"Teaching English in Ukraine": UNA project director looks ahead

Dr. Zirka Voronka, a professor of English as a Second Language (ESL) at Passaic County Community College, is the director of the UNA's ongoing project "Teaching English in Ukraine." The project was originally organized as a one-time effort, in which 82 teachers paid their way to various regions of Ukraine, in order to offer instruction in English, from June to August 1992, with the UNA's logistical support.

After a debriefing session earlier this fall, it was decided to commitment repeat the venture and modify its name from "Teach" to "Teaching English" to reflect this. Dr. Voronka visited The Weekly offices before her scheduled departure for Ukraine, on December 25. The interview below was conducted by Andrij Wynnyckyj.

Q: Please give our readers a sense of the scope of your project, and why you feel the Ukrainian National Association is in a position to repeat this past year's effort.

A: This is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, aid projects directed at Ukraine that the UNA has sponsored. Although it is a joint project, "Teaching English in Ukraine" is exclusively a UNA concern. However, it has been and will continue to be a joint North American-Ukrainian project, conducted by the UNA and the Prosvita Ukrainian Language Society.

Without being immodest, we can claim that this is the largest assistance project in this field. It easily outstrips even the Peace Corps effort that just recently began.

There are two primary reasons the fraternal wants to repeat and continue its project. The first is the enthusiasm and satisfaction expressed by the volunteer teachers and their readiness to return there and teach again. The second is the great grass-roots need for English instruction. The courses given in 1992 were not yet finished when we began receiving massive amounts of requests for future courses from all corners of Ukraine.

The need is particularly great at the conversational level. This is exactly what our courses are designed to improve.

Q: Have you found wide-ranging support for this idea in the community, that is, for a specific focus on English language instruction?

A: First of all, this focus is not as limiting as it might seem. As we did last year, we expect to receive applicants from various fields. From Ukraine, we have received requests for instructors with experience in various fields, such as computers, financial institutions and banking, medicine, general science, mathematics, engineering, and so on.

Of course, we do have to contend with attitudes such as those of Prof. Edward L. Keenan of Harvard University. In an article published in The New York Times [Monday, November 23, "Help Russia, but Hold the Pizza"], he claims that no resources should be devoted to the teaching of English in the CIS, because their knowledge of the language is adequate at this point.

I strongly disagree, and believe this could only be the view of someone who does not care about the well-being and future development of emerging countries.

Q: He was suggesting this might contribute to an already serious hemorrhaging of human resources and that if people learn enough of the language they might leave.

A: Yes, but this feeling also was that human resources and funds channeled to the CIS should not be devoted to language education. He claims that he found their proficiency adequate.

Q: He must have in mind only the elite major functionaries or academics. He must not believe in bringing the rest of the country into contact with the outside world.

A: Exactly. Exactly. He met the people who were of the old school, and said "who cares?" about the rest. It's indicative that he is not interested in assisting the newly independent countries develop and take their rightful place in the international community. Obviously, the English language is the key in this case.

On the other hand, there is the view fostered by Dr. Yuriy Shevelov, professor emeritus of linguistics at Columbia University. In an interview published in the November 5 issue of Literaturna Ukraina, Prof. Shevelov explains that knowing foreign languages will open new vistas to Ukraine and Ukrainians, and enable them to get to know the world well.

Q: What is your message to our readers?

A: We invite people interested in teaching English in Ukraine in May, June and July 1993. Ideally, we are looking for EFL/ESL professionals and experienced teachers. Persons with other qualifications are also encouraged to apply.

This is a project that requires considerable physical stamina. This is an intensive language teaching program, which foresees 20 hours of instruction per week, consisting of five four-hour lessons a week, in the course of a four- to six-week teaching assignment. There will be both day and evening courses offered.

Preparation for the teaching assignment and day-to-day lesson planning will require a great deal of time. Volunteer teachers should understand this is not a working vacation. Any touring or family visits should be planned for either before or after the teaching period.

In Ukraine, the teachers will be met by local representatives of Prosvita to arrange for transportation to the place of their teaching assignment. During their teaching assignment they will be provided with room and board, which may be in private homes, dormitories, or hotels, depending on local availability and resources, last year, most of the volunteers were offered short excursions by their hosts.

