On February 21, 2024, the International Institute of Education, Culture and Diaspora Relations, Lviv Polytechnic National University, presented a new alphabet book on the Ukrainian language as a foreign language «My Friends». The author of the book is Halyna Boiko, a research associate of IECDR. The event was dedicated to the International Mother Language Day, and it took place in a mixed format: offline in the Zachariewicz Hall in the University main building and online on the Zoom platform. The event was moderated by Oksana Horda, Candidate of Philological Sciences, senior researcher at the Institute. Educators from more than 30 countries of the world participated in the event.
«My Friends» by Halyna Boiko was created at the request of teachers of Ukrainian educational institutions from many countries around the world. Educators, who took part in the International Forums of Ukrainian Studies Saturday and Sunday Schools (2018, 2022), stated that there is an acute shortage of didactic materials for preschools and primary schools. «My Friends» is created for children aged 4–6 and is designed to meet teachers’ need for modern educational materials and to become an important component of patriotic education of Ukrainian children abroad. Due to the Russian-Ukrainian war, mass migration of Ukrainian women with children abroad and challenges of assimilation, the relevance of the Ukrainian alphabet only increased.
In her speech, Iryna Kliuchkovska, the IECDR Director, Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Honorary Professor of Lviv Polytechnic, noted that during the war, due to the forced migration of millions of Ukrainians, belonging to the Ukrainian state was determined primarily by the desire of people to keep in touch with Ukraine: «This is our humble contribution to the nationwide cause of fostering the identity of a Ukrainian abroad».
The author of the book, Halyna Boiko, made a detailed presentation of the structure and peculiarities of «My Friends» textbook: she spoke about the thematic and meaningful content of the publication; demonstrated pages from a class book, a workbook, and a teacher’s book; spoke about the methodological basis of the textbook and further work on the next part of the alphabet. According to the author, the alphabet «My friends» is actually a set of exercises and tasks, composed according to the levels of the Ukrainian language as a foreign language. There are thematic sections for each letter. The books were published in a small print run (200 copies). In such a way it will be possible to take into account the recommendations and wishes of everyone who will work with it, and later to publish an improved version.
Halyna Boiko emphasized that the textbook «My Friends» is designed to awaken children’s love and curiosity for our country: «Our friends abroad will become great patriots of Ukraine!»
The designer of the book, Iryna Bilous, shared her impressions of working on the textbook and the experience of working with a colleague. Together they created a bright and exciting manual, with which students have enough space to create and experiment: «In the book, we do not forbid drawing, sketching, writing, but encourage using white fields and free spaces for self-expression».
It was nice to hear that the publication’s materials are already being used in educational practices for Ukrainian as a foreign language at schools in Belgium, Germany, and Turkey. In particular, a teacher from Belgium, Nadiia Balych, has already had the opportunity to test the manual with her pupils at the Ukrainian Saturday School in Arlon. According to Mz. Balych, «My Friends» allows teachers to comprehensively and quickly prepare an interesting and vivid lesson for children – both the content of the manual and methodical recommendations for teachers contribute to this in every way: «Working abroad, Ukrainian teachers should look up to local ones. In Belgium, all primary teachers work with children interactively. The children who come on Saturday schools do not perceive classes in a different way. «My Friends» has lots of resources for that».
Reference
Halyna Boiko’s «My Friends» is an alphabet for children aged 4–6. It consists of a class book, a workbook and a teacher’s book (the book is available via the QR code included in the class book). «My Friends» enriched the collection of textbooks written by IECDR, including Catch Skovoroda (to the 300th anniversary of Hryhorii Skovoroda), Stories from Lesia’s Life (to the 150th anniversary of Lesia Ukrainka), Key to Ukraine: Cities and People in two parts, A Journey through Ukraine and others.
The project was implemented in accordance with the order of the head of the Regional Military Administration dated February 22, 2023 No. 78/0/5–23BA «On the approval of the Comprehensive program for strengthening the state-building and consolidation role of the Ukrainian language in the Lviv region for 2023–2026».
