Educational activity of P. Kulish: book publishing and folklore preservation

This article is devoted to the study of the educational activities of P. Kulish, which consisted in the creation of Ukrainian educational literature, preservation of monuments of national folklore. The following scientific research methods were used in the preparation of the article: method of generalization, method of comparisons and analogies, chronological and induction method. They pay attention to the analysis of the historical work called «The story about Ukrainian people». It was noted that it was one of the first educational books on the history of Ukraine, which, along with descriptions of historical events, included folklore material, taking into account some folk songs translated into Russian. The structure and content of the textbook for teaching grammar in the Ukrainian language “Gramatka” are examined in detail in the article. It is stated that the textbook contains a preface, twelve sections. The textbook's teaching material covers not only reading and writing skills, but also arithmetic, general historical science information. Also, for the first time, samples of oral folk art and other folk monuments were used as educational material. The results of the analysis of P. Kulish's textbook “Gramatka” suggest that it implements the basic functions of the textbook, namely: information, development and education. The textbook is clearly structured, it contains basic and additional texts, illustrations, various types of tasks and exercises. The authors point to P. Kulish's key role in publishing literary works of Ukrainian writers in separate brochures. It is noted that the creation and spread of religious works in the mother tongue was an important element in raising the overall educational level of the Ukrainian people. The results of the study indicate that P. Kulish's educational activities in the native language were effective through the means of educational, religious and popular science literature.