A small dictation

   In our modern world it is vital to properly educate the young generation and indicate the right path to follow. Yesterday I got a rare opportunity to take part in promoting literacy of children buy volunteering in "The National students' literacy contest" for 4th and 5th-graders. I was actually surprised to acknowledge later on that the event was organised by one of my classmates' parents.
As always, it was not easy to cut on my Saturday morning sleep and take an early bus to Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences but i had no other choice. After meeting the organizers a few hours later, the volunteers (there were only two of us at that point) were assigned to wait until the beginning of the exam. Almost an hour have passed when we finally could help.
   Firstly, Gabriele and I were asked to assist a teacher in proceeding the contest for 4th-graders. We handed out papers for each participant and sat there quietly in case someone would feel unwell and need our help while the text were being dictated. It was nostalgic to remember primary school times when I was the one being dictated to. After the "examination" was finished, students were gifted diplomas and souvenir pencils. They all seemed to be satisfied with the contest so far even despite the early time at which they had to get up so that to get to place in time. One girl even claimed to be woken up at half past five! What a dedication!
   Moving on to the fun part, right after the contest all the volunteers (five in total) rushed to help methodical group of teachers to correct the works of young minds. I didn't know what to expect as it was my first time attempting this kind job but it appeared to be one of the most interesting activities I have recently tried. At first I was slow at checking texts but it only got easier and easier with each work. However, at times it was pretty tricky to distinguish a mistake because some were thought as irrelevant and unimportant to be marked. This definitely forced me to be more attentive and precise. Collaborative work allowed the correction to be done effectively and quite quickly keeping in mind that each work had to be checked three times by different people. I truly value this experience as it taught me to not only the way to mark mistakes but to be more lenient towards others in different situations as well. I enjoyed the company of competent experts of Lithuanian language field as much as a cozy atmosphere created by them.

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