Teacher Perspectives

English Language Fellow Mike Martucci, an experienced English teacher, program administrator, and sports coach from California, organized an America Days program in his host city Donetsk, Ukraine at Donetsk University, with the hope of giving students a taste of American culture.

“The opportunity for the university community and the community at large to interact with me, and me with them, is so valuable and important as a two way street of cooperation and understanding in our increasingly global environment,” says Martucci.

Mr. Hananto has been so inspired by the resources available through American English, he has created a template for his students to use to learn difficult English words. “I created EVE (Excellent Vocabulary Exercises), a template in Excel for my students to make a vocabulary notebook of the words they don’t know."

“I really enjoy sharing knowledge, meeting a lot of new people, and helping them to improve their language capabilities,” says Gita Nasution, an English teacher in Indonesia.

“Having built friendships with a small group of Tunisian teachers on Facebook, I arrived in the country optimistic that my program would be well-received,” says Jason Levine, of the Teacher-Training Program in Tunisia.

For Harold, EFL teaching was the result of a small coincidence and lots of dedication. A student at a public university in his city, Harold studied Systems Engineering. The fact that most of his books were written in English in the late 1990s pushed him to study English and later to teach it. He found in teaching a lifestyle full of motivation, work and fun.

Bilingual Educator Sergio Enrique Gomez Fajardo is committed to improving his students’ English skills.

“I am convinced that my role as a bilingual educator is to be a guide, a person who helps students find the best way to learn,” says Gomez. “I try to create a comfortable environment in which students are encouraged to learn more and more. In this way I can bring about a real necessity for improving English and getting more in contact with the culture of the language they are learning.”