Teacher Spotlights
Teacher Spotlights is our way of highlighting and getting to know the awesome teachers in our community and the amazing work they and their classes have been doing using DigiPals.
Meet Natalia Lisova
Natalia Lisova from Kiev, Ukraine. DigiPals connected our classes at the beginning of the 2020 - 2021 school year and because the students so enjoyed the relationships they established with their pen pals, we decided to continue our communication again this year. Natalia is an amazing educator. In late February 2022, with her city and country being invaded and at war, she has managed to continue to teach and engage her students via online learning. She found unique and creative ways to connect with her students and with my class in the United States despite the fact that her students had fled to Romania, Montenegro, UK, Poland, Germany, and other areas of Ukraine. Our most recent Zoom meeting took place just a few weeks ago and she was also able to connect with, and invite, her former American student teacher who by then was in Austria. Natalia is so truly dedicated to her students and their well-being. She believes bringing people together from different places fosters understanding and connection. I am so honored to be able to work with her and her class. My students have learned a lot about Ukraine and through their personal relationships with their pen pals in Ms. Lisova's class, have learned just how much in common they share with their friends a half a world away.
Meet Kerri Saulnier
My learners have been writing a lot of letters to Kerri's students. They answered all of them. We also recorded audios and videos! It was very exciting! Last May we sent a package to Kerri's students and they sent a package full of presents to us too! It was awesome!
I have been doing a lot of work) but anything would't work without Kerri and DigiPals team!
Meet Olena Plakhtiienko
Olena has continued to teach her students despite the war in Ukraine. Even though many of her students have had to go to different countries, she has continued to teach them via Zoom.
Meet Natalie Svirski
Natalie Svirski and I started working together about 4 months before COVID appeared. Exchanging letters or posts by padlet was an incredible experience. My students found friends from Israel and learned about its culture. As well as regular talks and role-plays, the students participated in creating collaborative culture exchanges. Every student made a video about Ecuadorian's information.
Additional Shout Outs!
The DigiPals team would also like to highlight the teachers below for taking part in our mini project in March 2022 to show love and support to Ukrainian students.
In total, 85 letters were written by students from the USA, Israel, and Portugal and were sent to students in Ukraine. These letters were kind, supportive, and sincere and appreciated so much. Thank you!
We would also like to highlight:
