The fourth-graders at school number 61 in Minsk attended an unusual lesson dedicated to the Year of Native Land, which was conducted in the Book Museum.
Each attendee at the museum class mused on what the “great” and “small” homeland meant, and tried to express their views and feelings: "Homeland is the country where I was born and live"; "It is small, because it's a little part of my great country"; "This country is mine, because my family, my friends, my home and my school are here..."
The kids also considered the Belarusian language as the treasure of the great homeland. "The mother tongue is the language of our ancestors, which connects humans with their nation and the previous generation". This point of view was confirmed by the exhibition "The Peoples of the World and Their Primers”. The children could see 1,400 primers in 587 languages, belonging to many different peoples in the five parts of the world. Each exhibit is a miniature encyclopedia, which in a clear and entertaining form teaches history, geography and culture of a particular nation. A special place is given to Belarusian primers of the 16th–21st centuries from the collections of the National Library of Belarus. Different in language, graphics and design, they show the 400-year old history of the Belarusian primer and the country itself.
The attendees also named the National Library of Belarus one of the homeland’s treasures and the symbol of the capital. School number 61 is located very close to the library, and it is perfectly visible from the library’s observation tower. The classes ended with a creative task when each participant created their original design of the country's main library.
