TESOL-Ukraine ThinkLab — Autumn 2026

Building an Ecosystem for English-Medium Learning

October–December 2026 | Weekly online meetings

Led by:

Maryna Tsehelska — ILDA, Interclass System
Olena Ilienko — ILDA, Nominalization
Hanna Podosynnikova —English Philology and Language Didactics

Apply now: https://forms.gle/Jr8ixPd4eL4h4Apw8

Our Purpose

The TESOL-Ukraine ThinkLab is a professional learning, collaboration and research ecosystem for Ukrainian teachers and teacher educators.

Our long-term goal is to help Ukrainian educators prepare learners not simply to pass international English examinations, but to use English successfully as a language of academic study, CLIL, professional communication, mobility and lifelong learning.

We want to explore how Ukrainian learners can gradually develop a new English language worldview — the ability to conceptualise, structure knowledge and communicate according to the conventions of English, rather than simply translating from Ukrainian.

This requires more than teaching vocabulary and grammar. It involves developing new ways of:

• categorising and connecting ideas;
• structuring information;
• expressing relationships;
• interpreting meaning;
• participating in academic and professional discourse;
• communicating across cultures.

The ThinkLab will bring together teachers, teacher educators, university academics and international colleagues to share expertise, question existing practices, experiment with ideas and build new approaches together.

A Living Ecosystem

The ThinkLab is not intended to be a traditional course or a fixed research project. It is a living professional ecosystem in which teaching practice, research, collaboration and professional development continuously inform one another.

Purpose
→ prepare Ukrainian learners for international exams, academic study, CLIL, continuing and further education in English

Platform
→ a shared environment connecting teachers, researchers and international experts

Live Sessions
→ weekly meetings, presentations, discussions, masterminds and guest speakers
Zoom

Materials
→ shared teaching resources, maps, frameworks, tasks and research materials
Google Drive

Daily Discussion
→ questions, ideas, classroom experiences and professional exchange
Telegram

Collaborative Research
→ joint exploration of questions emerging from practice
Google Docs

Recorded Knowledge
→ selected sessions and expert contributions available for continued learning
YouTube — private/unlisted playlists

Registration & Community Data
→ participation and programme organisation
Google Forms

Reflection
→ regular participant reflection and feedback
Google Forms

Public Outreach
→ sharing ideas, outcomes and Ukrainian educational expertise with the wider professional community
LinkedIn + Facebook + YouTube

What will happen in the ThinkLab?

From October to December 2026, we will meet once a week.

The format will combine:

THINK — an idea, concept, problem or research finding
↓
SHARE — teachers and researchers contribute their experience
↓
DISCUSS — examine different perspectives
↓
MASTERmind — collaboratively solve a professional problem
↓
CREATE — develop a task, framework, map, experiment or research idea
↓
REFLECT — consider what works and what should happen next

We will also invite international speakers and colleagues from abroad, creating opportunities for Ukrainian educators to connect directly with wider European and international professional communities.

Areas of Exploration

We deliberately do not define the ThinkLab through a limited list of research strands. The areas of inquiry will grow from the interests and expertise of the community.

Possible starting points include:

• ILDA and integrated literacy development;
• cross-linguistic conceptual restructuring;
• the development of an English language worldview;
• nominalization and conceptualisation;
• idiomatic predicative constructions and spoken English;
• academic and professional English;
• CLIL and English-medium education;
• international examination preparation;
• AI-supported teaching and learning;
• language, cognition and metacognition;
• curriculum design and progression;
• teacher professional development.

These are starting points, not boundaries.

The ThinkLab should allow new questions, approaches and collaborations to emerge from the collective expertise of its participants.

Our Professional Community

The ThinkLab will grow from the TESOL-Ukraine Community of more than 900 members, including university representatives and ESP teachers from across Ukraine.

This provides an exceptional professional environment for:

practice → discussion → experimentation → research → sharing → professional development

Our ambition is to connect this Ukrainian professional network with European universities, researchers, teacher educators and international experts.

The Bigger Goal

We want to build more than a series of online meetings.

We want to create a sustainable Ukrainian ecosystem for English-language education — one that helps teachers continuously develop, share knowledge and conduct collaborative inquiry, while helping learners become prepared for a future in which English is increasingly the language of:

international examinations → university study → CLIL → professional communication → mobility → lifelong learning

The ThinkLab is therefore both a professional learning space and a seedbed for future collaboration, research and international cooperation.

From preparing students to pass English exams
to preparing them to learn, work and participate internationally through English.

TESOL-Ukraine ThinkLab — Autumn 2026
October–December | Weekly | Think • Share • Mastermind • Create • Reflect