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In our very first American Councils
Moldova Newsletter we will recount
the various projects and activities in
which our staff and alumni were ac-
tively involved since September
2012 until the end of the year.
Our most recent addition to the
Open World alumni list included
important leaders in the Moldovan
media, judiciary, local
administration, NGO sector, such as
Liliana Palihovici, Deputy Speaker of
the Moldovan Parliament, Mircea
Surdu, Director of Moldova 1,
Nichifor Corochi, President of the
Superior Council of Magistrates,
Sabina Cerbu, Chief of the Minister of
Justice Cabinet, Lorena Bogza, PRO TV
policital talk show host and producer.
Our American Language Center registered
over 200 open enrolment students and its
new corporate clients include Ministry of
Education, Coca Cola Moldova, Institute of
Educational Sciences and Moldtelecom.
Our Access Microscholarship Program
grew from 4 sites to 8 sites, inlcuing
Bender—from 80 beneficiaries of the first
round of scholarships to 120.
We would like to thank our staff and
alumni for their contribution to the
development of the organisation and
wish everyone A Happy New Year!
Inside this issue:
December 2012 American Councils Moldova
American Councils Moldova
Newsletter December 2012
Open World alum-
nus elected Direc-
tor of national tele-
vision channel Mol-
dova-1
First generation
of LFP alumni from
Moldova attend the
annual re-entry
event
FLEX alumna
raises $1000 at a
charity concert
Access students in
the regions imple-
ment community
development pro-
jects
On December 1st, the first gen-
eration of LFP alumni from
Moldova met at the American
Councils office for the very first
LFP re-entry event. American
Councils Moldova Country Di-
rector David Jesse welcomed the
new alumni and encouraged
them to act as agents for demo-
cratic change in Moldova and
engage in community develop-
ment projects. David Strashnoy,
Criminal Justice and Law En-
forcement Section, US. Embassy
in Chisinau introduced the LFP
alumni to the small alumni
grants and democracy grants
programs and explained in de-
tail how to put together a grant
proposal in the legislative field
and receive funding from the
Embassy. Lazari Alexei (Project
Manager at ROLLINSON
FOUNDATION) and Unciuc Ion
(First lieutenant, Deputy War-
den for educational activities,
social and psychological assis-
tance, Penitentiary nr.1-
Taraclia.), our first Spring LFP
alumni, presented their out-
bound project implemented in
August-September 2012, enti-
tled Intercultural exchange be-
tween Judicial Systems in the
US and Republic of Moldova.
They shared the challenges in
putting together an outbound
project and implementing it in
Moldova. Daniela Munca-
Aftenev, LFP Moldova Program
Officer talked about other fund-
ing opportunities for LFP alum-
ni projects, such as the Alumni
Engagement Fund offered by
State Department and intro-
duced the alumni into the basics
of project writing. The alumni
analyzed the international LFP
projects which won the competi-
tion in 2012.
fers to its finalists. Then,
Natalia talked about her fel-
lowship at the Department
of the Attorney General of
the State of Hawaii: depart-
ments she was placed in,
duties of attorneys within
these departments and her
daily responsibilities and
duties. The Moldovan stu-
dents from NIJ were inter-
ested to learn about the
In order to share from her
LFP experience, on Decem-
ber 19, LFP 2012 alumna
Natalia Vilcu-Bajurean had a
meeting with the students
from the National Insti-
tute of Justice of Repub-
lic of Moldova. The meet-
ing started with a general
presentation on LFP, its se-
lection process and the op-
portunities the program of-
US attorney general system
and its role in the judiciary.
Natalia shared her experi-
ence from her attending var-
ious trials in Honolulu Cir-
cuit Court, so the students
could compare the court
systems in US and Moldova.
The meeting ended with a
nice talk about life in US, its
people, culture and tradi-
tions .
First generation of LFP alumni from Moldova attend annual re-entry event
LFP alumna shares her experience with students from National Institute of Justice
LFP alumni appointed Head of Department of Direct Taxes Administration
Veronica Vragaleva was recently pro-
moted to the position of Head of De-
partment of Direct Taxes Admin-
istration in the General Direction of
Taxes in the Republic of Moldova
Main State Tax Inspectorate. Her
new responsibilities include reengi-
neering of business processes regard-
ing income tax, withhold tax, corpo-
rate tax and other taxes connected
with income, as well as elaborating
the legal framework of this sector of
taxation.
