Instructors of the Department of Foreign Languages ​​Inna Zaitseva, Nina Maliovana and Svstlana Mikhno participated in the trainings "Incorporating Media Literacy in the 21st Century" held on November 22-23 at the Sumy State University Congress Center.  Teachers got acquainted with the peculiarities of introduction of elements of media literacy in the process of learning English, the use of media resources, their possible benefit and harm to humans, ability to protect themselves from negative information influences and navigate freely in the world of information.  Media awareness as a component of media education is an important component of its modernization, which will help to build an information society in the country.

Instructors of the Foreign Languages Department ​​Natalia Usenko and Marina Dunaeva took part in the events dedicated to International Cooperation Days on October 23-24, 2019, which were held at Sumy State University. They attended the exhibition "International Face of SSU", presentations of EU Erasmus + programs, trainings and open lectures on academic mobility, learned about the implementation of grant projects and the development of project ideas. The presentation on how to write motivational letters for exchange programs for students and teachers, as well as the presentation of their own experience of international collaboration by David Quinn and Elena Somoza of the Institute of Artistic Design and Technology of Ireland, were very relevant. A practical workshop on the main aspects of international cooperation proved to be very interesting for teachers. We are sure that knowledge and skills gained at the event will be beneficial for the implementation of projects at the department.

Fourth year in a row Svitlana Mikhno, the instructor of the Foreign Languages Departmenmt is an active participant of the teachers’ competition devoted to using students’ mobile devices for studying.

In 2019 her work is about the opportunities provided by MIX (SSU) platform for studying foreign languages (English and Latin with medical terminology), visualization in particular.

More information is available at https://sites.google.com/a/cct.sumdu.edu.ua/m-edu/.

The instructor of the foreign languages department Nina Maliovana did a professional development course in Germany in the education center for the adults of VHS DVV International in Fridrikhsgafen. The topics of the course included: Globalization (Ulrike Müller von Kralik), Cross-Cultural Difference, Challenges and Choices in an insecure world (Anne Kuypers, Andrea Veit), Challenges to National Security, The Challenge of Moral Leadership, Personal Security: Challenges and Choices, Economic Security: The Challenges of Poverty, Millennials’ Attitudes Toward IT Consumerization in the Workplace (Dante Ackermann, Kim Beck), Education : Scale or Fail, Speech Emotion Recognition, Never Ending Learning, Toward Sustainable Access; the Future Communication etc.

On July 19-21, Sumy hosted the All-Ukrainian Badminton Competition "Summer Cup 2019". The instructor of the Foreign Languages Department  Oksana Hladchenko, along with Antonina Sirik, got the first place.

Congratulations to the champions!

The English for Universities Project initiated by British Council Ukraine (2015 – 2018) involved thirty-two Ukrainian universities aiming to improve the quality, in higher education contexts, of both English for Specific Purposes (ESP) teaching and of English-Medium Instruction (EMI). On February 19, 2019 the impact of the project in Ukrainian Higher Education was officially presented. The instructor of the Foreign languages department Svitlana Mikhno was honoured to visit the presentation. There is strong evidence that it influenced significantly on the design, organisation and assessment of ESP courses, the classroom practices of ESP teachers changed, EMI lecturers felt it led to changes in the way they plan and deliver lectures.

The teacher of the Foreign languages department Inna Zaitseva participated in the Language Training Course  “Teaching Technical German”  that was held at Kyiv National Polytechnic University on December 2-9. The lecturers of the course Ania Lange and Silmenau Selma Zagman  tackled the issues of different approaches on teaching technical German to university students.

Trainings on building assessment skills of University teachers took place at Sumy State University. The instructor of the Foreign languages department Svitlana Mikhno participated in the trainings guided by professor John Pill. The obtained skills and knowledge help effectively evaluate students’ progress while teaching English for Specific Purposes.

An instructor of the foreign languages department Oksana Gladchenko has been selected to train volunteers at the US Peace Corps in Ukraine. American volunteers may serve in three projects: Teaching English as a Foreign Language, Youth Development, and Community Development. The projects include teaching English in secondary schools, universities and teacher training schools, cooperation with local departments of family, youth and sport to provide young Ukrainians assistance needed to achieve success in their career and in life, cooperation with non-governmental organizations, local government organizations, local executive authorities and business structures. For three months Oksana works as a language and cultural facilitator with volunteers who will later work with students, teachers, youth and local communities. We wish our colleague success!