In today’s episode,  I wanted to talk about the mental and emotional health of teachers and processing emotions in difficult times. We always seek information and want to better our knowledge of how to support our English learners - and all students. But I wanted to honor teachers as humans and not just as vessels of knowledge that are expected to show up and perform no matter what. The war in Ukraine has brought up some raw emotions for many people around the world. In this episode, I will share a little bit of the history of my country and how it relates to the war in the Ukraine, then I will explain why this is important to me, and lastly, I will share some tips that have helped me cope and I hope will help you too. I find that when I am centered, I can show up better for my family and my students. It is my hope that you will find this episode helpful and can come back to it whenever you need encouragement and simple ways to return to yourself.

Here is what you will hear in this episode:

• A little bit of history of Lithuania and how it relates to the current war in Ukraine
• why this is important to me and how stress in general affects our teaching
• definition of radical-self care 
• five ways you can help yourself come back to center

As mentioned in the episode, I am linking some useful resources!

• Charities you can donate to help Ukrainian people:
  • Blue-Yellow
  • Unicef 
  • St.Javelin clothing, stickers, etc. - all proceeds from purchases go to support vulnerable people in Ukraine.
• Article Radical Self-Care to Protect Your Overall Well-Being
• Blog post - 5 Ways You can Beat Teacher Burnout
• Teaching Absolute Beginners: An ESL Teacher's Handbook
• 25 Authentic Speaking Activities for Your ESL Classroom 
• The ESL Teaching Roadmap - membership community for middle and high school ESL/ELL teachers. As a thank you for listening, use code ESLPODCAST for 10% off when you join. 

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