| by Sierra Abukins

News Stories

Elisabeth Ampthor, TESOL ‘24
Elisabeth Ampthor TESOL ‘24 and Kari Naumova TFL ‘24

Peacebuilding is not just for world leaders and diplomats.

In fact, it’s something that educators can and frequently do in their classrooms—especially language educators. 

That idea was at the heart of a project led by two recent graduates with the support of a $10,000 grant from Projects for Peace. Each year, the global program housed at Middlebury awards grants to over 125 student leaders who are developing innovative, community-centered, and scalable responses to the world’s most pressing issues.

“People don’t always think of language education as having a role in the peacebuilding space,” said Elisabeth Ampthor TESOL ’24. “It’s more policy, governance, diplomacy, which is all a part of it, but fundamentally, we use language to do all those things. The words we choose to use can impact the negotiations or affect the relationships we build as we conduct negotiations.”

She teamed up with Kari Naumova to develop a three-hour workshop on peacebuilding, which they delivered to teachers in Croatia, Serbia, North Macedonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The two found the workshops most powerful as a source of inspiration for both their participants and them.

“Exchanging ideas has been really inspiring for us,” said Naumova.

Workshop on Peace-building Through Language Education
The recent Institute graduates with educators who completed their workshop on peacebuilding through language education.

The spark for the project was born in an experiential learning course called Peacebuilding in the Balkans in March 2023, led by Professor Thor Sawin. Ampthor and Naumova also helped him lead workshops for TESOL instructors in Serbia on related themes.

“The region and the ideas and the concept are very connected,” said Ampthor. “Seeing the teachers in our workshops get inspired, inspired me. I thought this matters and now I really think it matters.”

“We use language for everything—to express our needs, to declare war. It’s the foundation of our communication,” said Naumova, who is Russian and completed her degree in Teaching Foreign Language in spring 2024. “In the midst of the Russia-Ukraine war, I became super curious about how I could implement some of these ideas into teaching Russian and being able to talk about those really difficult differences with respect.”

“The language classroom is a place where we have the opportunity to encounter otherness. We can also practice different ways of practicing that difference, working through it in a way that is safe and scaffolded to prepare you for various experiences,” said Ampthor.

Just making the effort to learn someone else’s language makes a difference. They saw this with their attempts to learn some Macedonian and Serbian.

“The effort shows that you recognize the other person and their humanity,” said Ampthor.

The two also reflected on what impact looks like. While governments, businesses, and nonprofits can become very focused on making an impact at scale, educators work on a different scale.

“A lot of the big changes happen at the interpersonal level,“ said Ampthor, who is currently teaching English to adult learners in Salinas. “It’s the ripple effect. Even if we positively impact one person, that one person could impact 10 people. The bigger it is, the more peaceful this world will be.”

For More Information

Projects for Peace