Between June 30th and July 26th, TESOL Instructor Lisa Mann together with the ESN U.S. Coaches Kenneth Myers and later with Wendy Coulson delivered TCCP sessions in Tashkent to 28 Regional Peer Members (RPMs) from Syrdarya, Djizzakh, Tashkent region, and Tashkent city.
These RPMs are secondary school English language teachers in Uzbekistan, who have been offered professional development opportunity by ESN:STT program. ESN: STT is funded by the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy in Uzbekistan and implemented by American Councils for International Education in close cooperation with the Ministry of Public Education in Uzbekistan.
One of the RPMs, Meyrbek Oralbaev, who teaches English at school #1 in Gazalkent, stated: “After completing the Foundation and Adolescent parts of the TCCP course, I can say for sure that I have improved my learning and teaching skills. I was pleased to be a part of this course and acquired knowledge from some of the most experienced and high skilled Coaches like Lisa Mann, Kenneth Myers, and Wendy Coulson. The sessions were perfectly organized. The confidence level of my professional growth has been increased significantly”.
Another RPM Nilufar Djalilova, who is considered one of the most qualified teachers at school #10, shared what she has learned from the sessions: “As I have been teaching mostly primary grade students for many years, it was a bit challenging for me to teach teenage learners for the past academic year. Studying theories during the sessions positively affected my professional growth to understand my adolescent learners better. Teenage learners are very sociable and prefer active learning. They need a collaborative learning environment with lots of social interaction. I have learned that using authentic materials can assist my adolescent students in being more engaged in the language learning process”.
Lisa Mann also shared her impression: “The July TCCP Foundations and Adolescent Learners courses for the Tashkent RPMs went very well. This was a very intensive course in which the participants were required to attend 120 hours of instruction in just one month. Not only did they manage to remain engaged throughout this rigorous program, they really thrived! They were extremely enthusiastic about learning not only the strategies and activities that they could take away and immediately use, but also about the research, that forms the basis for these practices. I am excited to see what this group of excellent professionals does next!”
Lisa Mann holds two master’s degrees: one in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and another in Translation and Localization. In Uzbekistan, she served as the academic coordinator for Webster University’s established MA TESOL program in Tashkent. She currently works as a training consultant, translator and editor in Spain.
Regarding the U.S. Coaches, both Wendy Coulson and Kenneth Myers are very experienced and have been working in the field of TESOL for 27 and 15 years correspondingly. Their biographies are available on the following sites: www.esn-teachers.org/users/wcoulson and www.esn-teachers.org/users/kmyers.