Ukraine Educator Encourages Peers
A Compassionate Heart
Irina has always loved children. Her heart for them began when, as a single woman, she adopted four children. After becoming a mother, she switched from teaching English a university to teaching English in an elementary school.
”After the kids appeared in my life, I started thinking about working closer to home,” Irina said. “When my mother and father passed away, this necessity became urgent.”
Irina saw that teaching children was very different from teaching adults. She and her colleagues experienced new challenges on a daily basis.
Irina remembers meetings where teachers discussed dealing with difficult students. “It is very painful for all teachers to have students who don’t respect the learning.
Their behavior shows up because of some problems in their lives.”
Irena has three difficult students in her class this year. She has developed special relationships with them.
Now that her own children are in school, Irina has been increasingly involved with the International School Project in Ukraine after a fellow teacher invited her to an event.
Since then, Irina’s compassion for children and sympathy for her colleagues has caused her to help lead seminars, training teachers to be more effective in the classroom.
