On April 30, 2020, the International Institute of Education, Culture and Diaspora Relations, Lviv Polytechnic National University, at the invitation of its longtime partner, the International Educational Coordinating Council (IECC) of the World Congress of Ukrainians (UWC), held the first of a series of planned by IECDR webinars for educators of Ukrainian studies abroad «Portal «Step to Ukraine»: educational resources for teachers to help distance learning». IECDR webinars are well integrated into a series of such events launched by IECC in response to new challenges.
IECDR, as an institution that constantly cooperates with Ukrainians from abroad, in particular in the field of education, supporting Ukrainian schools in the world, joined the process of organizing distance learning. The achievements of the Institute, in particular materials on the Ukrainian language as a foreign or inherited, which are posted on the portal «Step to Ukraine», became especially relevant, and therefore, in response to today’s requests, they were presented at the webinar.
Educators from different countries and continents, including Australia, South Africa, Canada, Germany and the UAE, joined the webinar.
At the beginning, Iryna Kliuchkovska, Director of IECDR, introducing the presenters, touched upon the issue of creating and developing a new project. «Ukrainian Educational Universe Portal» will allow educators of Ukrainian studies from all over the world to effectively communicate and jointly create educational and methodological support for their schools, and present to the whole world Ukrainian studies at Saturday and Sunday Schools as well as at higher education institutions.
The webinar was presented by leading IECDR specialists – Olena Mytsko and Nataliia Martynyshyn. The speakers told about:
- large-scale educational project of IECDR «Step to Ukraine»;
- the structure and content of the interactive portal «Step to Ukraine», created to help all those who teach and study the Ukrainian language as a foreign or inherited;
- the specifics of educational materials «Step to Ukraine» and the possibility of their use in working with students of different ages;
- organization of the educational process for children of preschool and primary school age with the use of materials from the portal «Step to Ukraine» for children.
After the speakers’ presentations, the participants of the webinar had the opportunity to ask questions and get them answered.
At the end of the webinar its participants expressed gratitude and appreciation of the work of IECDR in the field of education. Also it was announced about the next webinar, which will take place on May 4 and will be dedicated to Lesia Ukrainka. IECDR staff will present the project «Stories from Lesia’s life».