Page 2
American Councils Moldova Newsletter December 2012
OW September 2009 alum-
na Marina Lita facilitates a
study visit for 50 students
from Hungary, Macedonia
and Moldova at the Moldavi-
an National TV, Radio and
Newsprint "Jurnal Trust
Media". The students had
the opportunity to catch the
stars of Jurnal TV working in
the studio. They could ob-
serve the broadcast of live
news, see the equipment
used by journalists, talk to
journalists and discover
some secrets of contempo-
rary television, radio and
newspaper. Mrs Lita men-
tioned her own experience
while visiting the Channel 9
News in Washington D.C.
with the Open World pro-
gram in September 2009
and took initiative to open
the doors to these young
students. She convinced the
headquarters of the im-
portance of such visits for
the benefit of a better media
understanding.
Open World alumna Marina Lita initiates a study visit for 50 students from
Hungary, Macedonia and Moldova
Open World alumna Olga Melniciuc launches the second edition of the LeaderSHE project
OW alumnus elected Director of National Television Channel Moldova-1
as his rivals Ion Terguta and Alexandru Grosu received two and respectively, one vote by observers. Surdu is known as moderator of the talk show "Buna Seara" at the national television. In 2005 Mircea Surdu was named the "TV Face of the Year" by VIP Magazin as one of the most influential peo-ple in the national mass me-dia.
Chisinau, 14 December The Council of Observers (CO) of the Teleradio-Moldova public company today elected Open World alumnus journalist Mircea Surdu as director of the Moldova-1 TV Channel. This was the third attempt to elect a director for the national television in 2012. About five members of the CO voted for Surdu, where-
Page 3
American Councils Moldova Newsletter
“My goal is to
modernize this
institution I have
worked in for 27
years.”
Open World alumna Olga
Melniciuc launched the
second edition of the Lead-
erSHE project entitled
“National Mentoring Pro-
gram – Inspire Her!”, a
project made possible due
to the small alumni grants
offered by US Embassy in
Moldova. The project aims
to develop and support
young ladies (16-18 years
old) in their leadership
abilities, self-discovery,
respect for diversity, healthy deci-
sion-making, and civic engage-
ment in order to contribute to the
emergence and development of
the strong women leaders’ genera-
tion in Moldova. The mentors
within the program: Marie Moser
(US Ambassador in Moldova Wil-
liam Moser’s spouse), Ingrid Ters-
man (Ambassador of Sweden in
Moldova), Silvia Radu, Fenosa Gas
Natural General Director and
many other notorious women
leaders from Moldova.
Iurie Gutu
I had a very interesting day shadowing Mr.
Brent Colligan, our school principal. I
observed him filling a School improve-
ment repot, which in my opinion is a very
useful thing, because in my country people
try to improve things, but if member
would fill out such a form them maybe
each staff we would have where to start
from. I also mentioned to him that all the
staff members are really friendly, and he
said its part of their job to make kids feel
that they are needed, because it not only
helps them get better grades, but also
prevents kids from doing crazy things. I
actually learned that a principal's work is
not only sitting in a comfortable chair and
giving orders, but I covers a whole spec-
trum of work, and also that the
principle in America is much
more integrated into the school's
life. And I think that some
things are much more thought
about in the whole school sys-
tem then what I've seen before,
and some of the terms men-
tioned above actually work very
good so they could be integrated
in other school systems.
Elena Rusu
We spent a day with Evan
Wynn; he is a representative of
the 43rd assembly district of the
state where we live - Wisconsin.
Evan Wynn cares about people.
He always listens to them. One
of the main problems is insur-
ance. Sometimes insurance com-
panies refuse to pay people, if
something wrong happened. So,
Mr. Wynn makes new bills and
policies to make companies pay
to people. Mr. Wynn supports
opened government and he
wants people to know, what's
going on and what politicians
are doing. "Government works
well when people are involved",
he says. After our conversation
he gave us Blue Books - books
about State of Wisconsin, its
history, important facts and
events. It's very interesting and I
can get more information about
the state where I live.
