Student spends two weeks as a guest teacher at Poltava National Pedagogic University

Emily Roche, a second year undergraduate student, has completed a two-week teaching placement in Poltava, Ukraine, as a guest of the English department.

Emily's guest teacher role follows exchange visits of staff between Poltava and Leeds in 2016 and the visit of three BA English, Language and Education students last year.

In return for free accommodation in a student block, Emily (pictured centre) taught in a local secondary school as well as taking part in two seminars with students of English Philology at the university. She was struck by how much the school students seemed to enjoy learning English. Apart from the teaching experience, she faced the challenge of continental weather –  days 1 & 2 saw thick snow; on day 3 it was bright sunshine and 23 degrees centigrade.  

Tetyana Lunyova, Lecturer in English Philology at PNPU, said: “Both my university and the school have benefitted a lot from Emily’s visit. All of us appreciate Emily’s readiness to help, her thorough preparation for the classes and other events, the respect she expressed to all of us, her patience, her openness.