I wanted to take a second to give a shoutout to some pretty dang amazing Ukrainian nationals today!
If you haven’t noticed, I tend to use the word “counterparts” a lot.
Peace Corps really tries its best to promote sustainability, and it does that in Ukraine by co-teaching.
I mean, think about it. If I waltzed into a Ukrainian high school and started teaching English on my own, I’d be putting a Ukrainian out of a job. Not exactly fair, right?
So, Peace Corps assigns what are called “counterparts.” They’re the Ukrainian nationals that every volunteer works closely with in order to do their job well, and to do it as sustainably as possible.
Of course, Peace Corps counterparts work differently based on which sector a volunteer is serving in. For other sectors, like community and economic development, or youth development, volunteers have somewhat of a looser defined role.
But, for teaching volunteers, we co-teach English lessons with up to four counterparts.
Oksana is my main counterpart. She’s the one who met me in Kyiv during the Transition to Service conference, brought me back to Khmelnytskyi, introduced me to my host family and gave me my first tour of Gymnasium No. 2.
I also co-teach the greatest number of classes with her.
She’s also, hands-down, one of the most passionate educators I’ve ever met in my entire life. She’s always first to volunteer for something at any kind of Peace Corps training or conference. She’s so receptive to new teaching methods and ideas and takes frantic notes whenever she thinks something can be useful. She always asks me to teach her American slang and to explain American culture and customs. She makes time every week to take a break from lesson planning in order to get coffee and go for a walk just so we can talk. I’ve formed a genuine friendship with her and I really could not ask for a better primary counterpart.
And, personally, she’s incredible. She’s done so much to make me feel at home here in Khmelnytskyi! She spent my first few days introducing me to her favorite bazaar vendors, taking me shopping, arranging my manicure appointments for me and meeting with me every single day to make sure I was doing OK. She also spent hours reading through apartment listings and setting up apartment tours with me until I found a new apartment I was happy with.
It’s really hard to live in a foreign country most times, and Oksana genuinely tries her hardest to make sure that I’m comfortable and thriving.
She is wonderful.
Another counterpart I spend a lot of my time with is Tania.
Tania absolutely cracks me up.
She loves to pretend that she’s tired and lazy, but she’s actually one of the hardest-working teachers I know. She takes time to prepare all of her lessons and goes above and beyond to make custom PowerPoint presentations, to physically cut and tape as many pieces of paper as needed for whatever harebrained scheme I come up with during lesson planning: She does it all.
Ukrainians really aren’t known for their self-deprecating humor or sarcasm (something I personally struggle with A LOT) but Tania is SO SARCASTIC AND I LOVE IT. We have a similar sense of humor and she understands a lot of my side comments and remarks.
She also adores her daughter. She’s so proud of Masha and it’s my favorite. She always shows me photos of Masha in dance class, Masha with her Christmas gifts. She’s the most doting mother and it’s the sweetest!
And, finally, the two Irynas! I’m so bummed I (somehow?) don’t have individual photos with/of them, but luckily I have that wonderful photo above of all my counterparts.
Iryna Ya. is my host brother Vanya’s English teacher, so he’s in my class when I co-teach with her!
Iryna Ya. is so patient and motherly. One of the first times I spent time with her one-on-one, she brought me along on a class field trip to the movies. She sat next to me and explained the entire plot of the film to me, as well as its historical significance. After the movies, I had plans to get dinner with friends, and she personally walked me to the restaurant, just to make sure I was safe.
She recently gifted me a bunch of potatoes after she found out that I moved in by myself, just to make sure I wasn’t going to starve.
Iryna Yevhenivna teaches the younger fifth grade classes with me. We only co-teach twice per week, so my time with her is very limited.
She’s so soft-spoken and lovely. Like, she actually calls her fifth grade students her angels. How cute is that?! Her English isn’t as advanced as some of the other language teachers here — and I, uh, tend to talk fast — but she never loses her temper with me or gets frustrated when I accidentally slip into colloquialisms and slang. She’s so patient and kind when working with me.
・・・
So, those are my four counterparts! As you can see, I spend varying amounts of time with all of them, and work with them however they see fit.
Oksana and Tania are very hands-on and want me to give as much input as possible when it comes to lesson planning, whereas the Irynas are both a little more reserved in how much they’ll let me get away with. They both like to have a firmer control on their lesson plans, and prefer to use me either as help with pronunciation or as crowd control when we split students into groups.
Both methods of co-teaching are totally fine with me! Like I said, I am here so the Ukrainians can tell me how to do my job, not so I can tell them how to do theirs. I have such a great working relationship with all four of my counterparts for the most part. It’s definitely tricky sometimes and can be a little frustrating when a counterpart and I both have totally different visions for how to work through a lesson, but it’s honestly such a good lesson in compromise, communication and teamwork that I don’t think I’ve ever felt totally miserable or unsatisfied, no matter how frustrated I can get sometimes.
I’m truly looking forward to working with these four women — and the rest of the Gymnasium No. 2 teachers — for the rest of this school year and all of next!
This post was originally published Feb. 2, 2022. Its timestamp has been updated to better reflect the timeline of my Peace Corps service.
