THE ENGIN BLOG

Kelley Peel remembers the moment clearly when she was sitting at home in West Michigan, scrolling through the news and seeing another headline about Ukraine, another image of a family saying goodbye at a train station, another story of a life interrupted and a home destroyed. She couldn't look away, but she also couldn't sit still. So she asked herself: "What can a normal person do for Ukraine?"

Picture this: you find a YouTube video you know your ENGin students will love. You show up to your session excited, press play, and five minutes later... silence. You ask what they thought. "It was good," they say. "Interesting." And that's it. The conversation dies, and you're left wondering how to fill the next 45 minutes. Sound familiar?

In 2023, I had just completed my studies and suddenly found myself with a lot of spare time on my hands. I started searching for volunteer opportunities online, and I saw someone mention that they taught English to Ukrainians online through ENGin.

It’s Saturday morning. I turn off my alarm and momentarily turn back around, allowing myself the luxury of another half hour. But then I remember why my alarm went off. It’s Saturday morning.

Recently, our volunteer Ava found herself at an unforgettable meeting with Iryna Pletnova, the Mayor of Uman, Ukraine. Standing beside her friend Kimberly, they presented important information for the Mayor in person, to expand trauma informed care to Ukraine. This was all made possible through the ENGin program. 

After years of connecting through screens, messages, and video calls, the ENGin team finally met in “3D”.

At ENGin, learning English often becomes more than just improving language skills — it turns into a journey of self-discovery. In this story, Daryna shares how joining our Psychology Community helped her connect her curiosity about the human mind with meaningful conversations in English.

In the world of business and innovation, complexity is often seen as a sign of progress. Entrepreneurs and creators feel pressure to develop products with cutting-edge technology, revolutionary models, or unprecedented solutions. The logic seems straightforward: if the market is crowded, your idea must be bigger, more complex, and “smarter” to survive. But what if that’s not always true? What if sometimes the real breakthrough lies in simplicity?

How many Ukrainians are starting to work in international environments or with global clients where English is a must? This audience is growing every day. If you’re among them, you’ve likely realized the importance of using specific language and adopting new behaviors when communicating with foreign stakeholders, clients, and colleagues.

Like many of my peers, I have felt upset and powerless in the shadow of world events, especially as medical school consumes much of our time and energy. Volunteering has always been a rewarding escape from these emotions, reminding me that I can positively impact the world and improve others’ lives. Throughout the past seven months, I have found a unique volunteering opportunity with ENGin.

Every Wednesday morning, I get my jolt of optimism from a perhaps unexpected source. It comes from a Ukrainian woman based outside Kyiv. At 9:00 a.m. EST for me and 4:00 p.m. EEST for her, we speak for an hour. Ostensibly, we are working. Several months ago, we each signed on with ENGin to do that very thing: talk.

We have built ENGinPRO with one goal in mind: to create an affordable, effective, and truly supportive group English learning experience for our students. We listened to your needs and added even more features to make the mini-courses helpful.

Mastering any language requires time, effort, and attention to detail. Participants of ENGin: Speak Ukrainian have already discovered that clear pronunciation is born not from speed, but from careful listening and patient practice. Ukrainian phonetics, in particular, can feel like a real workout for both the tongue and the ear. So today, we’ll share a few “basic exercises” to help you experience the rhythm and melody of the Ukrainian language.

When Ethan Hill signed up for his first ENGin conversation in June 2023, he never imagined that within a year, he would be teaching English to children in a small Ukrainian village, meeting his students across three countries, and becoming one of ENGin’s most dedicated “supervolunteers.”