2009 Programs And Events
Teachers Learn New Techniques from English Language Specialist (06/17/2009)
An English professor who has taught students from Indonesia to Siberia came to Uzbekistan in June to lead seminars on teaching English through conversation, literature and essays.
Vivian Leskes Ward, a professor of English as a Second Language at Holyoke Community College in Massachusetts, toured Uzbekistan from June 5 to June 16 as an English Language Specialist for the U.S. State Department. Most of her activities focused on working with English teachers on methods to engage students with topics that are important to them, with the goal of improving conversation and comprehension of English texts.
“The teachers were eager for classroom management techniques to stimulate participation among students and to improve fluency,” Leskes said. “I designed a series of presentations that would … give the teachers first-hand experience in participatory student-centered classes, so they would be able to create such a culture in their own classrooms.”
Leskes, who holds university degrees from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and Barnard College of Columbia University in New York, has been teaching English as a Second Language for about 25 years. Her work has taken her to the Irkutsk State Linguistic University in Russia and to programs in Tajikistan, Ukraine and Indonesia.
Before arriving in Uzbekistan, Leskes spent 11 days teaching in Tajikistan. She also worked in the Republics of Kalmykia and Tatarstan in Russia on the recent tour.
In Uzbekistan, Leskes began her work June 5 with an English-language Chai Chat at the U.S. Embassy entitled “How Can I Improve My Pronunciation?” The next day she led seminars on teaching pronunciation with members of the Uzbek Teachers of English Association (UzTEA) in Samarkand.
Leskes traveled to the Ferghana Valley to hold seminars with UzTEA members in Ferghana and Namangan on the topic “Teaching English with a Communicative Approach.” This method emphasizes real communication about topics that are important to students. The teachers brainstormed about their students’ interests as part of preparing lesson plans that would encourage students to be more active members of the class.
In Tashkent, she participated in UzTEA’s FORUM Conference on the topic “Socio-Cultural Aspects of Teaching English.” Her work wrapped up June 15-16 at the Institute for English Language Teacher Education at the Uzbek State University of World Languages, where she led seminars on teaching reading through literature and original sources.
“Reading through literature rather than textbooks encourages the pleasure of reading, provides direct insight into culture, shows the universality of themes and issues, develops an aesthetic appreciation and an emotional response in the reader,” she said.
The English Language Specialist Program is one of several activities organized by U.S. Embassies in Uzbekistan and other nations to enhance English-language teaching. These include educational exchange programs for teachers, seminars, and curriculum development.
The program is also meant to teach the specialists themselves about the host country. Leskes said she took home wonderful memories from Uzbekistan: the bustle of the Chorsu Bazaar in Tashkent; eating shashlik at a cafe in Ferghana; the architecture of Samarkand; buying apricots and fresh bread along the road to Namangan; and many others.
“I was deeply impressed by the richness of the culture and the beauty of the land,” she said. “The teachers demonstrated great enthusiasm and remarkable skill in English. … It was an honor and a pleasure to work in Uzbekistan.”