Tashkent hosted a press conference dedicated to the program of the American Councils for International Education “English Speaking Nation: Secondary Teacher Training” and “English Speaking Nation: Coaches Program”.
The event was attended by Deputy Minister of Public Education of Uzbekistan Rustam Karimjonov, Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Uzbekistan Alan Meltzer, Country Director at American Councils for International Education William O'Roark. They informed about the goal of the program and activities to implement it.
“English Speaking Nation: Secondary Teacher Training” (ESN: STT) program was launched in 2019 in partnership with the Public Relations Department of the U.S. Embassy in Tashkent, Ministry of Public Education of Uzbekistan and the American Councils. The program is a nationwide initiative to improve teachers’ English proficiency and teaching skills.
Training and verification stage for this program was completed on December 9, 2020. Starting next week, the Ministry of Public Education and American Councils will conduct semi-final interviews for English teachers from more than 85 secondary schools across Uzbekistan. Teachers who will pass interviews will be trained by leading specialists and receive TESOL international certificate (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages).
Internationally recognized TESOL certificate will be issued at the end of a 120-hour training course to more than 350 teachers of secondary schools from all regions of Uzbekistan. The trainings will last until April 2021 for ESN program participants.
In addition, the U.S. Embassy in Tashkent and the Ministry of Public Education will invite six ESN specialist to support teacher training and improve the effectiveness of English language learning in Uzbekistan.
Over the next 18 months, within the framework of the cascade model of the program, 15 thousand English teachers will improve their skills with the help of domestic English teachers with TESOL certificates, as well as ESN trainers.
Saidmurod Rahimov, UzA