Teacher Award – The Pearson English Global Teacher Award

The Pearson English Global Teacher Award 2019 was awarded to Europe and Central Asia, and Tatiana Kulynok is the emblem of the great teacher. Tatiana believes that our role as a teacher is to share our knowledge with students. For Tatiana, our role as an English teacher is to inspire, support and help from generation to generation. Jeremy Harmer, the author and methodological legend in the field of EFT, talked to Tatiana during IATEFL in Kyiv to learn more about her “own” experience and what he was doing in the classroom. She likes that there are things that she can only express in Russian and Ukrainian, and there are other things that she can only express in English, “but I will be a full person when I speak these languages,” says “she. The student returned to thank Tatiana for her “help” as an English teacher. According to her, the role of the teacher is to know and understand the students, especially those with psychological problems. We see and feel our students more than anyone else,” she says, “and that gives teachers a better understanding of how they can help,” she continues. She also likes to use songs, integrating English into her culture and inspiring her “students” to read. Her parents were teachers, as were her sister and “she”, who have been teaching English in high school for eighteen years. Tatiana also has difficulty learning English. As Jeremy Harmer said to the jury, he was “very touched” by Tatiana’s commitment to education in difficult situations and how important it is to maintain hope. It is this determination and love for her community that made Tatiana one of the winners among more than 400 candidates. “When I choose a song so that they can work freely, I stay home all night and do the same because I have the same problems as them and we do it together, like the rest of my family,” he laughs. But she also believes that we should allow our students to study outside the classroom and become “active members of our society” through volunteering. Speaking English is like being someone else for Tatiana.