A Hawai‘i TESOL Member Reports from the Field, in Poland

Jean Kirschenmann

Aloha Everyone,

I will miss reconnecting with all of you at Hawai‘i TESOL’s upcoming 2026 conference. In recent years, we have probably visited over the HI TESOL-TESOL Ukraine partnership table. This year, I am much closer to Ukraine, writing from Poland where, nearly every day, I have encounters that remind me of people, projects, and opportunities for members of Hawai‘i TESOL, TESOL Ukraine, and the wider ELT profession. I will conclude this report with some of those opportunities, but first, you may wonder—as many of my current students and colleagues do—what I am doing and why I am in Poland. The answers are both personal and professional.

I have a 10-month appointment as a visiting professor of English and applied linguistics at the University of Jan Kochanowski (UJK) in Kielce, Poland, courtesy of the federally funded English Language Fellow program. (https://elprograms.org/fellow-program/). I first heard of ELF opportunities in graduate school, read their annual “apply now” messages, and often visited their booth at the International TESOL convention but did not fully understand their work until 2008 when HPU TESOL was awarded a materials development grant by a related program. That is when I also learned there is no upper age limit to apply! At the time, it sounded like a great way to do something my husband and I had done on three previous occasions—take a year-long break from jobs in Honolulu to teach English (mostly me) and study languages (mostly him) in Romania, China, and Japan. However, demanding work, COVID, and caregiving kept us at home until I finally retired. We are interested in Central and Eastern Europe because Husband speaks Romanian, because my paternal grandparents emigrated from today’s Transnistria, and because we hoped to attend the TESOL Ukraine conference in 2026. Poland was as close as we could get. We quickly learned that visiting Transnistria and Ukraine would not be possible.

We are not disappointed with our placement. We have a roomy apartment in the center of the provincial capital of Kielce where we can walk for groceries in five minutes, museums in ten, our gym in 15, and a UNESCO geopark in 20. As you can imagine, there is history—both laudable and tragic—underfoot, in public spaces, and in people’s stories everywhere. Our neighborhood shopkeepers recognize us now and are patient with our awkwardness in everyday matters. Preparing bilingual messages, keeping cell phone apps open, and laughing at ourselves when things go awry all help. Gradually, we are completing more small chores with limited Polish, thanks to our interlocuters’ patience and goodwill. It is not easy, but we chose to be here and know the situation is temporary. Multiple times a day, I marvel at people who are forced, by circumstances beyond their control, to cope with heart wrenching moves across political and linguistic boundaries.

I feel more competent in my professional role where teaching Fellows have primary and secondary responsibilities. Primary duties are to teach assigned courses at our host institutions. During the semester that just ended, I taught eight classes, four sections of first year speaking, two of first year writing, and two graduate courses in second language acquisition. Most classes had about 20 students, all English majors of various kinds. Their general English fluency was impressive with many at European Common Framework C level, mostly learned through private lessons, foreign films and television, and hobby pursuits online. Education, including graduate school, is free, but professorial salaries are remarkably low, so I am probably the only person in the department who does not rush off after class to a side job. As a result, faculty meetings, curriculum coordination, and periodic assignments with teacher feedback are rare. Only two of my 150+ students reported prior experience writing anything, in English or Polish, other than one-time, end-of-semester final exams. 

Secondary duties are more flexible but should reach people and provide service to audiences beyond our host institution. So far, I have conducted workshops at three international or regional conferences, visited English classes at a local K-12 school, and given a talk to high school during Noc Anglistów (https://nocanglistow.pl/), an annual, nation-wide celebration of English teaching, learning, and use. A special highlight, with connections to HI TESOL and TESOL Ukraine, was attending the 34th International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL) Poland International Conference in Łodz where I had the chance to meet and attend sessions led by TESOL Ukraine’s International Coordinator, Dr. Serhii Petrenko. In recent weeks, I have received several overtures from teacher training institutes in other cities, seeking to schedule professional development sessions for area teachers once winter melts into spring. 

There are several reasons readers of The Word may be interested in English Fellows and their affiliated programs and resources. It is important to note, however, that most Fellows are a generation or two younger than I am, at transition points in their careers, seeking to enhance their CV with greater responsibility and/or overseas experience. The basic requirements are an MA TESOL degree (or near equivalent), several years of full-time ELT experience, and U.S. citizenship. In addition to teaching fellowships, there are two other options. Specialists conduct intensive, virtual or in-country projects such as curriculum development, materials design, and ESP training in appointments ranging from two weeks to three months. Virtual Educators, like Tracy Mannon whose story appears elsewhere in this issue, work from home. One current Fellow was a Virtual Educator last year, coordinating online conversation clubs for students in Ukraine from her home in Hungary. You can find details about all three positions here or at https://elprograms.org/. 

Other possibilities

No matter who or where you are, you can read and publish with the English Teaching FORUM (https://americanenglish.state.gov/forum), one of the few peer reviewed journals solely dedicated to teaching English in the global community. Sally La Luzerne-Oi and I can attest to the supportive but rigorous feedback we received from FORUM editors when we submitted an article a few years ago. 

Teaching materials, training modules, and professional development courses created by State Department programs are intended for teachers and institutions outside North America. However, anyone can tap into, view, download, and use them. The umbrella archive for these resources is, somewhat unfortunately in my humble opinion, called American English, not because it advocates U.S. dialects but rather because it is supported by American taxpayers. Find the resources here or at (https://americanenglish.state.gov/resources-and-programs).

Finally, overseas American exchange programs would not be possible without the support, background knowledge, and skill set (both interpersonal and linguistic) of host country teachers, program administrators, and government officials. I have met many such Polish citizens since arriving here. In them, I see opportunities worldwide for internationally educated students studying for TESOL-related degrees in Hawai‘i.

About the author

Jean Kirschenmann recently retired from Hawai‘i Pacific University (HPU) where she taught courses and conducted workshops for pre- and in-service ELT professionals from around the world. Feel free to contact Jean at jkirschenmann@hpu.edu.