Ukraine's Best Teacher Explains How She Motivates Students and Teaches English

Svitlana Merkulova, an English teacher at Irpin Lyceum No. 2, was named Ukraine’s Best Teacher of 2026. Her students score 200 points on the National Multidisciplinary Test (NMT) in English and win awards at academic competitions. The teacher shared how she organizes her lessons and what helps her students achieve high results.

Svitlana Merkulova is convinced that she is fortunate to work with the best students. At the same time, she has her own perspective on what motivates children to learn and succeed.

“But I always argue with psychologists because I say that motivation doesn’t exist—that it’s the biggest manipulation in the world. There is a stimulus,” Merkulova asserts.

According to the teacher, motivation can be a veiled way to force a person to do what someone else wants. Instead, she emphasizes the importance of a stimulus, as well as support from parents.

“That’s why I talk about incentives. Parents also provide excellent support in this regard. There are students who immediately say they want to participate in the Olympiad—these are the children with the highest level of incentive. But a lot also depends on the teacher,” the educator believes.

Svitlana Merkulova uses a project-based learning approach, which allows each student to engage in classwork at their own level. One of the approaches she uses is the flipped classroom method.

“For example, I use the flipped classroom method: we start a topic, review specific vocabulary, and I explain the grammar needed for that topic. Then the children create, for example, a dish related to nutrition: they write down the recipe, bring it to class, talk about it, and everyone eats it together,” the teacher explained.

This format helps students learn English words in context and use them in practical situations. The teacher has used this method, in particular, with fifth-graders.

For high school students, Svitlana Merkulova organized a lesson in the format of a cooking show.

“We organized a ‘MasterChef’ competition with the high school students during class. Two teams prepared their dishes and described them in English,” the teacher explained.

Another method the teacher uses is debates. Students are given a topic for discussion, independently study the relevant material, and then debate it in class. This format can replace a traditional test while also helping students practice English.

Svitlana Merkulova also shared tips on learning English and explained how she prepares students for the National Multidisciplinary Test (NMT) so they can achieve high scores.

She spoke about this in an interview with Channel 24.

Earlier in Lviv, on the occasion of Teachers’ Day, 72-year-old math teacher Vira Ovsyannikova was honored; for two years, she taught online classes from a hospital room while staying by the side of her son, who had been seriously wounded in the war.

The president awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine to State Border Guard Service Colonel Roman Palamar from the Ternopil region, who was killed while carrying out a combat mission. The soldier was evacuating wounded fighters from the battlefield when he was killed.

Previously, Zelenskyy had awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine to five military personnel, four of them posthumously.