Pupils Learn About the Tsar Fish of the Mezen River

Announcement of the results of the district contest among the methodological developments of lesson or out-of-school activities on the topic “Tsar fish – Mezen salmon” has been held in the secondary school of the Glotovo village. The contest has been conducted by the Silver Taiga Foundation jointly with the Department of Education of the municipal district “Udorsky” within the frameworks of the “Model river Mezen” project.

The contest announced at the end of the last academic year was aimed at drawing the schoolteachers’ attention and through them the attention of their pupils and youth to the values and problems of the Mezen river. According to the organizers, the study of the peculiarities and condition of such flagship species of the Mezen ichthyofauna as the Atlantic salmon (salmon) will promote the extension of the pupils’ knowledge about the fish resources of the Mezen river basin in general and traditions of the respectful and responsible attitude to the river and its resources which play a huge role in the life of the people. It was also important to direct attention of the pupils to the current state of the species and the reasons of its degradation, as well as the conditions and possible ways for its restoration.

The pupils of the Vazhgortskaya school preparing for the quiz contest about salmon

Thirteen teachers from four district schools have taken part in the contest. They have presented their methodological developments – lessons and out-of-school activities outlines with supplements – hand-outs, posters, presentations, etc.

The best out-of-school activity on the topic “Tsar fish – Mezen salmon” has been prepared and presented by the group of teachers and pupils of the Glotovo village secondary school (Director of the school Anna Aleksandrovna Kryazhevskaya, Deputy Director for educational work Anna Aleksandrovna Politova). The teachers from other villages of the district having arrived for the final activity of the contest were pleased to have a look at the results of the team creative work of the teachers and pupils of this school. Both the authors’ creative approach to the development of the topic and interactive methods – with involvement of the participants of different age into the discussion and practical activity, as well as use of the local materials, and availability of the intersubject communications were present here.

The pupils of the Vazhgortskaya school preparing for the quiz contest about salmon

Nobody was bored at the event and everybody has got a chance to demonstrate his/her contribution to the theme development. The kids have presented their painted models of the “Young ichthyologist” badges, the 5-6th graders have wonderfully staged the “Legend about the last salmon” created by them before, and the 11th graders have prepared a meaningful and visually compelling presentation about the “queen of the Mezen expanses”. All together the audience has enthusiastically solved riddles, crosswords, and conundrums on the topic of the evening prepared by the pupils of the 7-8th graders. The 10th graders have developed and gifted booklets on the salmon protection to all meeting participants and the 9th graders have arranged a huge information stand about salmon preliminary exposed in the school lobby and prepared a quiz. That’s the participation of all school in the common creative work which determined the contest results.

The judges of the contest have given the second place to the Komi language teacher from the village Chim Yanina Yuryevna Lagushkina for the development of the journey game “Tsar fish – Mezen salmon”. An undoubted advantage of this work was an extensive involvement of the local material including the recollections of the old-timers, legends about the tsar fish, songs about the Udora and Mezen.

The teachers of Biology and Geography of the Usogorskaya and Vazhgortskaya secondary schools – Ekaterina Nikolaevna Pokrovskaya and Irina Anatolyevna Klishch got the diplomas for the third place in the category “The best out-of-school activity”.

The Russian language and literature teacher from the village Chim Olga Aleksandrovna Tselya, the author of the methodological work presented in the category “The best lesson” (unfortunately, it was the only work presented in this category) was awarded a diploma for the second place. During the Russian language lesson devoted to the participial clause the young teacher managed not only to provide the 7th graders with the interesting information about the salmon but also to involve them in a conversation and prompt them to creative comprehension of the problem.

The pupils of the Vazhgortskaya school preparing for the quiz contest about salmon

During the final meeting in Glotovo the contestants presented their developments and shared the experience of their practical implementation. The winners of the contest got the diplomas and valuable prizes and all the participants received letters of acknowledgment.

The pupils of the Vazhgortskaya school preparing for the quiz contest about salmon

Valentina Semyashkina
Translated by Irina Sokolova