The Ukrainian Ministry of Education recently introduced a requirement for professors across the country to demonstrate a working proficiency in English by taking an international English language exam within the next two years. Their performance on the test determines whether or not they will be offered another teaching contract. Furthermore, professors have not been provided any financial support to pay for the exam or preparatory language lessons.
In response, EL Fellow Thaddeus McCleary established a class for university professors and students in Vinnytsia, Ukraine to prepare for the TOEFL iBT exam. This four week program offered an easily accessible resource to help them meet this new government requirement. Interactive whiteboard based group activities allowed participants to work collaboratively to challenge each other in a game-like format, reducing the intimidation that students often feel when preparing alone for language proficiency exams. Working as a group, local professors and students supported each other while learning about the format of the four sections on the TOEFL iBT.