By Jackie Pollack
For the past ten months, senior Camryn Scott has been volunteering at a non-for-profit organization called ENGin. Via Skype, the program connects native English speakers with students learning English in Ukraine. ENGin allows Ukranian students to practice and improve their English proficiency.
Scott became interested in ENGin after Ms. Cassidy encouraged students in the National Honor Society to check it out for community service. Scott had to fill out an application and do an interview before starting to volunteer.
Using information from the application process, ENGin tries to match “buddies” based on similar academic interests, hobbies, and age.
Scott has been paired with three Ukrainian teenagers, ranging from ages 15 to 19. During her half hour sessions, she learns more about each teenager by having casual conversations about their lives, while they are simultaneously improving their English.
There are no lesson plans; they just talk about friends, school, or anything else that is on their mind at that moment. Throughout the sessions, Scott gives them some grammar suggestions and teaches them some informal English.
Scott said, “I love teaching them teenager ‘slang,’ such as ‘what’s up’ and ‘cool.’ They are really appreciative, and it makes me so happy to see their individual improvements each week. It’s also interesting to see how similar and different our lives are, since we live across the world from each other.”
Scott was interviewed by a Ukrainian news broadcasting network, which aired in Ukraine in October. The network translated Scott’s responses into Ukranian by using a voiceover.
Scott highly recommends volunteering at ENGin to other IHS students.
“The sessions go by so quickly, and the organization is really flexible with accommodating the volunteers’ schedules. You can always increase the length of the sessions and the number of students you want to work with. My experience with ENGin has been really rewarding.”
