What Are Your Students Going to Do This Summer?

We wanted to share some prevacation inspiration from Teach For Bulgaria’s community. Take a look at what some of our current participants have planned for the summer.

Yavor’s School Newspaper

Yavor Hadzhiev is an English teacher at Secondary School “Neofit Rilski” in the town of Dolna Banya and a first-year participant in Teach For Bulgaria’s “A New Way to Teaching” program.

Why a school newspaper?

When Yavor started teaching in Dolna Banya he realized that there was no school newspaper. In his work Yavor strives not only to teach his ESL curriculum but also to help his students develop a variety of skills such as:

• Writing;
• Reading;
• Critical thinking;
• Media literacy;
• Entrepreneurship;
• Teamwork;
• Social-emotional skills.

Yavor’s school newspaper summer project meets these particular needs. He wants to involve as many students as possible and work in collaboration with colleagues and local journalists, so his project is going to benefit the entire community. 

Timeline: June-July 2020

Ganka’s Summer School for Parents

Ganka Bivolarska is a math teacher at Secondary School “Neofit Rilski” in the town of Dolna Banya and a first-year participant in Teach For Bulgaria’s “A New Way to Teaching” program.

Why a summer school for parents? 

Ganka is also at the end of her first year as a teacher at Secondary School “Neofit Rilski”. She realized that one of the most important factors for her students’ success is the support they receive from their families. Her summer project aims to help families of students who are at risk of dropping out. 

Ganka’s goal is to raise awareness about the consequences of dropping out among Roma families. Her summer school for parents includes individual meetings and several 100-minute group sessions with parents, teachers, partners, role-models from the community, and different stakeholders. 

Timeline: June – September 2020

Evelina, Gospodinka, Petya, Valentin, and Yani’s Summer School for 21st Century Skills

Teachers at First Primary School “Georgi Bakalov” in Stara Zagora

Why a summer school for 21st century skills? 

Around the same time last year the 5 teachers from First Primary School “Georgi Bakalov” in Stara Zagora realized that they weren’t able to dedicate enough time to building their students’ 21st century skills in the classroom. 

They decided to organize a two-week summer school to focus on:

• Creative thinking;
• Teamwork;
• Emotional Intelligence;
• Reading literacy.

The 3 key elements of the summer school are:

• All activities take place outside in the open in the villages of Zmeyovo and Hrishcheni where most of the students live;
• The teachers use the method of gamification; 
• All parents are included in the planning, organization, and execution of the summer school activities.

Each of the 5 teachers plans a full day of activities dedicated to one of the 4 skills. The fifth day is dedicated to the community spirit so parents, students, and teachers enjoy a nice picnic with homemade food while playing team building games together. 

Timeline: July 1-12, 2019