Power Point Seminar

Published by Sara Coggins, Kids Connection Manager

On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, I had the opportunity to teach a seminar on using Power Point in the classroom to English teachers here in Taraz. There were 29 teachers in attendance. The seminar was organized by TATE (Taraz Association of Teachers of English). Half of the teachers in attendance had never used Power Point before. Teachers in Kazakhstan are being encouraged to use technology as much as possible in their classrooms. Many of them have access to rooms where a projector is set up for presentations. Although they have access to these facilities, many of the teachers have not been trained on how to actually create presentations.

On Wednesday, I showed them the basics of using Power Point. On Thursday they worked in groups to create a presentation that they could use in their own classes to teach a lesson. On Friday, they presented their presentation to the entire group. I was really impressed by their creativity and use of Power Point. By using each other and asking me questions, they figured out how to do much more than I taught about the basics on Wednesday. It was fun to see their enthusiasm.

On the second day of the seminar, I heard that some of the teachers even went home and practiced what they learned on the first night. The next day in class, they showed their students what they had learned before coming to the second day of the seminar. It was fun to hear that they were already applying what they were learning in the seminar. It was fun to see a group of teachers that really enjoyed being around each other and had a distinct love for learning and sharing what they learn with their students.

Teacher Training Part II

Posted by Zina Omarova, English Program Manager

On the 13th, 14th and 15th of March the English Department organized the second round of IMPACT teacher training courses for 40 Taraz City English Language (EL) teachers.
The first day was devoted to the review from the first session. Our primary trainers Rosa Molchanova, Galina Polikhronidy and Marina Kirichenko presented the following themes:

Listening Activities
Watching Video
Lesson planning
Teaching Vocabulary
Teaching Grammar

The English teachers were grateful to Interlink for organizing these trainings that equip them to apply up-to-date communicative techniques.

Letters of Gratitude

Posted by Zina Omarova, English Manager

Today the director of IRI Beth Turnock and I met with the directors of Taraz State University, Taraz State Pedagogical Institute, Gymnasium # 40 and Gymnasium # 7. The purpose of our visit was to deliver Letters of Gratitude for their ongoing cooperation and support. In the past, they have allowed their teachers to miss school in order to participate as trainers and participants in our Teacher IMPACT program. Also, we congratulated these directors on the Kazakh holiday Nauryz (the Kazakh New Year) and gave them Interlink souvenirs. The director of the Pedagogical Institute offered the use of his facilities if we need them in the future to hold trainings.

Note: Gymnasiums are schools that have a higher academic standard, similar to magnet schools in the States.

What Exactly Does Interlink Do? - Teacher Impact

Posted by Zina Omarova, English Program Manager

The following is a full description of the Teacher IMPACT Program. Please click on the image to preview in a larger size.

English Teachers Conference

Posted by Zina Omarova, English Programs Manager

At the request of the Taraz City Educational Department we started to training course for Taraz City English language (EL) teachers using the IMPACT program. We organized a 3-day seminar on the 7 – 9 of February for about 35 teachers. Our main trainers Galina Polikhronidy, Marina Kirichenko and Irina Loshkova presented their workshops on the theme “Receptive Skill Techniques.” The same 35 city EL teachers will attend three more 3-day conferences in order to complete this version of the IMPACT program and get certificates. Our Educational institutions and EL teachers understand that traditional methods of teaching foreign languages here in Kazakhstan have been very helpful but fall short of equipping students for fluency. Our IMPACT program provides applying highly communicative methodologies. These teachers have paid for the privilege of participating in the IMPACT course. Previous training courses were provided by Interlink Resources free of charge.