Association of Teachers of Bulgarian as a Foreign Language

In July 2020, the Association of Teachers of Bulgarian as a Foreign Language (ATBFL) was established in Sofia. The idea for the establishment of such association was born during the coalition meetings on the Bulgarian language training of refugees organized within the implementation of the National Integration Evaluation Mechanism Project (NIEM), where the Bulgarian Refugee Council on Refugees and Migrants and Multi Kulti are national partners. 

The idea of the Association was based on the increasing demand for  comprehensive, efficient and needs-oriented methodological and training solutions for asylum seekers and people with granted protection, migrants, children with refugees and migrant experience, members of growing Bulgarian diasporas abroad, for children of Bulgarian emigrants and others. 

The Association will follow significant educational and advocacy missions. It aims to help preserve and develop the role of the Bulgarian language as a foreign language, to promote good methodological practices in teaching Bulgarian as a foreign language and to form a basic communicative competence.

In the activities of the Association special attention will be paid to the role of the teacher of Bulgarian as a foreign language. ATBFL will strive to represent the teaching staff before the state institutions and to be a corrective in the implementation of the state policy for the development of Bulgarian language teaching as a foreign language. It will initiate and participate in a dialogue with institutions and society on current issues of education and training in Bulgarian as a foreign language.

The  Association elaborates varied range of activities as:
- development and participation in educational projects, independently or jointly with other organizations from the country and abroad.
- cooperation with national and international organizations with similar interests, including Bulgarian cultural institutes abroad;
- organizing methodological seminars, courses, schools, discussions and exchange of experience on current issues of education in Bulgarian as a foreign language.
- dissemination of good educational practices and professional information.
- development of opinions on current issues of education in Bulgarian as a foreign language and their announcement through or before the responsible state institutions, etc.
- creating and maintaining a website of the Association as a means of information and a field for expression.


Galina Kurteva PhD
Chair of the ATBFL

Kseniya Homel 
NIEM’s National Advocacy Officer
The European and Migration Policy Programme
Institute of Public Affairs