Learning English from a native speaker can make a world of difference for students. Just ask any of the thousands of students at the 30 schools in 25 Bulgarian cities where Americans are working as English-language Teaching Assistants (ETA’s).
Education transcends borders and countries and while many people promote the merits of the internet as a teaching tool, a teacher will always be at the heart of education. Contact with someone outside of your daily experience can be life changing. This is now understood by the many students and ETA’s who worked together throughout the past school year.
Since 2009, America for Bulgaria Foundation and the Fulbright Bulgarian-American Education Exchange Commission have provided English-language teaching assistants from America to Bulgarian high schools. Apart from teaching English, ETA’s work with pupils and teachers to help their town and community through various charity initiatives and cultural events.
The June 8 – 11 annual meeting in Bourgas brought together the American teachers from all over the country along with their Bulgarian hosts. Each shared their experiences from the past school year, often with great emotion, highlighting English competitions, debates, literary essays and poetry, charity causes, volunteer initiatives, sports celebrations and concerts … And the school year was gone in the blink of an eye. On to the next!
