The introductory workshop of the TESOL-Ukraine Teacher Training Series, titled “Mastering the Craft: Writing Techniques and Insights from Professional Authors,” was a warm and engaging start to the series. Participants from various backgrounds and regions gathered virtually to kick off the training. The session began with an introduction to the series, its objectives, and the upcoming workshops featuring renowned authors. After a brief overview, the attendees got acquainted through an icebreaker activity that encouraged everyone to share their motivations for joining the training and their experiences with storytelling and writing.

Session 3: Word Games & Love Songs: Creative Writing Exercises to Enrich and Enliven the ESL Classroom

Led by Cecilia Woloch, this “hands-on” workshop will provide teachers with tools for using creative writing exercises in the ESL classroom to inspire their students to use English in fun, surprising, and uniquely expressive ways. It will also give the teachers an opportunity to explore and share their own creativity in a lively and supportive environment.

  About Cecilia Woloch: Cecilia Woloch is an award-winning American poet and writer, and a celebrated teacher. For over thirty years, she has led creative writing workshops across the United States and around the world. She has served on the faculties of graduate and undergraduate creative writing programs in U.S. universities, spent a summer teaching at Sichuan University in Chengdu, China, and has twice been a Fulbright fellow at the University of Rzeszów in Poland. She has also conducted workshops for thousands of children and young people in schools and community centers, as well as in-service workshops for classroom teachers, workshops for participants in Elderhostel programs for senior citizens, for inmates at a prison for the criminally insane, and for residents at a shelter for homeless women and their children. She is the author of a novel and seven collections of poems.

Her writing has been translated and published in French, German, Polish, Bulgarian, Romanes, Ukrainian and Hebrew.

https://ceciliawoloch.squarespace.com/

Session 5: VERY GOOD VERY BAD GUYS by Christopher Ames and Carolyn Shelby

Carolyn Shelby and Christopher Ames worked as professional screenwriters in Hollywood for more than 20 years, ending only one day when they woke up and realized they had lost the ability to spell and construct sentences.   At least, that’s what the studios thought… because they had just turned 50.

Prior to that, they had written the feature films (in a movie theatre) CLASS ACTION starring Gene Hackman, HYSTERIA – The Def Leppard Story, episodes of the TV show GROWING PAINS and several other series you haven’t heard of, and precisely 563,897 scripts for which they were paid but never got made.

They now live blissfully happy outside Portland Oregon… where they do NOT receive rewrite notes on their garden.

Recording of the session

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQV3aGlRZng&list=PLpeISb3slprfgPaIvb7Yy3zemnY0Aixag&index=2

Session 6   “The Magic of Metaphor, the Mystery of Memory: Creative Writing Exercises to Enrich and Enliven the ESL Classroom (Session 2)” by Cecilia Woloch

Recording of the session

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-N0d96CtIo&t=210s

Session 7 “Enhancing Cultural Competence by Teaching English in Photo Context”

This session will explore using photographs from Ukraine’s current war situation to teach English while fostering cultural awareness and empathy. Participants will learn to analyze images, create narratives, and discuss values and traditions, integrating visual literacy into their lessons. The workshop will highlight how photography can promote meaningful communication and critical thinking in the English classroom.

Presenters:

 Nataliia Pyliachyk is an Associate Professor at the Department of English Philology with a Ph.D. in Philology and the academic title of Associate Professor. Her research interests include Cognitive and Contrastive Linguistics, Linguocultural Studies, and CLIL Methodology. She has authored over 40 publications and has served as Deputy Dean of the Faculty of International Relations since 2010.

Olha Bilyk is an Associate Professor at the Department of English Philology with a Ph.D. in Philology. Her research focuses on Cognitive and Political Linguistics and English Language Teaching Methodology. An author of over 50 publications, she is also an accreditation expert for educational programs and a member of several professional organizations, including TESOL International and IATEFL.

Iryna Malyshivska is an Associate Professor at the Department of English Philology with a Ph.D. in Philology (2014). Her research interests include Comparative Studies, Intertextuality, Intermediality, and English Language Teaching Methodology. An author of over 40 publications, she supervises master’s theses and is a member of TESOL-Ukraine and the All-Ukrainian Association of Foreign Language Teachers.

Recording of the session

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F96gT4DSB2U&list=PLpeISb3slprfgPaIvb7Yy3zemnY0Aixag&index=1