Teachers Mentoring Other Teachers

How DDSB educators are sharing their skills with educators in the Dominican Republic

Durham District School Board (DDSB) teachers are not only teaching students, they are also teaming up with Teacher Mentors Aboard (TMA) to help support teachers in the Dominican Republic. Since 2005, Canadian teachers have been travelling to the country to mentor local educators and to facilitate professional development workshops with TMA. These experiences have been rewarding for the teachers from Canada and their counterparts in the Dominican Republic.   

“Our goal is to provide Dominican educators with the best instructional and assessment strategies to enable all of their students to learn, grow and succeed,” says Wendy Chan. Chan is a Core French teacher at Chris Hadfield Public School, and has been working with the DDSB for 23 years. “The opportunity to participate in TMA has enabled me to reflect upon my own teaching practices. The experience has ultimately changed how I think, live and teach.”

Making an Impact

Teachers naturally want to help improve the lives of their students through education and for these DDSB educators, going to the Dominican Republic and connecting with their Dominican peers allows them to do this on a deeper level.

Svitlana Svyatnenko is a Grade 2 French Immersion Teacher at Michaëlle Jean Public School and she has been working full-time with the DDSB for the last 13 years. She has always been interested in participating in an international education program and after attending a few meetings and talking to her colleagues she decided to join TMA last summer.

“I am a person of the world and a Teacher. Making the world and our society a better place is my mission,” shares Svyatnenko. “I am making little changes in my classroom with my students and TMA is my opportunity to help to make a change in education in the world.”

For more information about TMA or getting involved, visit teachermentors.ca