Many Languages, One World

By Oksana Moroz, ELP Lecturer, Fulbright RecipientFive languages plus one person equals the world of friendship and opportunities. This simple equation describes who I am and what I gained with the help of my language skills.  I believe that global citizenship and cultural understanding can be achieved with the help of languages. Being a teacher of English as an additional language myself, I strongly agree that languages are powerful tools in discovering the world around us and critically reflecting on the concepts whirling everywhere in the world.  My main goal as a language teacher is to produce responsible citizens, who are fully competent language users, critical thinkers, and social change agents.My first English language textbook series that I really liked as a student was called Opportunities. Since that time, the word “opportunity” has been one of my favorite words in English because it succinctly describes how I feel about the English language and its global significance. During my undergraduate studies at university, I realized that I wanted to research English language teacher identity formation and gender’s influence on it. Since then, I have been trying to achieve needed competencies and skills in the sphere of teacher education. Working with people, tutoring kids in English, and volunteering are my favorite activities.To summarize, I believe that the Ukrainian phrase “the more languages you know, the more times you are a person,” is vivid, self-explanatory wisdom that can be applied to any person in the world. My experience has proved that being multilingual is a way to achieve cross-cultural understanding, creativity, innovation, collaboration, teamwork, and critical consciousness. I would like to stress the role of the teacher in the process of acquiring global citizenship and cross-cultural understanding. Teacher’s linguistic and instructional skills and intercultural competence greatly matter, so that the glocal (global plus local) needs of the students are met.