The American technology company Coursera, which works in the field of online education, provides opportunities for teachers of higher education institutions to improve their professional and pedagogical skills.
Senior Lecturer of the Foreign Languages Department Tetiana Plokhuta successfully completed online courses through COURSERA authorized by the world’s top universities: courses authorized by McMaster University “Learning How to Learn: Powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects” (15 hours) and “Mindshift: Break Through Obstacles to Learning and Discover Your Hidden Potential” (10 hours); “The Science of Success: What Researchers Know that You Should Know” authorized by University of Michigan (12 hours); “Converting Challenges into Opportunities” authorized by University of California San Diego (12 hours); “Successful Career Development” authorized by University System of Georgia (21 hours); “Exploring Emerging Technologies for Lifelong Learning and Success” authorized by the State University of New York (6 hours); “The Science of Well-Being” authorized by Yale University (19 hours); “Creative Thinking: Techniques and Tools for Success University” authorized by Imperial College London (24 hours).
Tetiana Plokhuta received certificates.
So, you can always learn, you just need to learn a lot every day!

On November 9, 2020 a mini-tournament in badminton between the national teams of India and Ukraine was held in the gym of Sumy State University. A senior teacher of the Foreign languages department Oksana Hladchenko took part in this competition. The sportsmen from India won with the score 80:78.
Congratulations to the winners!

The Department of Foreign Languages in collaboration with the Department of German Philology held an interdepartmental scientific seminar "Modern Vectors of Linguistic Research: Cognitive Linguosynergetics". The speaker was Tatsenko Nataliia, PHD in Philology, Head of the Department of Foreign Languages of Sumy State University. Nataliia Tatsenko highlighted the achievements, prospects and challenges of modern linguistics, in particular, in the paradigm of cognitive linguistic synergetics.

The participants of the seminar explored the preconditions for the emergence of this new direction of linguistics, touched upon the history of synergetics, linguosynergetics and cognitive linguistics. The speaker involved the audience in a comprehensive analysis of the concept of EMPATHY, verbalized in modern English discourse. Among the issues discussed were also the issues of compiling explanatory dictionaries, the authors of which must respond to changes in society and update the content of lexicographical publications.

Presentation of the seminar

On September 10-13, 2020 in Koblevo an Open Championship of Mykolaiv region in badminton took place. Masters of badminton rackets from all over Ukraine and guests from India and Moldova took part in this tournament. About 190 sportsmen met at the courts during the competition.
The representatives of SSU, senior teacher of the Foreign languages department Oksana Hladchenko and senior teacher of the Physical education department Antonina Siryk won in pair category 55+.
Oksana Hladchenko became a winner in mixed category 55+ and took the gold.

The new academic year began with improvement of methodical skills of our foreign language teachers. The Head of the department Nataliia Tatsenko and teachers Nataliia Usenko, Svitlana Zolotova, Nataliia Mulina, Tetiana Aleksakhina, Svitlana Podolkova, Iryna Bashlak, Alla Diadechko took part in online training “Typical mistakes of Ukrainian Higher Education learners and how teachers can deal with them” conducted by the International Methodical Center Dinternal Education as a part of the season of exclusive online trainings “New teaching horizons: shaping the future of learning” for teachers of higher educational institutions. Speaker of online training Graham Jones is a famous linguist of the Great Britain. All participants received certificates.
Victoriia Kurochkina became the participant of online conference and online webinar “Best ways to engage young learners” conducted by Macmillan Education.
We wish our teachers further professional development and creative inspiration!

Sumy State University entered the TOP-3 of the academic ranking of higher education institutions of Ukraine "TOP-200 Ukraine-2020", following only the National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute” and Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. Last year SumDU took the sixth place in the general ranking of HEIs and the third among classical universities following Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and the V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University.

The ranking was presented by the Center for International Projects "Euroeducation" in partnership with the international group of experts IREG Observatory on Academic Ranking and Excellence.

University closures due to the quarantine have evoked new challenges for thousands of teachers worldwide. Instructors of the department share their emotions on distance teaching and learning.

“At this time when we are working distantly, I'm happy to use Skype. This is a live chat. This is a real lesson where you see the faces of students, their emotions. The possibilities are huge. You demonstrate videos, pages of texts, have the opportunity to write, draw in real time using different colors to underline or highlight necessary elements. As well as that you have the option to enable audio recording. Nevertheless, some students who are at home in the villages are at disadvantage. Internet connection and communication is not always of high quality there, sometimes very poor. In this case MIX (mix.sumdu.edu.ua) also becomes unavailable. When connection is  restored, they are calling and writing. The teacher needs to re-connect to get to talk to them. It is very distracting and annoying for teachers." – Iryna Bashlak.

“Getting to know how to work with different online platforms and online resources is a skill that is badly needed nowadays. Using MEL, Kahoot, Nearpod makes classes more relaxed.” – Svitlana Mikhno.

Seniour instructor Oksana Hladchenko is teaching Ukrainian to Leah Felt, a Peace Corps (USA) volunteer. Leah had to come back to the USA (Olbany, New York) because of the quarantine, but is eager to continue learning Ukrainian and looking forward to do volunteering in Ukraine soon. These regular remote classes help her tune in to our country.

"Thanks to the quarantine I have more time and opportunities for science and professional development." –Tetiana Pochatko.

"Students get lots of emotions from our online classes. Not only from learning, but also from seeing each other." - Natalia Usenko.

