English Language Activities
English Language Trainer Visits Samarkand and Bukhara (12/11/2008)
November and December were busy months for the U.S. Embassy’s English Language Program office in Uzbekistan. Regional English Language Officer (RELO) Andrea Schindler came to Uzbekistan for her second visit. English Language Specialists Dr. Christine Coombe and Peter Davidson also visited for one week to conduct workshops for English teachers in Bukhara and Samarkand.
Although Ms. Schindler lives and works in the U.S. Embassy in Astana, Kazakhstan, she is responsible for consulting on English language activities in all five countries of Central Asia, including Uzbekistan. During this visit to Uzbekistan, she accompanied Dr. Coombe and Mr. Davidson to Bukhara and Samarkand, and also visited Khiva and Urgench to conduct workshops for English teachers in Khorezm.
This was also Dr. Coombe’s second visit to Uzbekistan, so the Public Affairs Section staff took this opportunity to ask her some questions about herself and her experiences in Uzbekistan. Dr. Coombe has a Ph.D in Foreign/Second Language Education and Testing from The Ohio State University. She is currently on the English faculty of Dubai Men's College and works as an Assessment Leader for the Higher Colleges of Technology. She has lived and worked in the Arabian Gulf for the past 15 years. During that time she has served as President of TESOL Arabia and as the founder and co-chair of the TESOL Arabia Testing, Assessment and Evaluation Special Interest Group who organize the Current Trends in English Language Testing (CTELT) Conference.
What do you consider to be your most significant professional achievement?
My most significant professional achievement is chairing the 2006 [Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages] TESOL Convention in Tampa, Florida from half-way around the world in Dubai. That was a particularly difficult job as I also chaired the TESOL Arabia Conference and the TESOL Symposium on Vocabulary about 2 weeks later. Of course, should I be elected TESOL President on January 13th, that will be my most significant achievement.
Can you tell us a bit about your book, A Practical Guide to Assessing English Language Learners? Is it geared towards a particular type of teacher?
The publication of A Practical Guide to Assessing English Language Learners was another significant achievement in my professional life. For years I’d been talking about how I wanted to sit down and do it but I kept telling myself that I was too busy. The book is aimed at teachers of all levels who want to learn how to write tests (not just read about them). The practical activities in the book are widely acclaimed and popular with teachers in workshops. 2006 was a whirlwind of activity for me (see above) and it was the year I wrote this book!
What are your future plans concerning this book?
I am currently working on two other assessment books which I feel will add to the knowledge base and should be very practical for teachers. Firstly, I’m coordinating A Practical Guide to Alternative Assessment which will focus on different types of assessment in addition to traditional types of tests (i.e., portfolios, projects, presentations etc). An edited volume is currently being planned which will include short, practical chapters on all aspects of assessment written by experts in the field.
Some teachers may be intimidated by the field of assessment. Is there one easy tool or strategy that teachers can implement in their classrooms to help them better assess students on a day-to-day basis?
It is important to note that assessment generally gets bad press. Most teachers as you say are intimidated by it. The reason for this is that they simply don’t have the training. In our graduate education classes when we learn to be teachers we feel fairly confident about running a classroom and teaching a lesson upon graduation. One thing we have to do as well on a daily basis once we’re in our own classroom is participate in assessment or assessment-related activities and because of the lack of training we just don’t feel confident enough. I think that participation in workshops like the FLAs that were conducted in Uzbekistan and the summer institutes (2 week intensive training programs) that I’ve conducted all over the world are good tools to help teachers develop assessment literacy.
Please tell us a bit about your two visits to Uzbekistan. What was it like working with Uzbek teachers, and what did you enjoy most about your visits?
Thus far in my two visits to Uzbekistan, I’ve gotten to meet with lots of teachers. The thing that struck me the most is the thirst for knowledge and the appreciation of the teachers. Most of the time in teacher training sessions, you can only really get in 2 to 3 hours of serious training interspersed with practical activities. However, Uzbek teachers seemed ready to stay and learn all day! I’m especially grateful to the U.S. [Department of State] who completely funded my first trip out and co- sponsored the FLAs in Samarkand and Bukhara.
What advice would you offer to any teacher of English?
I advise teachers to invest in themselves through taking advantage of the many programs and grant possibilities that are on offer. The best thing I ever did for myself was attend my first TESOL Conference in NYC many years ago. I still remember mulling over whether I should spend almost two months salary on going to a convention. I decided to go and have never been sorry. The convention shaped me as a professional, and now almost 20 years later I am on the ballot for President! It seems amazing. So my advice is for teachers to look for conference opportunities close to them like UzTEA and [Central Asian Teachers of English Conference] CATEC, submit a proposal to present and try to attend. I guarantee the experience will be life changing.
Visit http://www.tesol.org to learn more about TESOL. You can also visit the Embassy’s English Language Programs page at http://uzbekistan.usembassy.gov/relo.html for more information about the U.S. Department of State’s English language programs and activities in Uzbekistan. If you would like to receive emails from the Embassy with information about educational opportunities for English language teachers and students, please send an email to Tashkent-advising@state.gov.