Joint TESOL & IATEFL Ukraine Summer Institute, 2006

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THE MEMORIES THAT ARE STILL ALIVE

by

MARYNA PERVOVA
Teacher-methodologist
TEA alumna, 2002
Specialized secondary school #22
with intensive English learning
Mykolayiv

I’ve just arrived home in my native city of Mykolayiv and started writing an article about the fabulous event which took place on the Crimean coast.

The Summer Institute in Alushta (June 25 – July 6, 2006) will stay in my memory quite vividly. This is one more best experience I’ve recently had. It was a Joint (TESOL Ukraine and IATEFL Ukraine) Summer Institute “Learning, Teaching, Assessment: Issues and Challenges” in association with the U.S. Embassy and British Council, Ukraine. After a tough competing process 45 teachers from Ukraine and 5 teachers from Azerbaijan, Moldova, Belorus were lucky to be selected as the participants of the Summer Institute. The three strands on “Teacher Development”, “English for Specific Purposes” and “Assessment” were taught by the team of highly professional trainers from Ukraine, Georgia and the USA. The participants were arranged in these three strands according to their statements of purpose which they had to attach to their application forms.

I was happy to find myself in the “Assessment” strand. On the whole there were 17 teachers of secondary schools and higher institutions in this strand. The lectures and practical sessions were delivered by two experienced trainers: Christine Coombe, Ph.D. English Faculty/Assessment Leader (USA) and Olha Yashenkova , Professor and Associate Chair, Linguistics Faculty, Kyiv National University (Ukraine). This strand covered the following areas: assessment basics, assessment development process, test specifications, assessing speaking, listening, reading and writing, statistics, test-taking strategies. We were not only passive listeners but also active participants in our strand. All the 17 teachers were involved in different kinds of activities: figuring out type and layout of tests, test specifications, spotting mistakes in test formats, interviewing, acting out role-plays, suggesting test-taking strategies, defining cornerstones of assessment, giving our own recommendations for developing school-leaving tests, etc. At first all seemed really difficult for me but due to our tolerant trainers I realized that assessment was worth speaking about. My studies weren’t in vain. I obtained a lot of important information which will be helpful for me in the future (I’ll be able to compose tests by myself in the correct way, moreover, I’ll be able to assess students fairly good without inflating or lowering their marks). I met a lot of interesting for me people from different cities and towns of Ukraine and this interaction helped me know more about ways of teaching English, developing and assessing tests in various educational establishments.

However, it doesn’t mean that we were busy all day long. We had a nice time at the seaside during the second half of the day. All of us had a splendid opportunity to know each other better during this time of the day. I can’t forget our farewell party on the eve of our departure. Each strand made some kind of a cool performance to memorize their stay here, in Alushta. It was something unforgettable!

The most touching moment of the last day was giving all the participants certificates proving successful completion the 60-hour course with a particular focus on a definite strand you were in.

The Summer Institute in Alushta turned out to be a superb act of mutual tolerance, respect and understanding. Now I’ll try my best to disseminate the info I’d acquired at the Institute amongst the teachers of our city and region to familiarize them with the notion “assessment” and all related to this.

I’d like to give special thanks to Lisa Harshbarger, Regional English Language Officer, U.S. Embassy, Kyiv, Svitlana Radziyevska, Vice-President TESOL-Ukraine, Nina Lyulkun, Ex-president TESOL-Ukraine, Alyona Sukhinina, RELO Assistant, U.S. Embassy, Kiev, Lilya Shylo, Cultural Affairs Officer, Public Affairs Section, U.S. Embassy Kyiv, Tatyana Karpova, President IATEFL Ukraine, Oleksandr Shalenko, ELT Co-ordinator, British Council, Ukraine and other officials who gave us a wonderful chance to attend the Summer Institute in Alushta.