Participants of the Ivano-Frankivsk session of the Summer Institute in the auditorium of the Ivano-Frankivsk Lyceum number three
Bohdan Kolos for NP-UN.
Sharing with colleagues and friends in Ukraine
Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk were supposed to be cities relatively safe from the dangers of war, where we planned to conduct the Summer Institute teachers’ courses in Ukraine.
However, in the middle of the night, we were awoken to wailing air raid sirens. In the next moments, we heard gunshots. And in less than a minute, there were explosions.
As Canadian volunteer instructors for elementary and secondary teachers, we were aware of the dangers presented by the war situation in western Ukraine.
Later, we learned that Lviv Airport is approximately three kilometres from both our accommodation and the school where the courses were held.
It is frightening to be awoken by the sound of gunfire and explosions, not knowing what is taking place. Later, we learned that the gunshots were from territorial soldiers who raced to their designated high-rise roofs to get a better view and respond to incoming attacking russian missiles and Shahed drones.
When the sirens bellowed, we were usually guided to some underground “safe” locations. Although sirens were not heard daily this summer, it was hard to imagine having a class of preschool children and keeping them calm and engaged during such disruptions.
Our first week of classes took place in Lviv, and the second about two hours south, in Ivano-Frankivsk.
In both cities, in fact, throughout Ukraine, every morning at nine, radios and street loudspeakers would project a drumbeat, announcing a minute of silence for the Ukrainian lives lost during the continued russian invasion. All traffic stopped, and all pedestrians in the streets, and everyone in the schools stood in respect for the Ukrainian lives lost.
Our group of volunteer teachers from Canada, specialists in their respective fields of education, worked with teachers and administrators in Ukraine. We have been coming to Ukraine since the early 1990s, with breaks during the COVID years and the beginning of russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Our purpose is to continue sharing and demonstrating the various North American approaches to help students learn in elementary and secondary school settings.
Canadians Bohdan Kolos and Lily Hordienko directed their attention to senior school administrators. The participants were informed that their presentations were designed to provide additional and alternative sources of information to aid in dealing with parents, students and teachers.
Borislaw Bilash and his local team of teachers presented a hands-on, experiment-based approach to teaching science in the junior and senior grades.
Chrystia Zeltway brought manipulatives from Canada to demonstrate how to engage students in mathematics by using various props.
Iryna Perehinets worked with teachers and vice-principals by describing how to solve various issues in the school.
Oksana Wynnyckyj-Yusypowych, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Education, Lviv National University, presented the New Ukraine School programs (Нова Українська Школа), which are scheduled to be fully implemented throughout Ukraine by 2027.
Melanie Kovaluk and Sophia Berezowsky worked online from Canada with their teachers. Melanie described the psychology of students and various approaches to meeting their needs. Sophia Berezowsky shared a series of presentations on Literature education.
We were pleased to have over 450 participants from Western Ukraine attending our classes. All the Canadian presenters worked together with local Ukrainian colleagues. To facilitate the Canadian program, the in-services were supported and certified by Andriy Zakaliuk, the area Director of Education (Nachalnyk), and Lesia Prystavska, Nachalnyk of Continuing Education. The local coordinator and Ukrainian facilitator for the program was Kateryna Horokhowska, a former head of the Lviv Administration.
Most participants appreciated our input and expressed a desire to return the following year to continue new friendships and take advantage of the opportunity “to learn from the Canadians.”
The summer program was made possible through grants from the City of Lviv, Ukrainian Credit Union, Buduchnist Credit Union, and the Canada-Ukraine Foundation.
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