CURRENT TRENDS IN ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION AND FORMATION OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE COMPETENCE

Abstract

This paper analyzes a number of current methods of teaching English as a foreign language by western and domestic educators. The main focus is placed on approaches helping educators to develop a comfortable learning environment for Ukrainian students affected by the ongoing war against Russia. The need in interdisciplinary learning is substantiated from the viewpoint of knowledge acquisition. By integrating interdisciplinary content, collaborating faculty facilitate students’ in-depth learning, boost their research skills and creativity, and improve students’ ability to explore the subject under study from different prospectives. A noteworthy example of collaborative learning demonstrates how representatives of different majors carried out a project on marine conservation working together. Along with the idea of sustainable development, the relationship with nature plays the key role in creating a calm and positive learning environment. Public attitudes toward the nature are often determined by economic growth considerations and people’s personal goals. Cherishing the nature as such and adjusting collective and individual lives to its demands are being reevaluated in modern education as well as the issues of excessive consumption and production of goods. A number of examples illustrates how to integrate environment-friendly activities in higher education. As a part of informal education, outdoor and online activities are analyzed as a means of developing creativity and self-paced reflective learning. Although online education is not a substitute for face-to-face communication, it enables multilayered presentations of educational content with the help of modern technologies, such as platforms Zoom, Skype, Google meets, etc. Providing students with tools allowing them to work independently is one of the main features of modern education.