Seventh graders visit ZRS Koper

Seventh-grade students from the Elvira Vatovec Primary School in Prade and its Sveti Anton branch visited ZRS Koper on Monday, March 23, and Wednesday, March 25, accompanied by their teachers, as part of the national reading promotion project Rastem s knjigo (Grow up with a book)

The first group of students from Prade was welcomed at the ZRS Koper library by the head of the Institute for Linguistic Studies, Dr. Vesna Mikolič, who introduced them to her work. How does language develop, and what is our relationship with it? What is a text corpus, and where does artificial intelligence get its words? The students listened with great interest and became acquainted with the science that studies language. The mission of the Institute for Linguistic Studies is to monitor language and its dynamics, with special attention to border areas where Slovene, Italian, and Croatian meet.

The students said they enjoy reading comics, as well as certain magazines—especially when they cover topics that interest them, such as vessels, as one of them mentioned. Dr. Vesna Mikolič emphasized that everything they read and learn about language can shape them as individuals and influence their future interests.

That same day, the other two groups of seventh graders from Prade visited the Mediterranean Health Centre of ZRS Koper, located at Pristaniška Street 45 in Koper. The students explored the equipment in the centre with curiosity and even tried some of it. Kinesiologist Matej Kleva, who guided the students through the centre together with his colleagues, also explained the importance of physical activity as a key factor for healthy growth.

On Wednesday, two groups of seventh graders from Sveti Anton visited the ZRS Koper library. This time, they were welcomed by the head of the publishing house Annales ZRS, Alenka Obid, who explained the process of preparing and printing books. Among other things, the students learned about the professions of proofreader and editor, both of which play a very important role in publishing. They also learned that there are different types of publishing houses; the one operating within ZRS is a scientific publisher and differs from those that, for example, publish novels. Are the covers of scientific monographs always simpler, or are there also those designed to attract readers? The head of the publishing house answered this and many other questions from the curious young visitors.