Two juniors have founded a club to connect American and Ukrainian students through conversation.
Karis Lee and Sofia Picciola founded the ENGin club after they both participated in the ENGin program, a nonprofit that partners English speaking students with Ukrainian students for one hour a week of videoconference conversation.
The club is dedicated to teaching Ukrainian students English through casual conversation in place of structured classes.
“You’re just talking,” Karis said about her Ukrainian ENGin partner, Dasha. “Through casual conversation, I feel like Dasha’s conversational skills have developed, even though I’m not formally teaching her anything.”
While ENGin may be a platform for Ukrainian students to learn English, it is not as much a tutoring platform as a place for casual conversation and international friendship.
“I know about the war in Ukraine from a very global, outsider’s perspective, but Dasha provides a more personal one,” Karis said.
ENGin is a place where students can connect to others across the world and gain perspectives they had never considered before, she said.
“Through the program, I hope other students will gain some of the similar insight that I did,” Karis said. “It’s really cool to get a friend across the world.”
