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EAMP
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With the financial support of the US Embassy in Baku, AzETA launched English Access Microscholarship Programme in October 2006. The beneficiaries of the Project are the children between the ages of 13-17 from vulnerable families who are more attracted to madrasas (religious schools). The aim is to teach them English and encourage to grow as active citizens to contribute to the development of civil society in Azerbaijan.
YEAR 2
Seeing the effectiveness of the Project, on behalf of AzETA the US Embassy applied for the Programme for 2 more years. Year 2 started in December 2007 and will finish in August 2008. Number of the students, as well as the regions increased. Now there are 216 in the Project. Most of the students in Year 2 are new ones. However, AzETA involved the most active and talented students from Year 1, too. Project is implemented in all 4 poles of Azerbaijan.
Baku:
Baku is in the East of Azerbaijan. There are 60 students in Baku Group. The classes are organised at Baku Slavic University. In Year 1 there were 5 students in the group which made it challenging to involve them in group activities. Now there are 6 students in each group. As such, there are 10 groups now. Placement tests were held and the students were grouped with their English level.
Ganja:
Ganja is located in the West of Azerbaijan. There are 18 students in Ganja Group. The classes are organised in AzETA Ganja Branch. Sometimes the students are also taken to Regional Library and Information Centre in Ganja where there are different books on the USA and where the students get access to internet. Peace Corps Volunteer is also invited to the classes to speak about the USA.
Khachmaz:
Khachmaz is located in the North of Azerbaijan. There are 18 students in Khachmaz Group. The classes are held in AzETA's new office at school #8. Recently the students were invited to Khachmaz TV programme to share their views on the course, especially, to speak about the importance of educating girls. Sometimes the students are also taken to Regional Library and Information Centre in Khachmaz where they have an opportunity to benefit from the resources, including books on the USA and internet.
Lenkaran:
Lenkaran is located in the South of Azerbaijan. There are 24 students in Lenkaran Group. AzETA does not have a branch in Lenkaran. The classes are organised at school #4. Senior English Language Fellow in Lenkaran is invited to the classes to speak about the USA.
Mashtaga:
Mashtaga is a village in Baku, where most of the families are conservative. There are 30 students in Mashtaga Group. The classes are held in Shukran Education Centre.
Nardaran:
Nardaran is another village of Baku very close to Mashtaga. The majority of the families in Nardaran are conservative, too. There are 24 students in Nardaran Group. The classes are organised at school #131 in Mashtaga.
Qebele:
Qebele is located in the North of Azerbaijan. There are 24 students in Qeble Group. The classes are organised at school #4.
Sheki:
Sheki is also located in the North of Azerbaijan. There are 18 students in Sheki Group. The classes are organised at AzETA Sheki Branch which is located at school #8.
Project Co-ordinators:
Qemer Rustamova - Baku
Halima Fatullayeva - Ganja
Gulnar Bayramova - Lenkaran
Vafa Mustafayeva - Qebele
Ulker Aliyeva - Sheki
Sevil Aliverdiyeva - Khachmaz
ENRICHMENT ACTIVITIES:
Celebration of New Year:
On 15 December 2007 students from all the Project regions came together at Baku Slavic University to celebrate New Year. It was a half-day event, where groups from each region demonstrated different activities on Christmas and New Year.
The new students of the Project were very excited. It was the ever first experience for many of them to demonstrate their English knowledge in front of such a bid audience and at the stage of a University. They recited poems, sang songs, shared views on the USA and its culture, traditions, history, geography, etc. One of the students played the role of a Santa Claus and gave presents to the active students who could answer his questions on Christmas and New Year.
The event was also effective as the students who were shy at the beginning gained some confidence and thus, were more active towards the end of the event. Even some of the students became friends and exchanged contact details to visit each other.
Some parents also attended the event and thanked the organisers for giving such an opportunity to their children to develop.
At the moment the children are preparing to celebrate Easter and Novruz holiday. The event will be hosted by Qebele Group in Qebele on 15 March 2008. The students are very excited as it will be their first visit to that region of Azerbaijan. Also, most of the students have never travelled outside their own area.
