Eugene Lylak Book collection

Eugene Lylak taught English to deaf students for the past 35 years at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). He has developed and taught courses on film, technical communication, composition and literature. He is most interested in how deaf students acquire English vocabulary through reading, and in designing curricula to help deaf students improve their English language skills. He has developed and taught courses in English as a Second Language, Freshman Composition and Transitional Studies at Monroe Community College and the University of Rochester. He has written and administered a grant from the Phorzheimer Foundation; edited books on art, politics and literature; and published a variety of fiction and non-fiction in English and Ukrainian.

He served as former elected Chair of the Teaching English to Deaf Students (TEDS) Interest Section of TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages). His overseas assignments including teaching English as a Foreign Language in Greece, Spain, England, Holland, Slovenia (while part of the former Yugoslavia), and he was a Soros Fellow in Ukraine for the Ministry of Education. He holds his bachelor's degree (BA) in English Language and Literature from the State University of New York at Buffalo, a Master's degree in TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) and Education (M.Ed. TESL) from St. Michael's College in Vermont, and a Doctoral degree in Curriculum and English Linguistics (Ed.D.) from the University of Rochester in New York.

Eugene Lylak is fluent in Ukrainian and as an undergraduate took Russian. He lived in Athens, Greece and knows Greek as well. Born in Germany, he moved to Rochester, NY as a child. His first trip to Slovenia was in 1981 to interpret for NTID President, Alan Hurwitz. In Slovenia he has done presentations and trained teachers on how to teach English to deaf students. This was set up by the Slovenia Federation of the Deaf and later the Director of this organization visited NTID 2-3 times over an 8 year period. The World Federation of the Deaf at that time had a Yugoslovian President and sent people to Slovenia for presentations.