, presented symbols that shape Ukrainian identity. It is worth noting that representatives of Ukraine decided to once again remind about the difficult situation in our country and held a charity auction.
All the souvenirs brought by the girls from the Motherland were bought up by foreigners in a matter of minutes. In total, it was possible to collect 6,440 hryvnias, which have already been transferred to the charity fund “Fund for the Support of Families of Azovstal Defenders”.
“Before the start of the auction, we were very worried whether representatives of other countries would support our initiative, but we were pleasantly surprised when the participants actively joined, and all the offered lots quickly found new owners. We didn’t expect to be able to collect a fairly large money sum,” – said Vladlena Demikhina.
In general, the project was full of useful information and interesting events. In addition to studying, the participants had the opportunity to actively relax, an excursion to the capital of Cyprus – Nicosia became a delightful pastime. Young people immersed themselves in the unique atmosphere of city life, enjoyed the view of cozy streets with ancient houses, got to know local residents, and tasted traditional dishes.
“Such projects contribute not only to increasing the level of foreign language proficiency of our students, but also give them the feeling that they are part of a large European “family”, give new friends, inspiration and the desire to be more active, constantly study and grow professionally,” – commented Doctor of Philological Sciences, Professor of the Department of Germanic Philology and Translation of the National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic” Tetiana Kushnirova.
The participants of the youth exchange express their sincere gratitude to the organizers of the international project for the interesting experience and priceless emotions from intercultural dialogue and getting to know the country’s landmarks.
Previously, philology students mastered practical skills in the field of ecology and environmental protection, considered the problem of alcohol addiction and methods of combating it, increased the level of awareness of cultural diversity, and studied the problems of displaced persons/migrants as well as internally displaced persons.
Recently, three female scientists of the university spoke at the international conference “Chance for Science”, philologists of the Poltava Polytechnic conduct online courses of the German language for Ukrainians relocated to Germany, and the Head of the Faculty of Philology, Psychology and Pedagogy shared successful cases of training specialists, three female students of the Polytechnic passed a language intensive course in Germany, a master’s student-translator became a scholarship holder of the German DAAD program, another student studied at the Summer School of Polish Language and Culture from NAWA, and another became a facilitator of a youth exchange dedicated to the fight against hate and bullying.
Media Center of
National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic”
