ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Christina Leskiv moved to the United States from Ukraine six months ago and began taking English classes newly offered through the Rochester City School District’s Office of Adult and Career Education Services (OACES). Six months later, the student has become the teacher.

“I was an English teacher in Ukraine for nine years and I’m really happy that I have [the] opportunity to continue my professional activities here and help other people to speak English,” said Leskiv.

Using her knowledge from her career in Ukraine and with the help of the English classes through OACES, Leskiv now teaches the English classes during week nights at Webster Schroeder High School.

What You Need To Know

  • OACES kicked off their English program in the Webster Central School District because of the amount of Ukrainian refugees that have joined the Webster community

  • Along with the classes offered at three Rochester city locations and Webster, the program has expanded and English classes are now also being offered in Fairport and a new location will be opening in East Irondequoit

  • ESL classes are held Monday to Friday from 5 to 8 p.m.

“We have the topic of discussion that we learn for the whole week,” Leskiv said. “So this week we have shopping that’s our topic.”

She works with refugees who have joined the OACES program in hopes of learning English and getting a good job.

“Anyone in the community, not just the city, who needs GED can come to us, we have a career and technical education program,” said Mark Davis, associate director of OACES. “And then we have my favorite, which is the English as a second language, which is a very large portion of our program.”

“I felt like I’m a little bit lost here but when I started like a student at OACES school it helped me a lot,” Leskiv said. “I like to be a teacher because I feel that I am useful for someone and I can help other people to communicate in English, to feel more comfortable in this country, in this community,”

Making refugees more comfortable with the English language is something that took Leskiv some to time to get used to.

“You can know a lot of English words, you can know grammatical rules, but there is the fear to speak English because you don’t know, maybe you say something wrong and you’re stressful all the time about it,” she said.

“So she understands what they’re coming from,” said Davis. “But she’s one of their countrymen who happens to know English fluent. So it creates a greater bond quicker which in turn will hopefully help the students learn more about American society and integrate faster.”

And by helping others learn, Leskiv’s confidence grows. Ad so does her love for her new community.

“They have not only the chance to speak English,” she said. “They have the chance to communicate with each other and feel the support of each other. That’s very important. And I’m really happy of that.”