A Summer of Languages and Consistency

When people think about Dumbrava, they usually think about children walking dogs, trips, games, homework sessions, community events, or the animals that somehow always manage to find their way into our care.

A language-learning competition is probably not the first thing that comes to mind, and yet, on June 15th, seven children from Dumbrava started a challenge that will continue throughout the entire summer and end only on September 15th.

The idea is simple enough: spend a few minutes every day learning a foreign language, not because it is homework, not because there is a test at the end, and not because anyone is forcing them to do it. Simply because learning something new and sticking with it day after day is one of the most useful skills a young person can develop.

Like many of the activities we organize, this competition is not really about the final result. Of course, there are prizes, three participants will receive 300 RON Cărturești vouchers: one for the longest streak, one for the largest XP gain during the competition, and one for the biggest increase in language level between June 15th and September 15th, but the prizes are not the reason we decided to do this.

School teaches children many things, but one of the most difficult lessons to learn is consistency, it is relatively easy to be motivated for a day or two, or even for a week. It is much harder to continue when nobody reminds you, when the weather is nice, when your friends are outside, when there is no teacher checking your progress, and when summer vacation seems to stretch on forever. That is why we liked the idea of a challenge that rewards small efforts repeated over a long period of time: ten minutes today, a few lessons tomorrow, a streak that becomes a week, then a month, then an entire summer.

One of the children already had a premium Duolingo account, the others received Duolingo subscriptions through Dumbrava, making it possible for everyone to participate regardless of their family's financial situation.

The children are learning different languages, and that is exactly how we hoped it would be, some chose the languages they already encounter in school, while others decided to explore something completely new, and believe us, there is a lot of activity both on Duolingo and on our private WhatsApp group for the competition.

What matters is discovering that progress rarely happens all at once, more often, it happens quietly, one lesson at a time, on ordinary days when nobody is watching.

The competition has only recently begun, and we have no idea who will be standing on top of the leaderboard in September, what we do know is that seven children have already chosen to spend part of their summer learning something new instead of scrolling for a few extra minutes, and that, by itself, feels like a victory worth celebrating.

Help Us Reward Their Effort

The children have already done the difficult part: showing up every day and building a habit during summer vacation, be still need a little help with the prizes.

At the end of the competition, we would like to award three 300 RON Cărturești vouchers to the winners. If you would like to support the competition, you can contribute through the fundraiser below or purchase a voucher directly and send it to us at hello@dumbrava-lui-patrocle.org.

Every contribution, whether it covers part of a prize or an entire voucher, helps us encourage curiosity, learning, and consistency.

We will return in September with the results.

Until then, we wish all seven participants strong streaks, curious minds, and just enough competitive spirit to keep things interesting.