Ukrainain Culture and Education

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For class, I'm working with a Ukrainian ESL student, and we had to research the language and culture in order to know how to modify a lesson to meet the student's specific needs.  Here is some of my research (to be posted in more user-friendly format in the near future!)

Here are some interesting links – the last one is ESPECIALLY interesting AND informative about culture in particular (and mostly quite accurate!)!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_culture
http://www.ukraine.com/culture/
http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/ukraine.html
http://www.everyculture.com/To-Z/Ukraine.html
http://www.tryukraine.com/society/cultural_differences.shtml

And here is some information about the school system/education in Ukraine:

(The information is about a particular student whose name – and his parents’ names – were changed for confidentiality purposes, but the information can be pretty much generalized for Ukrainian students in America)

Although Tim went to school only in America from the beginning, I think his parents’ cultural experience with education in Ukraine affects the way they help Tim out and their attitude towards school. In Ukraine, education is quite different from our system in America.

First of all, every single school in Ukraine follows the same curriculum and a set program. Regardless of where a student lives or what school he goes to, he will be learning the same thing as a 3rd grader (for example) that every other 3rd grader in the country is learning. Teachers in Ukraine are very strict and demand a lot out of their students—the curriculum they follow is much more advanced than in the U.S., particularly in math. The “regular” curriculum is more advanced than the gifted and talented here in some ways; the types of classes they take, including specials, are the same, though harder as well, with greater expectations set for the students.

Assessments are quite different: homework, though not much, is given daily, and every day, students get graded for their homework randomly. The teacher calls a student (average of 3 times a week) to the board to answer one of the homework problems, and based on the neatness and correctness of the answer, he receives a grade for it. Work is done either as the entire class or individually; there is no small-group instruction. Cumulative tests are very short – math can be just 3 problems on the board that students need to solve; retakes are almost unheard of. Dictation assignments are given every day as well; the Ukrainian language is a phonetic one – how it is spoken is how it is written (in terms of spelling). There are no “silent e’s” or anything of the sort, like in the English language. The higher your grade level, the larger and more difficult the dictations get. Students are also expected to do a lot of memorizing (rules, poetry, etc.), and reading is constantly checked for speed and fluency (every grade level has a number of words students should be reading by the end of the school year) and for comprehension through summaries and retellings.
Neatness of handwriting and belongings is graded as well because teachers believe everyone and everything should be orderly. Cleanliness of the classroom is expected as well; though there are school janitors, 2 children stay after school every day to do a general cleanup of their classroom. Pretty much everything that the student writes is graded and averaged into a final grade. After-school programs are also offered for students to stay and complete their homework. Parents who work or have a lot of kids are the ones who usually take advantage of this program. Parent-teacher conferences are conducted with the entire class, and some teachers announce the grades of each child in front of everyone or call out students for bad behavior, so parents are always expecting their children to do well and behave. Otherwise, they embarrass the entire family at the meeting. Teachers do reward students for good behavior and good grades as well though.
Principals come to observe their teachers on a regular basis, and to see that each teacher is grading her students correctly, there are times even that the principal administers a short test and grades it, comparing the score to the scores the teacher has written down in her grade book. “Open lessons” are another common practice – parents and other teachers can come observe the teacher teaching a lesson.

Although Tim did not have this experience of attending school in Ukraine, his parents did. This influences their attitude towards school and how they raise Tim to react to it as well. Both parents were good students (Alex particularly), and the Ukrainian culture stresses that parents take a large portion of responsibility for their children’s schooling, not just leave it all up to the teacher. Unfortunately, neither is as involved as would be expected with the kind of educational upbringing they had. This is largely due to the language barrier – both parents speak very little English. Tim also does not get to practice his English at home either since all his siblings are younger than him and have not learned any English. Anna tries to help Tim as much as possible, but the help she can offer is not much. Another small part to the parents’ lack of involvement may also be because they have seen that the American school system holds almost no responsibility to the parents for their child’s education. This knowledge could have made them more relaxed about how Tim does in school and not as concerned to make sure Tim does well so they wouldn’t “be embarrassed” in front of the entire class and their parents, as would happen in Ukraine.

The fact that Tim is learning the Ukrainian language at the same time as he learns English may also affect his English skills, more so writing than reading. As mentioned before, the Ukrainian language is a phonetic one – the way the word is said is the way the word is written and read, no tricks and strange sounds. Each letter only makes one sound. Since Tim knows this about the Ukrainian language, reading and writing in English is even more complicated because he may want to write how he does in Ukrainian school – what is heard is what is written. Unfortunately, the English language has a lot more “tricks” to it. Being bilingual is a wonderful thing, and it should not hurt Tim in the long run, but there may be some short-term effects in his schoolwork if he confuses the two languages, through grammar, rules, similar letters, etc. In fact, research has shown that even if young children seem to learn a new language faster, it does not mean they learn it effortlessly.