"Rechenitsa" - learning Bulgarian in the rhythm of modernity

On the threshold of the new school year and before the summer vacation of the Bulgarian MPs, talks of legislative changes in the education system of the country started again. At the end of July, the ruling party Progressive Bulgaria proposed changes to the Preschool and School Education Act, which are aimed at early identification of language problems among students, improving language integration, developing moral, social and civic competencies and introducing lessons on virtues and religions. The proposed amendments provide for standardized tools for assessing language skills upon entering kindergarten, at the end of preschool education, upon enrolment in first grade, as well as upon return from abroad or for children with international or temporary protection.

During the new plenary session of the National Assembly, the proposals will be discussed at the committee level and if the changes are adopted they could enter into force in the 2028-2029 school year.

The teaching and learning of Bulgarian as a second and foreign language, the methods and tools for support in today's reality were also discussed within the framework of the 19th edition of the Annual Conference, organized by the Association of Bulgarian Schools Abroad at the end of July in Sofia. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Venera Mateeva-Baycheva - lecturer in Bulgarian as a foreign language in the Department of "Bulgarian as a Foreign Language" of the Faculty of Slavic Philology at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" told the attendees about the "Rechenitsa" project - an integral system for teaching Bulgarian as a foreign language. The system is aimed at everyone for whom Bulgarian is not their mother tongue, including foreign students studying at Sofia University, as well as Bulgarians living outside the country, including students from Bulgarian Sunday schools from the age of 12 and up, or after the 5th grade.

"It includes individual elements that can be used both independently and connected. Their main goal is to create learning models in which communicative competence is achieved, i.e. students can easily and quickly enter into communication in Bulgarian in our environment. We are working on creating textbooks that will be aimed first at our foreign students, but in fact we know that we are creating textbooks that will be widely used around the world in different environments.”

The teaching materials include a variety of texts – stories, news, brochures, instructions, timetables and forms, selected according to the language level and communicative goals. Methodological guidelines are also provided for teachers who teach Bulgarian at university or school level around the world.

"Level A2 is the level of Bulgarian language expected by our official authorities," she says.

The teacher told Radio Bulgaria that the new textbooks for levels A1 and A2, which they will use to teach Bulgarian as a foreign language, have already been created within the framework of the "Rechenitsa" project by linguists at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski". Their content was also discussed during the 63rd Summer Seminar on Bulgarian Language and Culture, which took place from July 12 to August 1 at Sofia University. After the test period is completed and the necessary corrections are made, they are expected to be printed by the University Publishing House in September.

A multilingual thematic dictionary has also been developed for levels A1 and A2, which contains over 1800 words in Bulgarian, English, German, Russian and Czech. The dictionary includes thematically organized vocabulary, the most frequently used etiquette formulas, word combinations and applications and is intended both for work in a learning environment and for practical communication.

In the next academic year, textbooks for higher language levels will also be developed. "This is a big event for us and our community of Bulgarian studies scholars, because the university's last edition was from 2014," Assoc. Prof. Baycheva says. During her presentation and within the framework of the Annual Conference of the Association of Bulgarian Schools Abroad it was once again noted that studying Bulgarian language can happen as learning a second or a foreign language, but also as a form of a heritage language.

"This term "heritage language" has been introduced in recent years and it has already been mentioned several times that our Sunday schools have students who are second and even third generation migrants, i.e. the language now remains even as a second one for the parents of these children. This is the heritage language in the family, but this language is not active as they communicate among themselves, in their everyday life in another already acquired first language. This terminology - first language, second and heritage language, is not completely clearly defined in our scientific theories, but the distinction comes along the line of the frequency of use. In fact, here the colleagues from the Sunday schools have their enormous contribution, because even in the position of heritage language, Bulgarian is a wealth for the growing children with Bulgarian roots and Bulgarian origin."

Methodologically and organizationally, the differences in studying Bulgarian as a second, foreign or heritage language are not great, Assoc. Prof. Baycheva says. That is why she and the team of scientists from the "Rechenitsa" Project used the experience of their predecessors in teaching Bulgarian as a foreign language as a base, but they weave this methodology and theory into the new situations of today.

"And we do this with the knowledge of the mission we have for all people who would like to speak Bulgarian well. No matter whether these will be foreigners who have come to our country to study or work, whether these will be people who have lost direct contact with the Bulgarian language and do not live here, or whether these will be the children of families from Bulgarian minorities. We believe that we could create models by which the Bulgarian language will be active as the official language of our country," Assoc. Prof. Baycheva says.

In conclusion, she says that "the Bulgarian language is not easy, but it has its inspired ambassadors around the world who do not stop doing what is necessary to make it more popular for studying and to make speaking pragmatically easier. And our language is already gaining serious popularity."

The "Rechenitsa" Project is indefinite and will be completely open to all users, because its mission is such - for Bulgarian speech to sound everywhere in the world where it is needed.