FLEX delegates share impressions from US
FLEX alumni from Moldova in the anniversary FLEX Newsletter
FLEX alumni raises $1000 at a charity concert
and asking for tickets. We had
people standing during the concert
because there were no more free
seats. It was a great success and the
audience loved the concert. We
have proved to our community that
a well-organized group of volun-
teers can make a difference. It was
the first Charity Concert in Calara-
si. The Mayor, in his speech, men-
tioned that he is very proud of the
Calarasi youth and that we took
initiative in our hands. During the
concert, we have got a $200 dona-
tion from a lady who lives abroad;
she heard of our concert and want-
ed to help children and elderly
people. We have opened some new
talents to the community, but we
had some guests from outside of
Calarasi as well, Sanda Cheibas
(FLEX'11) and Andrei Ciochina;
and our special guest-Anatol
Mirzencu. After we concert, I got
many phone calls and messages
from different people: starting
with friends and ending up with
economic agents. They said that
the concert was something
unique that Calarasi have not
seen before. Many of them men-
tioned that the 20 lei price for
tickets was too low for such an
amazing and wonderful concert.
Nicoleta Dvornicov, FLEX
alumna
"The Charity Concert "Intinde o
Mina de Ajutor" was held at Casa
de Cultura, Calarasi on the 15th of
December. We have risen about $
1000 trough selling 500 tickets and
donations. We bought a clothing
washing machine for the Elderly
House, Calarasi; toys for 60 chil-
dren with special needs, and prod-
ucts for personal use (shampoo,
soap, toothpaste, toothbrush, etc.)
for 50 children from vulnerable
families. During the preparation
time we have faced different obsta-
cles, but in the end, we had a huge
success- our dream came true. It
was a great surprise to have people
calling 30 minutes before concert
Page 4
American Councils Moldova Newsletter December 2012
Elena Rusu
with
Evan Wynn,
Wisconsin State
representative
“When we were preparing
for the concert, we have
faced different obstacles,
but in the end, we had a
huge success- our dream
came true. ”
“The Right to Information” project was developed by a group of Access students from Transniestria, and im-plemented in the high school “Evrika” from Ribnitsa town, by installing an information-al board which will include periodical news updates. This way, 213 pupils and 30 teachers and other personnel from this educational insti-tution will have the possibil-ity to be informed about all the events happening all around the community, re-gion, country, or abroad. The main goals of the project were to make an informa-tional board, to install it on
the first floor of Evrika high-school, to create a group of volunteers who will periodi-cally update the news on the board, covering all interest-ing topics; thus involving students and adults in news sharing, debating and find-ing new solutions for the problems the school or com-munity has. At the end of the project all participants ac-quired good skills in manag-ing a real community pro-ject, through an active col-laboration with different organizations and communi-ty authorities, and, the most important, through group cohesion and power to strive
for the best results.
“It's for the first time in the history of our institution when students will provide news from around the school. It's a good oppor-tunity for them to practice themselves as journalists.” „I am sure that the news will be available not only during the project period, the news board will serve for other
generations too.”
Denis Dogoter, Access 2012 alumnus
Rezina/Ribnita-Access grant project:
“The Right to Information”
Ungheni-Access grant project implementation: “Making big
changes starting with the smallest ones”
help us stop the traffic in work
areas, involving more volunteers
in realizing the project, and
painting beautiful musical notes
on the road. This kind of pro-
jects have been done in some
well-known cities and had a
great popularity as it's some-
thing not only beautiful, but
useful too. The big difference
from the rest of white-black
crosswalks makes the idea as a
very interesting and innovative
way to keep drivers' attention
while driving near the place
where usually dozens of kids
pass by. "Being Access students
and studying the U.S Culture
and Civilization we learnt a lot of
useful and interesting things,
which we decided to adapt and
use in our community. So cross-
walks, and not the usual ones,
were things that we wanted to
implement in our town. Drawn
in a shape of musical notes near
schools, now they have the mis-
sion to increase the level of secu-
rity of each pedestrian, as each
driver stops to our signs." "We
worked hard, but in the end we
obtained the result we wanted,
the crosswalk is done and it is
situated near Lyceum "V. Al-
ecsandri" from Ungheni.
