IMPROVING COMMUNICATION IN A MULTIETHNIC CLASSROOM THROUGH OUT-OF-SCHOOL ACTIVITIES WITH ETHNICALLY MIXED GROUPS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDENTS
Authors: Dulevska Marija 
Published: December 2021

Multiculturalism is a wide and very current topic throughout Europe and the world and is also present in Macedonia. It is almost impossible to think of a concept of ethnically clean states because in each country there are at least two different cultures, and in some, more. Because of coexistence and sustainability, the goal of one state should be focused on finding a way to develop the concept of accepting diversity and respect for the other. In the case of the Republic of Macedonia, accepting the existence of different ethnic groups with their own worldview, language and culture should be a priority. It also involves finding ways to reduce prejudice and stereotypes as well as continuous and permanent reconstruction of the individual's mental structure, given the fact that there are different peoples with different racial ethnic and religious diversity in the country.The first step toward achieving these goals is through the early stages of education. Schools are the key to implementing the reconstruction of the individual's awareness. In the doctoral thesis, two primary schools were taken as examples, but they are from different ethnic structures - OOU Blaze Koneski - Prilep is purely Macedonian and Rexhe Rushit Zayazi, from the village of Zayas, Kichevo - where the students and employees are ethnic Albanians schools in terms of implementing inter-school ethnic different activities. The cooperation between the two schools is in accordance with the Council of the Municipalities of Prilep and Kicevo, the Bureau for Development of Education, the State Educational Inspectorate and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Macedonia as official competent institutions.Every school goes through a process of inter-ethnic self-evaluation within which weaknesses are detected and a development plan for their overcoming as well as the development of a new development plan is being developed. All documents that the school produces are adopted by the School Board and are controlled and verified by the State Education Inspectorate.Furthermore, each school has its own team of responsible teachers of the so-called SIT, which implements and coordinates a whole procedure for interethnic cooperation between the two schools. Prior to the school year, the two partner schools prepare a plan for joint interethnic activities that they plan to implement. That plan is presented to the Parents Council, in front of the school board and it is adopted and it becomes an integral part of the School's Annual Program, which is adopted at a session of the Council of both municipalities. At the beginning of the school year, the plan for mutual activities starts to be realized in accordance with the set goals and the dynamics itself. At the end of each school year, an annual report on the realized activities is made, as well as for the unrealized ones, and they are presented to the school board and the Municipal Council.The approach used in the doctoral thesis itself is qualitative, that is, the ultimate goal is to increase the communication between the students and the employees of the two ethnically diverse schools.Further, as a technique, observation is used where different reliable data on the general state and hour are obtained. Polls were also used to examine the opinions and readiness of parents, students and teachers to implement interethnic activities, as well as various interviews of students, parents and employees from two different ethnic communities. The primary school Blaze Koneski - Prilep has 935 pupils and 81 employees. The parents' council has 41 members. The mutual interethnic activities are to be carried out each annual school year according to an accepted calendar of events between both schools.