Within the framework of The Virtual English Language Educator Program, implemented with the support of the Regional English Language Office of the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine (Jen McArthur, Liliia Shylo), cooperation with a new virtual educator, Kenyon Whitehead, began on September 28 at the Department of English Philology and Linguodidactics of the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Social Sciences (FISF) of Sumy State Pedagogical University (Head of Department: Hanna Podosynnikova, Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Associate Professor; Coordinator: Viktor Bondarenko, Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor).
Ms. Whitehead has solid academic and professional training in the English language and its teaching. She holds a Master’s degree in Modern English Language from the University of Nottingham (UK), a Diploma of English Language Teaching to Adults (DELTA) from the Centro de Lenguas e Intercambio Cultural (CLIC) in Seville, Spain, and a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) certificate from International TEFL and TESOL Training (ITTT).
This academic year, Ms. Whitehead will work as the department’s virtual educator and will conduct interactive classes for students in the educational programs “Secondary Education (English and German Languages)” and “Secondary Education (English and French Languages),” specialty A4 Secondary Education (English Language and Foreign Literature). The online classes involve active interaction with participants and are aimed at improving speaking and communication skills, developing analytical thinking, and fostering intercultural awareness.
For students, working with a virtual educator is an opportunity to practice English in live conversation with an experienced specialist, to become familiar with the British academic tradition, and to receive feedback from a native-speaker instructor. Such experience helps build confidence in fluent English, which is an important component of the professional training of future teachers.
The Virtual English Language Educator Program is a significant step toward improving the quality of professional training for future English teachers, contributes to the expansion of international partnerships, and creates unique conditions for direct communication with experienced native-speaker instructors. The Department of English Philology and Linguodidactics sincerely thanks the Regional English Language Office of the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine for its support and for the opportunity to join this program.