Organized within the grant awarded by the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine,

 the 2019 Sumy Media Literacy Institute

 “Incorporating Media Literacy in English Language Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century”

 aims to create a platform for the Ukrainian EFL teaching community to:

  • get hands-on experience in innovative teaching techniques and approaches
  • increase awareness of the importance of media literacy 
  • receive a framework to access, analyze and evaluate media in a variety of forms.

 The 2019 Sumy Media Literacy Institute was a success thanks to wonderful colleagues, presenters, participants and student volunteers.

I’m grateful to work with such a stellar group of dedicated educators. Special shout out to Iryna Liashenko and Lyudmyla Hnapovska at Sumy State University for the countless hours you put into making this idea come to life and for all the hours of lost sleep. And a big thanks to Nataliya Golubkova and Andriy Kovalenko at Sumy State Pedagogical University for supporting us.

Day One started with a morning show interview at the local news station, another interview with the university press, then a welcome speech and three workshops.

It was an exhausting weekend but well worth the efforts. 

Wendy Finlayson, U.S. Department of State-sponsored English Language Fellow