As most of you know, I am getting closer and closer to finishing my Peace Corps service as an English teacher in a village in Western Ukraine. It is hard to believe that I have been in Ukraine for over a year and a half. The spring flew by full of school and Workshops in English Language and Leadership. The workshops were a huge success and students and schools across the country are already asking when the next series of workshops will be held. Thank you again for your support to realize that project. The baby goats, cows, and horses are once again roaming the village and summer is off to a wonderful start. The weather is finally warm and the country is green and beautiful. My summer plans include organizing and staffing a couple of English language camps, traveling, and completing a few more projects with my school. With six months left, I am working on the last projects that I will complete during my service.
While the growing prevalence of the English language around the world has increased the possibilities that people with English language skills have in countries like Ukraine, students in village schools like mine are for the most part left out of this sphere of opportunity due to limited language learning resources and programs in their schools. One of my final projects will be to purchase new English language textbooks, audiotapes, and an interactive CDROM about English speaking countries to establish the beginnings of an English Resource Center in my school. Currently, English classes from the 5th through 11th grades in my school use five different sets of textbooks due to what the school and parents have been able to afford and what the state has sent. Often, these textbooks are extremely outdated, full of mistakes and incorrect information, and inappropriate for the skill level of the students. Currently, students share their textbooks in pairs. This arrangement makes it difficult for students to be able to complete their assignments and study at home. From year to year, students must switch between various textbooks, never following the same curriculum course and unable to build appropriately on the knowledge that they gained during the previous year. My school is in dire need of a set of textbooks and multi-media resources that can be used in a coherent program for effective language learning.
This project will serve to help make a more cohesive English language program by providing the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades textbooks from the same author as those used in the 9th-11th grades, the accompanying audiotapes, a audio player, and an informational CDROM about the English language and English speaking countries. The English teachers at school will work together and with me to create a coherent curriculum with the new resources that incorporates communicative language learning methodologies and the use of multi-media resources in the classroom.
If you are interested in helping to increase English language learning and the opportunities that it can bring to the young people in my village (or if you just want to support me and my current work in Ukraine,) please help us reach our goal of $1,257. Please keep in mind that a donation of $6 is enough to provide one student with a textbook of their own. Donating is safe easy through the official and secure Peace Corps website. Go to www.peacecorps.gov/donate and search for my project by entering my name: Robertson, project number: 343-185 or Ukraine and scroll to find my name and project (English Language Resource Center.)
Thank you for your support!
