Three very intensive days of TESOL-Ukraine Teacher Development Spring Institute in Odesa on June 25-27, 2019, gathered 55educators of from all areas of Ukraine. TESOL-Ukraine and the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine have been running a number of ELT projects over several years aimed at providing continuous professional development and sustaining an ELT professional network in Ukraine. The topic for TESOL-Ukraine Teacher Development Institute this year is “Critical Thinking for Media Literacy”. It was the third session of the Institute in 2019.
The program introduced teachers to different types of tools they could use in their teaching to encourage critical thinking in their students. The training were provided by Emile Todd Gable, Jr. – TEFL Volunteer, Peace Corps, Ashly Emerson – TEFL Volunteer, Peace Corps, Wendy Finlayson – English Language Fellow, U.S. Department of State, Shaun Hicks – TEFL Volunteer, Serhii Petrenko – Associate Professor, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, TESOL-Ukraine Newsletter Editor, and Maryna Tsehelska – Director, Educational Centre “Interclass”, Associate Professor, Kryvyi Rih State Pedagogical University.
Trainers focused on such important issues as 21st Century Skills: Focus on Media Literacy, Advertising, Thinking Critically about Ads and Targeting Audiences, Gender Representation in Mass Media, Separating Facts from Fiction, How to Analyze Media Messages and many others. They were equipped with the ideas on how to get started and introduce Media Literacy in your school or district. On the final day of the Institute participants presented their ideas in groups.
Now they are disseminating the gained knowledge in their institutions and reporting about the events to TESOL-Ukraine community.
Materials of the Teacher Development Institute can be found at https://www.facebook.com/groups/266646794086997/