Epress.am News from Armenia
Persian (Farsi) is studied as a foreign language in 10 schools in Armenia. On Jul. 8, 25 students from these schools, chaperoned by 5 teachers, went on a tour of Iran, returning to Armenia on Jul. 16.
Persian language teacher of No. 100 school Mariam Poghosyan informed Epress.am the group travelled by bus to Rasht, Tehran, Isfahan and Tabriz.
“All this was sponsored by the Iranian side — the Iranian embassy’s cultural department. The purpose of the trip was to show the children what they’re studying. That is, it’s good to see it once than hear it a thousand times,” she said.
Epress.am also had a chance to speak with the children, who shared their impressions of the trip. Grade 6 students from No. 100 school Serei Barinyan and Meri Berberyan said they particularly liked Tehran.
“At night we went to a tower that was very beautiful. We went up to the highest floor from where the whole city could be seen. Then we went to Tabriz, we visited St. Tadevos [Armenian] Apostolic Church there, which he built with his own hands and where he died. We also went to… the birthplace of [Yeghishe] Charents. And then we went to the Caspian Sea, we walked around the beach, we rode a motorboat through a tulips marsh,” described Sergei.
“To tell the truth, we missed Armenia, but we saw new things there. In Iran, we went to the Ararat [Armenian Sport] Complex, where all the children were Armenian and we took photos with them and we gifted them with Armenian magazines. I learned many new things about Iran’s culture and history,” said Meri.
According to grade 11 student from Yerevan’s No. 78 school Arpi Mikaelyan, since they study Persian in school, this trip became an opportunity to practice what they learned.
“Because when everyone around you is speaking Persian, you become more fluent. This trip was interesting in the sense that students from both the lowers and upper classes were participating,” she said.
All the students said that they quite enjoyed the trip and they would like to go back again.
Note as well, the students met with Armenian members of Iran’s Majlis (parliament) in Tehran’s St. Sarkis Cathedral, to whom they had an opportunity to ask questions.