Children's 4th Conference
Enjoy English Club held its 4th Conference on 2 February 2008. 40 EAMP students from different project regions joined the Conference. As the working language of the Conference was English, only the EAMP students with good English skills were invited to the Conference For more information on the conference, please, visit: http://www.az-eta.org/eec.php
YEAR 1
Year 1 started in October 2006 and finished in December 2007. Project regions were Baku including Mashtaga village, Lenkaran and Qebele. There were 80 students - 20 students from Mashtaga, 30 students from Baku, 15 students from Lenkaran and 15 students from Qebele.
Baku:
The classes in Baku started from 3 October. 6 of the classes were held in AzETA office. With the request of Shukran Education Centre in Mastaga, AzETA organised 2 groups from the madrasa (religious school) in Mastaga. AzETA teacher would go to Mastaga to teach the students there. The other 2 groups in Mastaga started on 21 January 2007. Shukran Education Centre provided a room in its premises for AzETA to teach the Programme students.
Lenkaran:
The classes in Lenkaran started from 1 November 2006. There were 3 groups and 5 students in each group. The classes were organised at school # 4.
Qebele:
The classes in Qebele started from 3 October 2006. Initially 2 groups started. In mid-January one more group was created. All together there were 3 groups and 5 students in each group in Qebele. The classes were organised at School #4 in Qebele.
The textbook used for the classes was World English 1, which included a student book, a workbook, a teacher’s guide and a set of 6 audio-tapes. As some groups made progress during the Project, the teachers requested to start World English 2 in the middle of the Programme.
Enrichment activities:
Celebration of New Year:
In order to encourage the Programme student to learn English better, AzETA organised different events for them. One of such events was celebration of the New Year where the children recited poems, sang songs in English , danced, played music instruments, etc. It was very impressive to see them so motivated.
At the end of the event a competition was held where the children’s knowledge on the material they had taken was tested through different questions. The winners were awarded with books. All the participants of the event were given New Year presents.
10 students from Lenkaran also joined the event. Due to bad weather condition Qebele students of the Programme could not joint the event.
Elizabeth Murphy, Second Secretary of the US Embassy also attended the event and congratulated the children with the New Year and for their achievement within a short period.
Commemoration Day of Martyrs’ in Mastaga
The Programme students from Mastaga organised an event on 24 January to commemorate Martyrs who died on 20 January 1990. They gave information on the Black January, recited poems, sang songs to glory friendship. All the Programme students from Baku were brought to the event. Mastaga students were both excited and nervous as it was their first presentations in English.
Elizabeth Murphy, Second Secretary of the US Embassy also attended the event and congratulated the students with their achievement within a short period. The students were especially excited as they had to perform in front of a native speaker.
Such events help the children develop their presentation skills and freely express themselves in public. Seeing the effectiveness of these events, AzETA intends to organise more events involving these students in organisational issues, too. It is scheduled to celebrate National Holiday Novruz AzETA also intends to celebrate International Day of Defence of Children on 1 June where all the Project students including the students from Lenkaran and Qabal will be invited. Apart from these events AzETA will invite the most promising students to Enjoy English Club so that they develop other skills apart from the language skill to integrate with the Club members.
AzETA also intends to organise an end of Programme event where the Programme students will be brought together in a one-day forum during summer holiday in one of the Programme regions. The aim is to establish relations and networking among the Programme students for the sustainability of this Project. Active children – Project beneficiaries will be involved in the organisation of the Forum which will help them develop their management and organisational skills. Topics for discussion at the Forum will also be decided by the children so that they feel that it is their Forum. Otherwise, it might turn into a one-day torture for them. Also, facilitators, moderators for the Forum will be selected among the children, teachers will be involved to assist them only. As the Programme students are not experienced enough, AzETA will also involve Enjoy English Club members to assist and encourage their peers.
On 23 and 25 January Elizabeth Murphy visited classes organised in AzETA office. She fist answered the students’ questions, then observed the lessons.
