Teachers (Students) Voice: Teachers Summer Training Course in August 2016 Atyrau Kazakhstan

Zaure Kulchikenova, Kazakhstan

Teachers of English in Atyrau are thankful for this 2 week course Effective Classroom Practices August 1 –August 12, which was organized by British Council and Tengizchevroil (Associated American –Kazakhstani oil company). The course was part of a continued education program to further develop the language and teaching skills of the participating teachers. The course provided an introduction to a communicative approach of a teaching with practical applications using the current secondary school English textbooks. There were several referenced sources used for the course. Our final course grade was based on the following: Attendance (10)-20%, Homework (6-8) -30%, Micro Teaching Lessons (2-4)-50%, so in order to pass and get a certificate we needed to get 70% or more in the course. Attendance was counted as the total number of times we attended a lesson, Homework was based on the material presented in the classroom and other material given by the instructor, we registered and submitted homework through the website www.engrade.com, and Micro-teaching consisted of lesson planning and demonstration lessons 7-8 min by us.

Especially, we want to thank our Course Trainer, consultant of British Council Maher Sherif, one of the strongest trainers for pleasant and useful teaching, we were motivated to get good results. Teacher trainer taught us easily and we were glad to listen again and again his explanations, themes about learner motivation, warm up demonstrations, lesson planning, classroom management, teaching vocabulary, Concept Check Questions, Classroom language, error correction, and certainly use in our practice in the schools. So, the atmosphere in the group was warm and friendly, we participated fully in the course, involved in the teaching process, engaging in the training activities. And many thanks our course coordinator Ayagoz Turlanbekova, who answered all our questions, gave confidence and support.