Workshop Title: Using Service Learning to Increase Student Engagement and Language Retention in the English Language Classroom
This workshop will highlight the benefits of using service learning as a methodology in the English language classroom. Service learning begins in the classroom and then moves out into the community where students engage in projects such as organizing a clean-up or creating an information campaign. Students engage in higher order thinking through service learning by integrating multiple skills, problem-solving, and reflecting on and evaluating their project. Service learning offers a unique opportunity for students of all backgrounds to use their language and communication skills in real-life situations, giving them the confidence and motivation to challenge themselves. This workshop will cover how to implement a service-learning component in everyday lessons, as an extracurricular activity, and even through distance-learning. During the workshop, attendees will delve into authentic examples of student community projects and brainstorm ways to incorporate service learning in their own classrooms.
Bio
Kyla McMillan is a current Virtual English Language Fellow at International Black Sea University in Tbilisi, Georgia. Kyla has worked in education for the last eight years. From 2012-2014 she was an English Education Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine. At her secondary school in Ukraine, she taught English, American culture, and academic writing to students in the 1st-11th grades. Outside of the classroom, Kyla led English language camps and clubs on leadership, gender empowerment, project design and management, and arts and sciences. Kyla returned to Ukraine to teach English to adults from 2014-2015. Having realized her love of languages while learning Russian and Ukrainian, Kyla decided to pursue her MA in Linguistics at the University of Texas at El Paso. Following her graduate program, Kyla served as a Peace Corps Response Volunteer in Georgia from 2018-2019. As an English Education Specialist, she provided trainings in modern teaching methodologies, developed extracurriculars for secondary school students, and taught English to adults. She returned to both Ukraine and Georgia as a participant recruiter for the Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) Program before beginning her Virtual English Language Fellowship at IBSU.