Teachers for Ukraine Initiative
Kalina Papadimitriou has a diverse range of work experience in the field of education and language instruction. Kalina is the founder and administrator at the all-volunteer Teachers for Ukraine Initiative, which connects English language teachers with adult Ukrainians affected by the war for weekly online language instruction and support.
Additionally, they have worked as a course lecturer at McGill University School of Continuing Studies and as an English tutor, translator, and editor at The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and Sofia University.
Kalina has also held teaching positions at various institutions, including the British-Bulgarian Information and Language Center, Showa Women's University, Kanda University of International Studies, Meisei University, BBC Language and Culture Center, Sofia, Southern Taiwan University of Technology, and Gilbert Park Elementary School. In these roles, they taught a variety of English proficiency courses, developed teaching materials, designed syllabi and lesson plans, and provided instruction to students of different proficiency levels.
Kalina Papadimitriou earned a Bachelor's Degree in English Literature (British and Commonwealth) from American University in Bulgaria between 1994 and 1999. Kalina later pursued a Master's Degree in Applied Linguistics (Teaching English as a Second Language) at the University of Montana from 1999 to 2002.
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Teachers for Ukraine Initiative
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The all-volunteer Teachers for Ukraine initiative connects English language teachers and speaking partners from around the world with adult Ukrainians affected by the war for one hour per week of free, one-on-one, online language instruction, practice, and moral support. Each volunteer is paired with an adult Ukrainian student for individualized online lessons. All teachers are responsible for assessing their students’ needs and for preparing appropriate teaching materials. Our goal is to use our knowledge and skills as English language educators to help Ukrainians in need and to show our support for Ukraine. Please note that we are not a formal organization, but an informal volunteer teacher initiative run by one teacher, Kalina Papadimitriou in Canada, with the support of Dr. Marty Pilott in New Zealand. Together, we are an informal international community of hundreds of volunteer teachers supporting Ukraine. We do not have any funding and we do not accept any donations. We stand with Ukraine. We stand for peace. Our students are adult Ukrainians affected by the ongoing war in Ukraine - both refugees and Ukrainians still living in Ukraine. Most of our students are well educated professionals at various levels of English language proficiency, from Pre Intermediate to Upper Intermediate level. They are journalists, teachers, artists, lawyers, doctors, architects, managers, accountants, IT specialists, academics, economists, scientists, engineers, university students, etc. - wonderful people and motivated learners from all walks of life. We only offer online lessons to adult students – no children or minors. Between April, 2022 and September, 2023, we have registered and paired with teachers more than 1,000 adult Ukrainians. CONTACT INFORMATION: Website: https://www.teachersforukraine.org/ LinkedIn: Teachers for Ukraine Initiative Facebook Group: Teachers for Ukraine Email (Kalina - registration & Marty - academic support): teachersforukraine@gmail.com