Empowering Tomorrow’s Leaders in Ukraine
By: Emily Kane (Virtual Student Federal Service Intern) and Daniel Patterson (Program Officer)
Amid the ongoing war with Russia, the constant threat of bombs, power outages, and food insecurity means that work and school are the last things on the minds of many Ukrainians. Despite numerous challenges, one group of people continues to show up: teachers. In a recent interview with Nick Gordon, an ExchangeAlumni and Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund (CDAF) grantee, we see the resilience of these Ukrainian teachers and learn how CDAF empowered them and created opportunities amid hardship.
Nick Gordon’s exchange, as an English Language Fellow through English Language Programs (ELP) to Ukraine from 2017-2019, gave him a first-hand view of the enthusiasm and dedication of Ukrainian teachers. His work out of the Writing Center at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and as a teacher trainer allowed him to connect with TESOL practitioners across the country. In the years following his exchange, his friends and contacts in Ukraine invited him to join their virtual lessons. These interactions and the Ukrainian teachers’ unwavering commitment to their development and to providing the best education possible to their students were the inspiration behind Gordon’s idea for his CDAF project. The “Ukrainian Leaders Development Program” was designed as a series of 10 teacher training workshops facilitated by 5 ELP alumni on TESOL education and professional development for teachers who worked at different levels of education, from elementary to graduate and beyond. The workshops explored concepts on storytelling, poetry, social-emotional learning, technology, and more. The discussions that came out of these sessions gave teachers new ideas, strategies, resources, and methodologies to implement in their own classrooms.
More than 100 teachers responded to Gordon’s call for applicants. From those 100, 50 Ukrainian teachers representing 17 cities in Ukraine were selected to participate in the program. The CDAF project also expanded into nine countries to include teachers who were displaced by the war in Ukraine. This enthusiastic response exemplifies the determination of these teachers and the invaluable connections Gordon made through his U.S. Department of State-sponsored ELP exchange. While reflecting on his travels across Ukraine during his exchange, Gordon said, “[the teachers and students] have such a commitment to their English language education” and further mentioned how hospitable, hard-working, and talented they all were.
As English Language Fellows, Gordon and his CDAF co-grantee Luis Perea (Fellow, Ukraine, 2017-2019), developed a broad network, which allowed them to reach a wider demographic of teachers than they would have otherwise been able to – a great example of the power of exchange and the connections ExchangeAlumni forge during their experiences. Gordon, however, primarily attributes this CDAF project’s success to the resilience and determination of the Ukrainian teachers. Their devotion was made apparent during the early days of the war when they, despite widespread cancellations, continued to teach virtual lessons for free to provide their students with a sense of normalcy. Working through the sound of sirens, unreliable internet, displacement, and often from makeshift bomb shelters, these teachers are facing unthinkable hardship and have still chosen to put the needs of their students ahead of their own. Following the workshops, the Ukrainian teachers have been teaming up with the U.S. facilitators to co-teach lessons, implementing their new learnings with Ukrainian students across the country, and working towards the successful completion of their program.
The Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund for US Alumni (known as CDAF) is a funding competition open exclusively to U.S. exchange alumni in teams of at least two for up to $10,000 to carry out public service projects that utilize skills and knowledge they have gained through their exchange experiences. More information on CDAF can be found at alumni.state.gov and https://www.globaltiesus.org/cdaf/