Kaunas Revisited

George Leute, now retired, was in the military and a former Administrator for International Education in Delaware County Community College. He and his wife Eileen participated in English Program at Kaunas University of Technology (KUT) three times.

The need for instruction in English by native speakers had long been known, well before Independence. Before Independence, contact with "Westerners" and travel to English-speaking countries were largely restricted. The need for English in engineering, business, and computers (whose language was primarily English), became increasingly important. The advent of the Internet further heightened the need for English. Now professors are reaching and teaching students from many countries in a common language Ö English!

George and Eileen Leute were returning for their third teaching program in Kaunas and their ninth overall trip in the Newly Independent States (NIS) of Europe. They had been there in June 1992; some eight months after the Soviet Union recognized Lithuania's independence. Though the first time for Patricia Stewart, she had presented similar programs before at Czech Technical University in Prague and at Slovak Technical University in Bratislava. Gregory had high school teaching experience in Jacksonville, and Bacot taught English and had library science experience. Both are well known in Jacksonville's Summer Shakespearean Festival and other theatrical presentations. Both also were participating in these programs for the first time.

The English Program consisted of 60 hours of classroom instruction and many hours of out-of-class contact in collateral experiences, such as filed trips, cafe conversations, cultural excursions, and invitations to homes and apartments. The program, which was coordinated by KUT's very capable Foreign Language Department, enabled KUT people of varying ages to participate in a concentrate period of immersion in both oral and aural English.

The program was designed to improve listening and speaking confidence, to build vocabulary, and to improve pronunciation. To a lesser degree, composition and writing were included. Class presentations included a variety of topics and approaches, including discussions, essays, oral readings, music, humor, American culture, business, and others.

As you would expect, the students were bright, eager, and serious about improving their English, providing an ideal teaching situation. The last hour of each week was used as a special program during which some sort of music with words was presented. For the last hour of the last day, during a concluding ceremony our teachers and five students spoke briefly. This was followed by the awarding of diplomas, champagne, cookies, much singing, and a thoroughly enjoyable, convivial experience.

In addition to the formal instructional program, there were two other contributions by members of our group. First, Patricia Stewart, who had had experience with adult education and continuing education programs, was asked to take part in an educational seminar. Her presentation was well received. Secondly, although Kaunas Tech's English teachers are excellent, they were still able to profit from a seminar presented by Eileen Leute. She stressed current idioms and provided opportunities for the students to ask any questions they may have about "American English". The seminar, which was also well received, lasted a couple of hours.

For those of us who had been in Kaunas in 1992 and 1994, there was much to observe in the way of change: much progress in transportation, the proliferation of cafes and restaurants, new shops, an abundance and variety of food, and other noticeable changes. Nowhere were these things more in evidence than in the resort city of Palanga on the Baltic Sea. No doubt, many problems remain, particularly for some groups like those on pensions and relatively fixed incomes. Though we were told about some crime, we saw no evidence of it.

Nevertheless, it was apparent that automobiles seemed to be parked in "safe" areas and parking lots.

What has not changed in our minds is the people we met, worked with, and those with whom we had reunions. As always, they were cooperative, warm, hospitable, and gracious. Also, they were very capable, cultured, and sophisticated Ö making them most comfortable to be with.

We all left Lithuania hoping that our work had been somewhat helpful. In the absence of such a program as ours, we would never have been able to have had such a truly worthwhile experience with our international colleagues and at such historical times!

MT. LEBANON SCHOOL CHILDREN AWED BY LITHUANIA

from the Lithuanian Citizens' Society Newsletter, June 1998

As a part of Catholic Schools Week, each class at St. Bernard's Catholic School in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania, was assigned one country to study. Miss Luann Wilding's 25 third graders contacted Frank Ziaukas to come and share his information about Lithuania.

Mr. Ziaukas, a retired librarian information specialist of the University of Pittsburgh, led an information-rich talk about the country from which his parents, Joseph and Anna, emigrated in 1913. He came to class laden with books, song cassettes, a video, artifacts, amber, sweatshirt and photo depicting the Zalgiris basketball team, and photo albums filled with Lithuanian cultural and landmark depictions.

The children expressed their fascination and awe with letters of thank you for Mr. Ziaukas's efforts. Miss Wilding asked him to hold on to his materials for future presentations for school children.