University of Wollongong experts involved in English language program in Ukraine school

Associate Professor Pauline Jones and Emeritus Professor Beverly Derewianka from the University of Wollongong's School of Education are working with teacher educators in Ukraine to design a curriculum and teaching methods.

Under the pilot project, primary school students at a bilingual school will learn English while they learn the contents of the curriculum, such as maths and science, and improve their Ukrainian skills as Russian is the first language for many.

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Dr Jones said colleagues in Ukraine reported that the approach to teaching English there is a Soviet-era approach, which did not equip students for fluency.

The Australian-developed approach used in this project, she said, focused on English language as a way of making meaning rather than having students learn it as a set of rules.

"One of the advantages is students are learning language and using language for authentic purposes," Dr Jones said.

This involves teacher-driven classes, and others involving students working together in small groups, with examination of texts, talking through ideas, reading and writing.

Dr Jones said one of the aims of the project is to equip Ukrainian students with the English language students needed to participate on the international stage.

She said the Ukrainian teachers and educators involved were committed to the future of their students, and were looking towards the future of their country and its reconstruction post-war.

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"It not only keeps us motivated in the present but also holds the promise of contributing to the long-term development of a post-war Ukraine," Associate Professor Maryna Tsehelska from Kryvyi Rih State Pedagogical University said of the program.

"We firmly believe that investing in education, particularly through bilingual programs, will help shape a brighter future for our country and its young generation."

The project was inspired by a meeting between Dr Tsehelska and Ukrainian-raised Dr Ruslana Westerlund from Wisconsin Cooperative Educational Service and Bethel University, who in 2016 met with Dr Jones and Professor Derewianka and wanted to bring the teaching approach she saw in Australia to her home country.

Dr Jones said she was full of admiration for her Ukrainian colleagues, who were working amid a war zone; Dr Westerlund described webinars disrupted by bombings and power outages.

She said she and Professor Derewianka were speaking to Cunningham MP Alison Byrnes and federal Education Minister Jason Clare about getting books to Ukraine through humanitarian means, as providing resources online was unreliable.

The Australian Systemic Functional Linguistics Association and the Primary English Teaching Association Australia have also provided resources and professional development opportunities for the project.

The project also involves Kharkiv University and TESOL Ukraine.

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