The workshop was organized by the University of South Carolina (USC), and ran from July 1 – July 22, 2011. I spent two weeks in Columbia, the capital of South Carolina.
Those weeks were both exciting and tough enough as we had very intensive classes devoted to various aspects of language teaching: pronunciation, reading, grammar, vocabulary and listening.
We also learned a lot about leadership training and sharing strategies. In the evening we enjoyed some lighter activities such as sightseeing tours, shopping trips, host family visits, etc.
Pronunciation class with Ann Janosik
Our major assignment was a project dealing with U.S. culture and customs. My team’s topic was about “the Seven Wonders of South Carolina.” We chose the seven brightest moments of our trip around SC and prepared a presentation. I guess it was a success!
During our Access program we were engaged in social work as well. We visited the Department of Juvenile Justice and talked to young adults about our countries.
We spent our third week in Washington DC. We went sightseeing, visited museums and of course, more shopping!
My team : Ubedulla (Pakistan), Sophial (Bangladesh), Nelly (the Philippines), Anastasiya (Ukraine), Manar (Palestine)
One day was devoted to a visit to the U.S. Department of State, where we had a chance to meet the sponsors of the program and get a lot of useful information for teachers available on-line and in magazines.
All in all, my time at the Access Teacher Workshop was an invaluable experience in studying the methodology of English language teaching, learning a great deal about U.S. geography, history and culture, and getting acquainted with marvelous and friendly Americans.
It was also a chance to make really good friends with the other teachers in my group and find out about each other’s cultures and traditions (taking into account that there were 23 teachers from different parts of the world, this was no small thing!!!), and to educate them about Ukraine and our culture.
The English Access Teachers at the National Mall, Washington, DC
I would say my time in the Access Teacher’s workshop was the best, brightest, loveliest and most educational month in my life.
Below please find a couple of online resources and sites related to my trip.
http://exchanges.state.gov/americanenglishonline/index.html
http://exchanges.state.gov/englishteaching/forum-journal.html
http://exchanges.state.gov/englishteaching/resources-et.html
http://exchanges.state.gov/englishteaching/reg-el-officers.html
https://www.facebook.com/pages/English-Access-Microscholarship-Program-Headquarters/
http://accessnetwork.ning.com/
http://www.tesol.org – the website for TESOL
Posted by By Anastasiya Avdeyeva, Access program teacher.Blogs of the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv can be found at http://usembassykyiv.wordpress.com/
