Page 12 - ELG2001 Jan Issue 468

El•Gazette 468.qxp_El•Gazette 468 08/01/2020 15:57 Page 12

TRAINING NEWS .

Clil programme covers

1,000 Kazakh teachers BRITISH STUDY CENTRES

By Matt Salusbury two courses taking place in
different regional centres in any
A mass teacher-training project, given week. Two groups of
involving more than 1,000 trainers taught at two locations,
Kazakh teachers of science and IT before moving on to the next two
in state schools, was completed in locations, covering a total of 50
early November as part of a training groups in a period of eight
Ministry of Education national weeks.
plan to improve teachers’ ability Magda Sobczynska, head of
to use English as a medium of Transnational Projects at British Kazakh teachers and their trainer celebrate their success
instruction. The Central Asian Study Centres, told the Gazette,
country offers trilingual education that their university partners, communicative, “student- teachers for a new stage in
in Kazakh, Russian and English. “provided logistical academic centred” classroom in English. education, which will improve the
The trainers were recruited by support on the ground. Each The courses for science and IT educational process in teaching
British Study Centres venue had a local assistant (or teachers included opportunities subjects in English and modernise
Transnational Education, the assistants) who would help with for micro-teaching, while teachers the training programme in the
teacher training arm of the UK- the day-to-day running of the experimented with a range of future.”
based chain, working in course.” activities and gave feedback on British Study Centres
partnership with Astana “Astana International each other’s materials and operations include language
International University – based University have a real focus on techniques. schools, as well as teacher training
in Kazakhstan’s capital, now quality delivery which matches Bauyrzhan Abuov, from Astana and university pathway course.
known as Nur-Sultan. our own,” she added. International University, said of Astana International University is
Training took place in a total of The programme aimed to give the training programme, “It housed at the International
seven regional centres. Most of practical instruction in Clil generated a great deal of interest, Science Complex in Nur-Sultan.
the two-week courses each had methodology and to build the is productive, and the team of The complex includes the brand-
seven British Study Centres participants’ confidence in trainers are incredibly new Astana IT University, which
trainers and a cover trainer, with promoting and managing a professional. They prepare school opened in September.

Education in Kazakhstan
•The Republic of
Kazakhstan is the world’s PIXABAY
English Language Teacher
Training Since 1984 largest landlocked country,
and the most dominant
economy in Central Asian
– supported largely by oil
and gas exports.
Special Offer! •The capital was moved in
1997 from Almaty, the
country’s largest city, to
2 week Refresher Course
Nur-Sultan (whose name The Kazakhstan capital of
was changed from Astana Nur-Sultan is developing rapidly
for only €799
in 2019).
Erasmus+ Funding Accepted
•Students start primary school at the age of six, attending one of
two sessions – either from 8:00 to 12:00, or from 13:00 to 17:00.
Primary school lasts four years, from Grades 1 to 4 (ages 6-10).
•Secondary schools are split into lower secondary and upper
secondary. All students must attend lower secondary (Grades 5
to 9; ages 10-15), but are allowed to leave the education system
at the age of 15 after completing Grade 9.
•All upper-secondary pupils must choose one of three tracks:
General Education, Initial Vocational Education or Secondary
Vocational Training.
•Kazakhstan enjoys a 97 percent literacy rate and has long
followed a policy of bilingual (Russian and Kazakh) education.
•After the fall of the Soviet Union, the Kazakh government
pursued a more global perspective in its education policies. This
can be seen in the country’s adoption of a policy of transitioning
to tri-lingualism, with the addition of English.
tefl@ittc.co.uk | www.ittc.co.uk | 01202 516289
•English language learning was added to primary schools in 2016,
and in 2018, the country began phasing in the teaching of some
history and natural science courses in English. This involved
Accredited by:
training in English for teaching staff and students.
12 January 2020