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„Words of Wisdom – yesterday and today”

(Street survey)

Celebrating annually the Day of Non-Formal Education, this year the students of Şcoala

Gimnazială „Mihai Viteazul” Pucioasa, Romania, decided to take the pulse of the street and to

learn together, not just young people from the elderly, but also the opposite! Both pupils and

teachers, we conducted together a street survey under the Erasmus+ auspices (eDictionary of

proverbs), in collaboration with the Association „Youth 4 All” Pucioasa, within the community

project „Words of Wisdom – yesterday and today".

FIRST PART: DESCRIPTION OF THE STREET SURVEY

For better or worse, Romanian people find the spiritual words appropriate to any circumstance.

Often, Romanians know how to do fun!

Through this community action, young people want to discover if and to what extent the popular

expressions, sayings and proverbs are still known nowadays and used in the right context by the

inhabitants of Pucioasa, on different age segments. At the end of the action, they will create a TOP 10

of the most popular proverbs and sayings, which will be published in the City Newsletter.

Steps:

1. Research: Volunteer students investigate the most known and most commonly used words of

spirits in different aspects of everyday life;

2. Selection of 4 proverbs, sayings and expressions to be included in the survey to test their

significance;

3. Creating the questionnaire and its centralizer;

4. Distributing and assuming responsibilities within each team: 1 reporter, 2 scribes (or

secretaries), 1 cameraman;

5. Street survey live in Pucioasa. Target group: 100 inhabitants of the city

The volonteers ask the goers about the meaning of 4 proverbs already selected. In the end, each

interviewed person is asked to say the first proverb that comes into his/her mind (different from the ones

mentioned in the questionnaire). It is noted on a flipchart sheet the proverb, saying or expression

mentioned by the participants in the questionnaire.

Respondents are rewarded with a badge that celebrates the Non-Formal Learning Day, specifying

that ANYONE CAN LEARN, ANYTIME AND ANYWHERE.

6. Centralization and interpretation of collected data;

7. Making a leaflet with the Top 10 proverbs, sayings and popular expressions;

KA2 - Strategic Partnership Projects

between Schools

“EUROPEAN CLASSROOM”

eDictionary of proverbs

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8. Distribution of the leaflet among children and young people, in order to be awarened about

the roots and perpetuation of the wisdom of the Romanian people, as part of the national and European

identity;

9. Writing and publishing an article about the action and its outcomes, in the City Newsletter;

10. Making a film and uploading it on YouTube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNJz0HaZzdA&t=11s

CONCLUSION:

Learning could happen anywhere, anytime, regardless of age. Young generations

have the right and the duty to further transmit the moral values of Romanian people.

CHESTIONAR – STREET SURVEY Original (Romanian language)

QUESTIONNAIRE – STREET SURVEY English equivalent

Bună ziua!

Aţi dori să ne răspundeţi la 4 întrebări despre

proverbele românilor, vă rugăm?

a. La ce credeţi că se referă următoarele

proverbe şi expresii româneşti? Ce înseamnă

ele?

1. Cine are carte are parte.

2. Buturuga mică răstoarnă carul mare.

3. Orice naş îşi are naşul.

4. A da ortul popii.

Hello!

Would you like to answer at 4 questions about

proverbs, please?

a. What do you think the following

Romanian proverbs and expressions are

refering to? What do they mean?

1. Knowledge is a tresure.

2. Little strokes fell great oaks.

3. Diamond cut diamond.

4. To go to meet one’s maker

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNJz0HaZzdA&t=11s

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b. Ce proverb sau expresie vă vine în

minte, în afară de cele menţionate?

Vă mulţumim frumos şi vă dorim o zi plină de

înţelepciune!

b. What proverb or saying comes first into

your mind, besides the mentioned ones?

Thank you very much! We wish you to have a wise day!

Elevii oferă câte un ecuson fiecărui respondent: Students offer a badge to each respondant:

www.nonformalii.ro

It is written:

ANYONE CAN LEARN. ANYWHERE. ALWAYS.

SECOND PART: THE RESULTS OF STREET SURVEY

152 people (13 to 72 years old) were interviewed between 10:30 h and 12:00 h. The target group

was overpassed than the plan. Their answers were:

* Regarding the proverb „Knowledge is a tresure”: 113 persons knew the meaning.

* Regarding the proverb „Little strokes fell great oaks”: 110 persons knew the meaning.

* Regarding the proverb „Diamond cut diamond”: 95 persons knew the meaning. (There have been

many different explanations here, including those used in their proper sense, but all of these can be

considered correct, depending on the context).

