In 1993 Americans for Democracy in Ukraine Inc. (ADU), in cooperation with the Modern Language Department at Siena College in Loudonville, N.Y., initiated and funded the Siena College Training Institute for Teachers of English in Ukraine.
Phase 1 of the program consisted of workshops conducted in eight oblasts of Ukraine. These workshops introduced the Ukrainian teachers to Western language methodology and curriculum development.
Phase 2 of the program helped the Siena-trained teachers organize into a teachers’ association registered in the oblast and create teacher resource centers in their oblasts. These centers provide instructional technology and teaching resources for teachers and students. They also provide opportunities for professional collaboration among centers. There are eight such centers in Ukraine, located in Buchach, Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovohrad, Kovel, Myrhorod, Odesa, Okhtyrka and Uzhhorod. ADU provides operational and maintenance funding to each center.
In 2012, the Teacher Associations in Ukraine initiated Phase 3 of the program: annual conferences for association presidents and teachers. The purpose of these conferences is to enhance the centers’ collaboration, provide teachers the opportunity to share professional experience, introduce new teaching initiatives, and plan collaborative and educational activities for the upcoming academic year.
The first three-day conference took place in Odesa. A unique component of the conference was a two-day training workshop for teachers in Ukraine lead by teachers in Berkley, Mich., in the use of Moodle, an educational software that helps teachers create and deliver effective online learning environments for their students. The training was conducted via Skype.
The second year’s conference took place in Uzhhorod. This conference provided training for teachers to participate in the international project “Global Dialogue of Youth of the World.” This project connects students in Ukraine with students in other countries through videoconferences using Skype technology. Some of the discussion topics were human trafficking, moral values that shape your society, women as leaders in your society and the art of self-expression. International discussion partners were students from Australia, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Israel, Pakistan, the Philippines, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States, and others. Since the conference, all eight centers in Ukraine have been implementing these global conferences three to four times a year.
On June 27-29, the third teacher association conference, attended by 33 participants, took place in Buchach. The highlight of the conference was the introduction to WebQuest, a classroom-based lesson in which students explore and evaluate information from the World Wide Web. Webquest emphasizes higher-order thinking, such as analysis, creativity or criticism of the available information, rather than the simple gathering or cataloging of information. In the first part of the workshop the teachers learned how to design a WebQuestion, while in the second part teachers participated in a WebQuest activity acting in the roles of students.
Such conferences allow the teachers’ associations to strengthen their ties and accelerate their professional development. According to Antonina Zaytseva of Myrhorod, a conference participant, “By sharing experience and ideas at the conference, we realized how valuable the reunion was for us and our students.”
The next conference will be hosted by the Dnipropetrovsk association in June of 2016.
The teachers associations and ADU thank donors who have supported English language education in Ukraine. ADU is not accepting donations, but will continue its support of the programs. For further information, readers may contact ADU at [email protected].
Anya Savchenko is the president of the Odesa Teachers’ Association and a participant in the third annual teachers’ conference held in Buchach, Ukraine. Lydia Tarnavsky, Ph.D., a professor at Siena College, is the program director of the Ukraine program at Siena College.