The community project "Making
big changes starting with the
smallest ones" was developed by
a group of 10 Access students
from Ungheni aimed to increase
community attention , especially
drivers, to the necessity of fol-
lowing traffic rules while driving
near schools, and , at the same
time, to make the town more
beautiful. Lasting 6 weeks, from
October to November, 2012, the
project included well-organized
activities, starting from contact-
ing authorities to obtain a for-
mal permission, buying all nec-
essary equipment and tools for
road painting; asking police to
Page 5
American Councils Moldova Newsletter December
„It was a exiting and interesting
experience for me as a coordinator
as I learnt how to listen all mem-
bers of the group and how to de-
fend our point of view to achieve
good results.”
"Against all obstacles we had, we
learnt that everything is possible if
you are strong motivated and you
really want to do it, there are no
limits. It is all about hard working
and strong desire to achieve your goal
successfully"
Ungheni-Access Grant Project Implementation: “Rocking Chair”
The idea of “Rocking Chair” pro-ject was to contribute to the im-provement of village Pirlita, Ungheni, especially the kindergar-ten which is very beautiful, and hosts a lot of children, but does not have enough equipment for the playgrounds such as rocking chairs, swings, slides , etc. So, the main goal of the project was to construct a rocking chair for the playground, paint it in national tricolor colors and install it in one of the poorest playground areas
from the kindergarten. To suc-ceed in their intention, under local smith guidance, the Access students bought all necessary materials, developed an original sketch of the rocking chair rele-vant for the kindergarten kids’ age, colored it in an attractive way, and then assembled on a playground. It was a wonderful experience for all involved in this project, as each of them learnt to work in group, to be more organized and responsi-ble , but the most important is
that everybody felt him/herself useful inspired to do may things for their community.
“During this project we under-stood that problems aren’t a wall in your way of achieving your goals. Yes, we worked a lot, but the result made us not regret about the effort that we have done. Children’s smiles, the brightness of their eyes motivated us to do this kind of projects, because they deserve this.”
In October 2012 the Amer-ican Language Center opened its new branch in Ungheni, hosted by the “Vasile Alecsandri” Lyce-um and coordinated by Diana Retcu, one of our Access English Micro scholarship teachers. The subdivision offers English language instruction to 5 groups of 40 students as part of a 4 month academic course which includes 64 academic hours. Respect-ing the curriculum and academic policies of the
American Language Center in Chisinau, the subdivision focuses on balancing tradi-tional teaching methods, such as the Communicative Language Teaching, Audio-Lingual, Presentation, Prac-tice, Production, and modern ones such as The Direct Method, The Silent Way, Task Based Instruction and the Four Skills approach. The courses pay a particular im-portance to the combination of 4 language skills: listen-ing, speaking, writing and grammar.
American Language Center (ALC) opens
branch in Ungheni
TOEFL and SAT preparation classes
four sections: Reading, Listen-ing, Speaking, and Writing, as well as improve their TOEFL, IELTS and SAT vocabulary and grammar vision by learn-ing useful techniques neces-sary to succeed in a real exam.
Our new corporate clients this semester are:
Coca Cola Moldova
Ministry of Education
Moldtelecom
Institute of Educational
Sciences
One of the most recent Eng-lish for Specific Purposes courses offered by the Ameri-can Language Center in 2012 was TOEFL, IELTS and SAT exam preparation. The cours-es are offered to Moldovan students planning to study or work abroad in an English speaking environment or to those who need an evaluation of their English level for im-migration purposes. The ex-am preparation courses are designed to help students achieve the best scores at all
Page 6
American Councils Moldova Newsletter December 2012
A new ALC project—English through Skype
One of our most innovative projects is English through Skype for Alumni, a project in collaboration with US Embassy in Moldova. Based on a grant offered by the Embassy to provide remote classes to US ex-change programs alumni from various regions, a special course taught through Skype was de-signed for 3 groups of dif-
ferent levels: beginner (six alumni from Cahul, Chisinau and Ialoveni), elementary (three alumni from Chisinau and Ungheni) and pre-intermediate (two alumni from Chisinau and Tiraspol). Classes are or-ganized 3 times a week and combine Skype teach-ing with online resources found on YouTube, Real
English, U.S.A. Learns and other free EFL / ESL web-based multimedia systems for adults learning English as a second language. Us-ing Skype’s group call op-tion, students from vari-ous corners of Moldova can listen to each other, engage in group discus-sions, write online dicta-tions and watch interest-ing movies online.