* Regarding the expression „To go to meet one’s maker”: 121 persons knew the meaning.

(Noteworthy that most people have refrained from using the verb "to die", preferring either the verb "to

rest" or expressions such as „giving up the soul", „to be no more”, „to bite the dust” or „to check aut”, or

other mythological or religious explanations related to „A coin to pay Charon”. So, this way the students

- volunteers learned new, interesting things).

Perhaps it should be better to know that the difference to 152 questioned persons is represented

by several categories of people: ones who know some meanings but can not verbalize them; who don’t

know certain proverbs; which have a different understanding of the original meaning OR that is being

launched in ample discussions about the crisis of society, the lack of jobs, the lack of system reliability

or the family shortcomings.

Students have concluded that many of these people are of the third age and they feel an acute

need to communicate, no matter to whom ... So they understand and appreciated more Paulo Coelho's

words: „Use the loneliness, but don’t be used by it!"

The answers to the additional request addressed to street walkers, to say another proverb than the

four mentioned in the questionnaire, helped us to make a TOP 10 of the most popular proverbs and

sayings used in the Pucioasa area, as we have proposed.

http://www.nonformalii.ro/

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In order of frequency, we obtained the following TOP 10 PROVERBES:

Romanian proverbs Similar English proverbs

1. Prietenul la nevoie se cunoaşte. 1. A friend in need is a friend indeed.

2. Ziua bună se cunoaşte de dimineaţă. 2. The early bird catches the worm.

3. Ce ţie nu-ţi place, altuia nu-i face! 3. Do as you would be done by.

4. Minciuna are picioare scurte. 4. Lie has short legs.

5. Cine sapă groapa altuia cade singur în ea. 5. He who digs a pit for others, will fall in it himself.

6. Ulciorul nu merge de multe ori la apă. 6. The pitcher goes often to the well broken at last.

7. Cine seamănă vânt culege furtună. 7. Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind.

8. Cine se scoală de dimineaţă departe

ajunge.

8. Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man

healthy, wealthy and wise.

9. Vorba dulce mult aduce. 9. Good words cost nothing and are worth much. /

Lip-honour costs little, yet may bring in much.

10. Bine faci, bine găseşti. 10. One good turn deserves another.

Regarding the proverbs that were once enunciated, although they are well known, we can list:

No. Romanian proverbs Similar English proverbs

1. Fereşte-mă, Doamne, de prieteni, că de

duşmani mă feresc singur!

Defend me from chicken, I'm not afraid of

dogs.

2. Stăpânu-nvaţă sluga hoaţă! The master turns the servant into a thief!

3. Vulpea, când n-ajunge la struguri, zice că

sunt acri.

When the fox does not get to grapes, he

says they are sour.

4. Meseria e brăţară de aur. A handful of trade, (is) a handful of gold.

5. Apa trece, pietrele rămân. Water flows, rocks remain.

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6. Fă-ţi iarna car şi vara sanie!

Keep something for a rainy day.

As you make your bed, so you must lie on

it. Hope for the best, but prepare for the

worst.

7. Capul face, capul trage! The head does, the head is responsible for.

8. Leneşul mai mult aleargă şi scumpul mai

mult păgubeşte. Who buys cheap pays twice.

9. Lupu-şi schimbă părul, dar năravul, ba! The leopard never changes his spots.

10. Ce naşte din pisică şoareci mănâncă. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

11. Când pisica nu-i acasă, joacă şoarecii pe

masă. When the cat is away, the mice will play.

12. Pisica cu clopoţei nu prinde şoricei. Bell the cat and it will catch no mice.

13. Niciodată să nu spui „Niciodată”! Never say „Never”!

We all learned today on the city streets. For example, there were situations when students

supported the interviewees to remember the proverbs they use in their everyday lives.

On the other hand, from the 34 volunteers, 20 young people said that it was at least one new thing

they learned by organizing this non-formal learning activity. For example, they learned that "TRUE

FRIENDSHIPS ARE ETERNAL", BUT in Latin language, said by a questioned lady. They wrote this Latin

expression and they shared it with their colleagues, at the end: „VERAE AMICITIAE SEMPITERNAE

SUNT!”

Of course, there were also respondents with a developed sense of umor, who completed the

ancient wisdom with elements of "urban folklore", so we were made aware of the risk that the work

involves: „The work did not kill anyone but ... why should we risk?”

Anyway, it is important not to forget that we all have to learn from each other, and that a thorough

learning takes place when we experience and even after we are wrong, because ERRARE HUMANUM

EST!, right?

Today we all have learned, in the spirit of NON-FORMAL EDUCATION!

NOTE: This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This article reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.