Paper short abstract:

Being an initiator and lecturer in innovative two courses in domestic and world popular cultures at the National School of Ancient Languages and Cultures in Sofia for about 20 years, and an author of the textbooks for the courses, the applicant would like to share her teaching experience.

Paper long abstract:

The idea of this presentation is to share the author's experience in teaching native and world popular culture at a high school level in Sofia, Bulgaria. According to the unified programs of the secondary education in Bulgaria, only a very limited knowledge about the traditional and contemporary popular culture of the own and different peoples is supposed to be taught as part of the obligatory curriculum. Some 20 years ago, by the initiative of the principal of the National School of Ancient Languages and Cultures "Constantine Cyril the Philosopher" (Sofia), and by the idea of the applicant, a course in Bulgarian Popular Culture for the 8th grade was introduced. A textbook was prepared. Some years later the applicant has proposed another course on culture, called "Worldwide cultural anthropology" or "Non-European ethnology". The course was designed for the 9th grade, and included throughout the whole teaching process the massive application of visual materials. A textbook called "Ethnoses, Regions, Cultures", was prepared to support this innovative teaching.

Being an initiator and lecturer in these two courses in domestic and world popular cultures for about 20 years, and an author of the textbooks for the courses, I would like to share my concerns, impressions and ideas regarding the topic of how to use the popular cultural knowledge in education of the young people in humanistic and egalitarian values.