ALC new corporate clients
On November the 7th the American Councils for In-ternational Education in Moldova registered a quar-terly publication with the National Book Chamber of Moldova. The “Modern Trends and Resources for Teachers of Foreign Languages” was conceived to celebrate our 20th anniversary in Moldova and offer Moldovan teachers and university professors the opportunity to learn from our expertise. In 20 years of experience in teaching English, Russian and Romanian and
administering exchange such programs as Carnegie, FLEX, LFP, Access and Open World we accumulated valuable teaching techniques the Journal would help sharing with you. The Journal is designed to serve as a practice-oriented quarterly publica-tion for all those involved in the field of teaching English as a foreign language devot-ed to publishing practical papers in various aspects, fields and scope of the Eng-lish Language, such as but not limited to teaching and learning English as a For-eign Language (EFL).
American Language Center launches its first Teaching Journal
FLEX alumni visit orphanage in Căușeni with Christmas presents
from American Councils Mol-dova purchase personal hy-giene products for 35 students at the orphanage. In addition to that, the team of volunteers danced, played Secret Santa, made cards, etc. with the chil-dren and brought sweets, pas-try and fruit for the children. All the children were really happy, while the administra-tion admitted they were look-ing forward to seeing FLEX alumni team again.
On the 24th of Decem-ber Maxim Grama, FLEX 2012 alumni and FLEX city representative for Chis ina u organized a visit to the orphanage in the remote village To-cuz, district Causeni. Maxim was joined by his alumni colleagues Nicu Gaibu'12, Nicoleta Nichi-for'12, Alexandr Hrip-tun'08 and Aliona Apos-tol, and using a donation
Page 7
American Councils Moldova Newsletter December 2012
2012 has been a year for growth, development and innovation for American Councils Moldova. We brought two new ex-change projects to Mol-dova: Access Micro schol-arship and Legislative Fellows, we extended our American Language Cen-ter to Ungheni, Edineț
and Cahul and offered more scholarships to Moldovan citizens than in 2011. To account for all our results in 2012, we published our annual report in Romanian and English versions on our website.
American Councils Moldova publishes 2012 Annual Report
76 Kogalniceanu St.
Chisinau, Moldova
MD-2009
Phone: (+373 22) 22-58-60
Fax: (+373 22) 23-48-73
E-mail:
daniela@americancouncils,md
American Councils Moldova Newsletter December 2012
Ana Indoitu as FLEX alumna of the Month of November
We are on the web!
www.americancouncils.md
Ana Indoitu '11, FLEX's City Representative to Tintareni, Moldova is our CR of the Month for November. Thanks for a job well done, Ana!!! Ana has only been in the position since October, and within a short month of taking up the responsibility, she and another FLEX organized a two-day leadership seminar for high school students, which involved 35 participants and sup-port from the district's Department of Education. It was also covered re-gionally by the media.
In November, she also cooperated with Orange company and NGO "Viata Noua" to educate people in Anenii Noi about HIV/AIDS through flier distri-bution and a dance flash mob. This public health effort reached at least 100 people in the community. As if this wasn't enough to make us proud of Ana's amazing accomplishments as a FLEX alumna, we're excited to report she recently won second place in the National Volunteer Festival's essay contest on the topic "An Active and Involved Volunteer is a True Citizen." She is a participant in the LeaderSHE project as well as a member of the NGO "Astra," too.
Thank you, Ana, for everything you do, and for setting such a great example to us and to members of your community, both there in Moldova and across Eurasia!