The teachers are expected to travel to Ukraine at their own expense. They will take the UNA-funded textbooks and teaching materials as part of their luggage. I believe this would be the best way to get the materials over there. It is also much safer than to have all of the texts shipped over in bulk beforehand.

Q: Some at the teachers' reunion this fall claimed that only if the volunteers were body-builders would they be able to carry enough to match the demand...

A: Well, we had sufficient textbooks for the number of students that were registered. The demand increased locally when they overbooked the number of students in the courses. That's an issue we can easily resolve.

Q: You'll resolve the issue by restricting access to the classes?

A: Something that I will stress during my upcoming trip is that we cannot over-enroll because then the courses cannot function. It becomes a handicap rather than a benefit to a greater number of students. But the emphasis will be not on restricting access, but rather on limiting the number of students per class. We'll plan on more courses instead of larger classes.

Of course, allowances will probably have to be made, just like one does here in all the colleges. Someone sets a cap, and in some cases you go over the cap.

Q: Another concern of the volunteers was that someone other than teachers with the Prosvita Society in Ukraine should screen the applicants. Namely, someone from North America.

A: That would not be possible. My recommendation was that Prosvita find local professionals to assess the language skills of the applicants. We cannot have one person travelling through 30 cities screening students. The Ukrainian have to be responsible for getting local professionals, which means language teachers, to assess the prospective students' level of skill. In other words, the professionals have to ask the questions: "Is this indeed an intermediate? Is this a beginner?" We can't use a North American accessory expecting that they would work effectively, because it would be impossible to get to the some 120 groups we intend to organize.

First of all, problems arose because many applicants were placed in classes after simply declaring they were "advanced" or "intermediate." It was not a question of the Ukrainian instructors being inadequate, simply that there was no real screening taking place at all.

We are addressing this issue. After all, even in the U.S., with all of the preliminary testing, placement offices, etc., it's still imperfect. Someone may test well, but be unable to perform in a class geared for conversational English. Others might be very good verbally, but have difficulty in written examinations. But that's the name of the game and one of the challenges of teaching, particularly in an environment such as Ukraine.

Q: Very well then, all aspects of the administration of the project in Ukraine will be handled by Prosvita?

A: Most of them, yes. They have begun to do so already. Prosvita is accepting applications from all region of Ukraine, and where they have not, I have requested that they issue a call to their local chapters where we believe the need is greatest. I have instructed the central office in Kiev, which now has a designated worker dealing solely with the joint UNA-Prosvita project. Liudmilla Slusar is responsible for advertising the courses, through Prosvita's own weekly newspaper, Slovo, the local press and other channels.

I have also requested that Pavlo Movchan, hold an interview with Literaturna Ukraina, so that all regions of Ukraine are aware of our project.

Q: Are you interested in focusing the project on certain regions?

A: Requests from Ukraine indicate that the greatest need for our program is in the southern and southeastern oblasts of the country. Therefore, those applicants who are the most flexible in terms of their desired location for teaching have the best chance of being selected. We can't send 90 percent of our teachers to Kiev, Lviv and Ivano-Frankivske, as many would like. We are encouraging the volunteers to take assignments in places where people might have had less contact with the West, and where our teaching programs might have a greater impact. Of course, in such a region, the rewards are also mind-boggling.

Q: When is the deadline for applications?

A: January 20.

Q: That's very soon.

A: Yes. But remember this is a deadline for first contact. The first step is to get feedback from people who are interested. Once we have received the letter of interest, we will send the prospective teachers the formal application, a list of suggested readings, and suggestions that they attend special courses in ESL instruction or sit in on ESL classes.

Q: This in addition to the seminar that you will be holding again in April?

A: Yes, we will be having a seminar again, but they can greatly benefit from visiting local ESL classes. Just in terms of learning classroom dynamics.

Q: All right, to whom should the letters of interest be directed?

A: Letters should be directed to: UNA Project Office "Teaching English in Ukraine", 30 Montgomery St., Jersey City, NJ 07302.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, December 27, 1992, No. 52, Vol. LX

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