Ukrainian Bilingual Program Achieves Milestone

By John Sokolowski

The Ukrainian Bilingual Program in Alberta achieved a significant milestone when the Honourable Gene Zwozdesky, then Minister of Education, presented Certificates of Recognition to Ukrainian bilingual program high school students who passed the first administration of an internationally recognized Ukrainian as a Foreign-Language  proficiency exam. This examination is the Ukrainian-language entrance exam for foreign students wishing to study at the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv (Lviv University).

The presentation ceremony was hosted by the Ukrainian Language Education Centre (ULEC) of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Alberta on November 28, 2006. Edmonton Catholic Schools, Edmonton Public Schools, and Elk Island Catholic Schools assisted in the planning and sponsorship. Students receiving awards were accompanied by their teachers. The emcee for the evening was John Sokolowski, acting director of ULEC.

Mr. Zwozdesky brought greetings from the Government of Alberta. The other special guest was Dr. Danuta Mazuryk, Senior Lecturer in the Preparatory School for International Students at Lviv University. Dr. Mazuryk did the background research for this examination and administered it to 42 students in Grades 11 and 12 in the Ukrainian Bilingual Program of the above-mentioned schools. She also arranged for the grading to be done in Lviv and prepared a report on the project and its results.

At the ceremony, she addressed the students, their teachers, parents and guests and congratulated them on their success. She also highlighted the fact that this was the first-ever administration of an internationally recognized exam of Ukrainian-language proficiency for high school students learning Ukrainian outside of Ukraine.

It was also the first time a multipart assessment of the level of language proficiency of the graduates of the Ukrainian Bilingual Program in Alberta has ever been conducted. This project was supported by grants and services in-kind provided by Alberta Education, which also supports the administration of exams in Chinese, French, and Japanese. All of the Grade 12 students and 68 per cent of the total Grade 11 and 12 student contingent who completed the exam met the Ukrainian-language entrance requirement for foreigners wishing to pursue a post-secondary education in Ukraine. These students received a certificate issued by Lviv University.

The exam tested listening, speaking, reading, writing and grammar knowledge in Ukrainian as it is used in Ukraine today.

The writing portion was the most difficult part of this exam for the bilingual students since they were required to write creatively in Ukrainian. In the grammar part of the exam, students had to select correct grammatical forms and demonstrate an understanding of them. The students were also tested orally by native speakers of Ukrainian. The students had sufficient vocabulary to express their thoughts and exhibited a quick and confident tempo of speaking. Their communication was expressive.

The majority of students demonstrated that they can perform in Ukrainian at the Threshold Level of language proficiency, as recognized throughout Europe. This means they can maintain interaction and get across what they want to communicate in Ukrainian and deal with problems in everyday life using the Ukrainian language in Ukraine.