Institut Français Ukraine is creating an online platform where Ukrainian teachers will be able to share their experience and improve their skills, Fabrice Peutot, attache for cooperation in French, the Embassy of France in Ukraine, has said at a roundtable entitled "Will children know foreign languages after they complete the New Ukrainian School programme?" and co-organised by Gorshenin Institute and the British Council Ukraine.
"To motivate teachers and consequently improve the level of education in the country, you need to pay teachers more and teach them. Global studies attest to this. Teacher is in the focus of our attention. We have observed that we need to work on improving teachers' interaction skills, work with different groups to organise communicative learning. This was new to all teachers and they told us that they need more support in order to master this approach. Now we need to think about how to do this using the bottom-up approach and develop relevant projects. This approach is very motivating for teachers. They know what they need to learn in order to become a more effective teacher. The second important point is peer-to-peer exchange. And we need to think about how to create not only clubs for children but also clubs for teachers. With Institut Français, we are creating an online platform for educating teachers where they can share experiences. And for us as the main participants in the process of teaching the French language, this project is very important. We want to invite all teachers to this platform so that they can share their ideas," Peutot said.
He added that the modern world and the modern study of foreign languages have the same methods and the same goals regardless of a language of study.
"The main focus is on children's communication skills and their ability to speak. What is important for me in this reform is that we are focused not only on the languages and goals we have but also on the needs of children. The idea behind the New Ukrainian School is to help all children learn and master. All children should feel their success, this applies to all subjects, not just languages. An emphasis on children's needs is very important. The more languages you know, the more intelligent and open to the world you will be," Peutot concluded.