50 stories - Vanya Dyulgerova
25 July 2022 Events and Discussions
Melbourne
Teacher
I have been living in Melbourne, together with my family since 2002. Australia attracted us as a destination for migration with its official, clearly structured program for legal settlement of skilled professionals from all over the globe. Having arrived in this country on a skilled migrant visa and as a qualified teacher with two majors from Sofia University- in Preschool Pedagogy and in Bulgarian Language and Literature, I considered the opportunity to work in both of my professional fields that far away from my homeland as a lucky chance.
My professional practice as a teacher of Bulgarian Language in Melbourne marked its beginning in 2005 with the establishment of the first Bulgarian classes at the Victorian School of Languages, and it’s been magic ever since. I perceive teaching Bulgarian to children who are second and third generation migrants in Australia as a unique prospect to bequeath to these young people of Bulgarian descent the sacred language of their ancestors, and to share with students’ families the view of cultural integrity without borders. However, the most significant characteristic of my teaching work is rooted in my daily chance to contribute to the development of linguistic knowledge and cultural skills in all young people studying Bulgarian, who in turn will be able to create an amalgam of values for life, synchronizing language and distinctiveness of two cultures – these of Bulgaria and Australia.
The story is from the book “Bulgarians in Melbourne” (2017) from Radost Racheva, who is also author of the photographs, provided pro bono for the project.
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