Summer Camp in Slovenian countryside, Veronica Smrdel Oct. 2011, Misli, Melbourne
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29 misli | september - oktober 2011 This year we celebrate 51 years since Pater Bazilij initiated Sloveni- an language classes for children at our Slovenian Mission in Melbourne. Over the years, Slomškova šola has provided the opportunity for many children of Slovenian background to connect in some small way with their heritage. It has provided the opportunity for children to hear the language, participate in Slovenian traditions such as singing, dancing and liturgical celebrations, become familiar with Slovenian culture and most importantly build friend- ships with other children who also have a Slovenian connection. Over the years, with changing pedagogical practice in schools and a generation of ‘Slovenian’ students further removed from their heritage, it has become increasingly important to explore alternative ways ofhelping to make ‘Slovenia’ and Slovenian language relevant/real to the new generation of students. With this intention, two years ago, a group of par- ents from Slomškova šola expressed an interest in taking their children to visit Slovenia and so began the process of planning a ‘Slomškova šola excur- sion’ to Slovenia. This year in June/July, six families and ten students travelled on a family holiday to Europe with the plan of meeting in Slovenia between the 10 th -16 th July. The intention was to leave their children for one week in a summer school in the Slovenian country- side where the children would be given the oppor- tunity to: explore Slovenian culture and traditions, participate in some language instruction and meet, learn and build friendships with other Slovenian born children of similar age. Our aim was to find a program based around the pedagogical principles most similar to education practice in Victoria so as to enable our students to gain the most from theirexperience. As the students travelling overseas were aged in range from 4-16 years, it was also im- portant to find a program to meet the different spe- cific needs of the students within this age group. Therefore, all children aged from 4-12 years at- tended “Guzajeva poletna pustolovščina na deželi” in the Kozjansko region of Slovenia and during this time one student also attended a youth summerschool (for older students) run by the department of Slovene studies at the University of Ljubljana. “Guzajeva poletna pustolovščina na deželi” began on Sunday morning at 10.00am with the celebration of the holy mass by Pater Ciril at the church of St Ann in Prevorje. This was the location were our students were to spend the next six days. Following this, we were given a tour of the lo- cal area before we sat down to a traditional Slovenian lunch in a ‘Domača kmetija’. The afternoon was spent visiting the home of Anton Martin Slomšek and learning more about the man whom our Slovenian school was named after. In the late evening we arrived at the school where each parent helped their child settle into their new home for the next six days. The theme of the camp was centred around the Slovenian legend of ‘Robin Hood’ who it was claimed lived in the region. He took from the rich to give to the poor. Every day was spent walking the vast hills and forests of the village of ‘Lopaca’ in Prevorje, learning about the Slovenian countryside and at the same time searching for ‘Guzaj’ who it was believed still roamed the forest, fields and hills of the area. Twe nty students including five ‘supervisors’ slept in sleeping bags in a large gymnasium in ‘Osnovna šola Prevorje’. Every day was full of activities. Each morning the children would be ‘awoken’ to a tra- ditional Slovenian children’s song, before getting dressed and going outside to do some exercise. Every day after breakfast we went for our daily ex- cursion into the countryside. We explored the for- A summer school in the Slovenian countryside Aleksandra Borštnar Maček, župan Marko Diaci in Veronika Smrdel Roberts v Sloveniji.