“We manage to combine all types of activities. The only problem is poor Internet connection at times." - Yulia Kozachenko

“We have classes according to the schedule using Google Meet." - Maryna Dunaeva.

"Working remotely with optimism! It has turned out that communication with students and colleagues activates and motivates to action – having webinars on the use of online classes and lectures." – Svitlana Zolotova.

 

 

Dear students!

 Due to the introduction of quarantine, the department switches to distance learning. For advice and further clarification, contact your teachers via emails (can be found below) or by correspondence through the SumyState University personal cabinet (cabinet.sumdu.edu.ua)

Resources for distance learning can be found by the links:

https://mix.sumdu.edu.ua/ 

https://elearning.sumdu.edu.ua/ 

https://examenarium.sumdu.edu.ua/ 

https://dl.sumdu.edu.ua/ 

https://ocw.sumdu.edu.ua/ 

№	ПІБ (українською)	Посада	First name (ім’я англійською)	Last Name (Прізвище англійською)	Email (корпоративна електронна пошта)
1.	Плохута Тетяна Миколаївна	Старший викладач кафедри іноземних мов СумДУ	Tetiana	Plokhuta	This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
2.	Литвиненко Галина Іванівна	Завідувач кафедри іноземних мов СумДУ	Galyna	Lytvynenko	This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
3.	Зайцева Інна Олексіївна	Старший викладач кафедри іноземних мов СумДУ	Inna	Zaitseva	This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
4.	Козаченко Юлія Сергіївна	Старший викладач кафедри іноземних мов СумДУ	Yuliya	Kozachenko	This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
5.	Симоненко Наталія Олександрівна	Викладач кафедри іноземних мов СумДУ	Nataliia	Symonenko	This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
6.	Золотова Світлана Григорівна	Старший викладач кафедри іноземних мов СумДУ	Svitlana	Zolotova	This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
7.	Початко Сергій Васильович	Викладач кафедри іноземних мов СумДУ	Serhiy	Pochatko	This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
8.	Нефедченко Оксана Іллівна	Викладач кафедри іноземних мов СумДУ	Oxana	Nefedchenko	This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
9.	Мальована Ніна Володимирівна	Старший викладач кафедри іноземних мов СумДУ	Nina	Maliovana	This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
10.	Курочкіна Вікторія Семенівна	Старший викладач кафедри іноземних мов СумДУ	Victoria	Kurochkina	This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
11.	Муліна Наталія Ігорівна	Доцент кафедри  іноземних мов СумДУ	Nataliia	Mulina	This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
12.	Алексахіна Тетяна Олексіївна	Старший викладач кафедри іноземних мов СумДУ	Tetiana	Aleksakhina	This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
13.	Міхно Світлана Василівна	Викладач кафедри іноземних мов СумДУ	Svitlana	Mikhno	This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
14.	Усенко Наталія Миколаївна	Старший викладач кафедри іноземних мов СумДУ	Nataliia	Usenko	This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
15.	Дядечко Алла Миколаївна	Доцент кафедри  іноземних мов СумДУ	Alla	Diadechko	This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

Teachers are constantly improving their professional skills by participating in various trainings and academic internship programs.

On February 22-23, 2020 teachers of the Department of Foreign Languages Oksana Gladchenko, Svitlana Zolotova, Viktoria Kurochkina, Iryna Morozova and Svitlana Podolkova took part in scientific and practical trainings for English language teachers at Camp Excite 2020, the topics of which were "Inclusive Education" and "Innovations in the Classroom". The training program included: "Trivia Games", "Descriptive Writing", "Lesson Planning", "Activity Games", "Anti-Bullying", "Using Pop Culture at English lessons" and more. For several years in a row our teachers have been participating in Camp Excite trainings initiated by US Peace Corps volunteers in Ukraine.

On February 19, 2020, a training for trainers "Methodology of Conducting Trainings" (with the example of the training "Prevention and Overcoming of Professional Burnout") was attended by Svitlana Zolotova, Alla Dyadechko, Viktoria Kurochkina and Natalia Mulina. The trainers were Andriana Kostenko and Kristina Sakhno. During the training participants had the opportunity to get acquainted in practice with the tasks of the training and its design; training methodologies; key competencies of a trainer; how to evaluate results; develop training components etc.

In June 2019 Svitlana Zolotova had her professional development on the topic: "Modern Methods Of Learning, Teaching And Research Development, Distance Education And Intercultural Communication In The All-European Educational Space" in Metropoltan University (Prague, Czech Republic). The training program included the following courses: The Bologna Process As The Basis For The Development Of Higher Education Systems In The EU (10 Hours), Modern And Innovative Methods In The Educational Process, The Integration Of Science And Practice (28 Hours), Scientific And Pedagogical Professional Development (14 Hours), Distance Learning Technologies In Higher Education (28 Hours), The Use Of Blended Learning (14годин), Internationalization Of Educational Process And The Academic Mobility Of Teachers And Students: Modern Education System In Europe, The UK And The USA (8 Hours) The Use Of Innovative Methods And Technologies In The Educational Process etc.

We wish our teachers not to stop in learning and continue their professional development!

 

We congratulate our colleagues Halyna Lytvynenko and Svitlana Zolotova on taking the third prize in Pedagogical Innovations Contest 2019 held at Sumy State University. In the nomination "Education For Life, Postgraduate Education And Professional Development" they presented their work on the topic "Implementation Of Extracurricular Activities In A Foreign Language For Postgraduate Students And Staff As A Component Of Professional Development". We are proud of our leaders!