In cooperation with the American Corner, Shymkent and Teachers of English Association in Shymkent

a series of seinars for rural teachers in Turkistan area was arranged in October-November, 2024. 

These seminars were held under the framework of the Village Project, initially established by EL Fellow Patricia Estep in 2003. The TESh teacher-trainers endeavored to uphold the principles and key ideas of the Village Project, which focus on promoting communicative and engaging teaching with limited resources, tailored to the rural teaching context.

To ensure the success of the program, the KazTEA leader sought support from the regional educational department for the project in five districts: Sayram, Tolebi, Kazygurt, Ordabassy, and Arys. In close cooperation with the Language Departments in these districts, five seminars were held at local schools: School-Gymnasium No. 20 named after Saken Seifullin in Aksukent, School No. 7 in Lenger, D.A. Konaev Secondary School in Shubar village, Elshibek Batyr School-Lyceum in Zhanabazar village, and S. Kozhanov Secondary School in Arys. These strategies ensured high attendance rate. The seminars were attended by 218 EFL and STEM teachers that demonstrates genuine interest of rural teachers to professional networking. 

The TESh teacher-trainers, drawing on their teaching and mentoring experiences and considering the challenges of learning English in rural contexts, suggested themes related to communication skills and language knowledge teaching. They prepared practical, hands-on tasks for teachers to use or adapt in their classes.

Key contributors and their activities:

• Kunsulu Akimova (TEA alumna) and Aliya Otebek (EFL teacher-researcher) designed tasks to enhance students’ vocabulary using the X+1 principle and emphasized authentic instructions to motivate and demonstrate word usage in local contexts. Techniques included ‘think-pair-share’, vanishing dictation, "Bingo", "Magic eyes", "Interviewing", "Storytelling", and "Miming". 
• Yuliya Yevseyeva (EFL Instructor, TEFL Certificate from OISE University of Toronto, Canada) involved teachers in connection games that revealed deeper meanings of words while working in groups.
• Olga Samofalova (TEA and JFDP alumna) led group work activities inspired by NASA's leadership training, encouraging teachers to develop survival strategies and utilize their STEM knowledge and enhancing their English communication skills.
• Zulfiya Smanova and Nargilya Khassanova (TEA alumni) sparked interest in extensive reading through Jeopardy questions on Jack London’s life and shared techniques for writing summaries for discussion.
• Arailym Yesbolova (young teacher from Lenger) and Meruyert Bopbekova (teacher-researcher at S. Yerubaev #24 IT-School-Lyceum) shared pair work activities like role-plays and mingling tasks to improve learners’ speaking skills with minimal preparation.
• Gulbahor Umarbekova (OPEN program alumna) facilitated a workshop exploring identity types and describing objects through the lenses of gender, social roles, and ethnicity, expanding the scope of communication topics.
• Farukh Zaitov (Ms TESOL, Access alumnus EFL teacher at School-Gymnasium №5, Lenger) and Yersultan Beissenbek (MSc in Educational Leadership, EFL teacher-expert at School #31 after Baidybek, Aqarys village) shared AI tips for writing lesson plans, compiling vocabulary tasks, generating images, and making learning more exciting and comfortable for teachers and students.
• Tatyana Zaikova activated grammar and vocabulary learning using simple realia, incorporating creativity into language learning at different stages of lessons.
• Tatyan Letyaikina (OPEN alumna and Access instructor) promoted e-learning and connectivism to prepare students for continuous learning, demonstrating offline tasks that replicate social networking and respond to authentic tasks about traditions.

In their feedback, teachers noted their plans to apply new techniques in their classrooms, such as vocabulary teaching techniques, pair work activities, critical thinking questions, and strategies for engaging and reflective reading. There was particular interest in AI tools for generating tasks and lesson plans. The importance of such seminars in rural areas was highlighted as well.

More phots and videos at Instagram @kaztea_efl_teachers , @tesh.shymkent