Finding
a Common Language
Visiting professor helps
By
Nadia Prokopchuk
During the winter term of the 2005/2006
academic year, the Prairie Centre for the Study of Ukrainian Heritage at St.
Thomas More College (STM), University of Saskatchewan, hosted a visiting
professor, Dr. Olena Huzar, Chair of Ukrainian Philology, from the Ternopil’ National Pedagogical
University (TNPU) in Ukraine.
Dr. Huzar’s visit to the
STM was made possible through a postdoctoral Neporany Fellowship, which was
awarded to her by the Canadian Foundation for Ukrainian Studies. The award is
administered by the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS) at the
While in
Dr.
Huzar’s continuing professional interest in the area of Ukrainian language
education also led to collaboration on two initiatives with Saskatchewan
Learning and the Saskatchewan Teachers of Ukrainian (STU). These initiatives
will no doubt have positive benefits on teaching and learning strategies used
in Ukrainian language programs at all levels of instruction, including
pre-kindergarten, kindergarten to grade 12 and post-secondary.
The first initiative with
Dr. Huzar involved on-site classroom research in order to observe the ways in
which English-language knowledge has influenced Ukrainian-language speech
patterns. Dr. Huzar visited several Ukrainian-language classrooms during the
month of February. She kept a running
record of student’s vocabulary that sounded somewhat inaccurate or awkward from
the perspective of a native speaker of Ukrainian. Working together with the
Ukrainian Education Consultant from Saskatchewan Learning, Dr. Huzar’s observations
were charted, analyzed and presented at the Saskatchewan Teachers of Ukrainian
(STU) Annual Conference held on
The STU conference
session, titled English Language Interference in Ukrainian Language Learning,
brought to light some problem areas where the influence of English was most
evident. For example, English-speaking
students quite naturally transfer the use of verbs such as (to like),
(to get) or (to put) into
Ukrainian sentences.
In many cases, a more
accurate or more specific Ukrainian verb is needed for clarity. Confusion with
‘false friends’ and ‘false cognates’ is another common problem in Ukrainian, as
well as most other languages. In the case
of false cognates, a Ukrainian word may sound similar to its English
counterpart, yet its meaning or interpretation may be different when used by
native speakers. Examples include (which
means meeting in
False friends are words
which may carry two different meanings, often as a result of historical
circumstances, cultural assimilation or local preferences. Examples include words such as (fruit in
Ukrainian language students can benefit
from explicit instruction about these differences. They will eventually be more
prepared to read Ukrainian information on the internet, in newspapers, books or
television programs, or to converse with speakers of Ukrainian from other parts
of the world. Students will also grow in their appreciation and understanding
of the language differences they will hear when travelling to
The STU session offered a
number of practical suggestions for alternate verb choices, presentation of
language variations and the use of synonyms. These suggestions can easily be
incorporated into classroom instruction.
Canadian speakers of
Ukrainian have a strong background as English- language speakers and not
surprisingly a “fresh set of eyes and ears” is needed from time to time in
order to analyze what has become a very natural transfer of language skills
from the majority language to the minority language. Saskatchewan
Ukrainian-language teachers were fortunate to have Dr. Huzar provide this fresh
set of eyes and ears on the topic of language transfer.
A second and more
extensive collaborative venture with Dr. Huzar is in its initial stages of
development and promises to be of major benefit to Ukrainian-language learners
at both the provincial and national level. The project involves the development
of a Ukrainian pilot version of the European Languages Portfolio (ELP) for
English speakers of Ukrainian. Language specialists and government officials
from several provinces have strongly recommended that the European Languages Portfolio
be adapted, piloted and promoted for all Canadian languages. Saskatchewan
Learning has stepped up to the challenge by supporting the development of
Ukrainian versions of the portfolios for field testing in our province. Dr. Huzar’s input into the initiative
continues to be invaluable.
Dr. Huzar’s work with the
students and teachers in the province is truly appreciated. It should be noted that university students
across Canada will continue to have an opportunity to study with Dr. Huzar and
the Ukrainian language professors in her department through STM’s Summer Study
Abroad Program with Ternopil’ University.
Nadia
Prokopchuk is a Ukrainian Education Consultant with