Visit by Colleen Graffy, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy
On 6 February Colleen Graffy, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy was taken to the Baku-based classes to talk to the students, answer their questions and observe the teaching for a few minutes.
Novruz party
AzETA Young Learners SIG celebrated Novruz holiday on 3 March where beneficiaries of different AzETA projects came together. It was an opportunity for all the children to demonstrate their knowledge gained through different AzETA projects and programmes.
English Access Microscholarship Programme students from Baku, Mashtaga and Lenkaran were brought together, sang song, recited poems, role-played in English, danced.
The children tested each others’ knowledge of the world, of national holidays of the US and Azerbaijan, including Novruz holiday.
The children also demonstrated short plays depicting Novruz and its main symbols like Kosa and Kechel.
The guests of the party were Elizabeth Murphy, Public Diplomacy Officer, Steve Youngblood, Fulbright Fellow with his family, Glenn Deckert and others. Local TV channels placed information on their news programmes on the event, as well as the achievement of the children.
The event was in the nature of children’s report to AzETA to demonstrate how much has been achieved by them and by their teachers – AzETA members.
Farewell party for Elizabeth Murphy
Elizabeth Murphy, Public Diplomacy Officer of the US Embassy worked in Azerbaijan for 2 years only. But within these 2 years she did at least 20 years’ work.
In her time AzETA was granted with English Access Microscholarship Programme.
On 26 April EAMP students had a farewell party for her where they recited poems, sang songs, n English, danced. The most interesting part of the event was for the children to ask her different questions. The children sang a song: You are my Sunshine. To the questions of one of the students “Who is your sunshine?” Elizabeth gave a great answer: You all are my sunshine.
She also shared her impressions on her 2 years’ stay in Azerbaijan expressing her amazement of the culture, history and hospitality of the Azerbaijani people.
Although the children were saddened with her departure, they assured her that they would study well so that wherever she were she could always hear their achievements.
AzETA Regional Conference in Qebele
AzETA held its next Regional Conference in Qebele on 26 may 2007. There were 120 teachers from different regions of Azerbaijan.
The Conference started with the welcome notes of AzETA, the British Council and US Embassy as donor organisations and Qebele Executive Power. After the welcome notes EAMP students from Qebele recited poems, told jokes and sang songs in English. It was their ever first presentation in front of native speakers. They were very excited and happy about this opportunity. At the end of their presentations Ragsana Mammadova presented each student with a story book for young learners on behalf of AzETA. This presentation of the students was also their report of 9 months' achievements.
Community design project with Mashtaga students
By Barbara Youngblood
During the last four months, my son Alex and I have been making two trips a week to Mastaga to help teach English to the children in the village. In April and May, we helped the students as they created a community design project, which is a three dimensional design that showcases their desires for the future of Mastaga.
Alex led the project by offering suggestions of ways to improve the community. His suggestions included adding more playground equipment and parks so the children could have a safe place to play, park benches for people to sit on while they wait for the bus, and adding trash cans, sidewalks, and street lights.
We used the community design drawings to introduce English vocabulary, words like bench, tree, and pond. I even attempted to draw a horse. Of course, that brought much laughter since my horse looked more like a box with legs and a tail. While the students colored, they were also learning and reviewing the words for colors in English.
The Mastaga students seemed to have a wonderful time drawing and coloring the project, all the while laughing and singing songs in English. One of the children wrote, “It is a very interesting project. We had fun. We sang songs while we were working on the community design. We had fun with everyone. We were a team.”
The words “we were a team” stick in my mind because several of the students made that same comment. I never really thought of it before, but we were a team. We worked together and had a great time as we moved forward on the project. I was impressed by the students’ teamwork on the community design project.
This was a learning experience for Alex and I as well. Alex said, “It doesn’t matter if you can draw, the main thing is to have fun and do your best.” He also said it is a lot harder to teach than he realized. I always knew that teaching was difficult, but teaching English to foreign students is nearly impossible if you don’t speak their language. This required extra patience and imagination on my part—skills that I will carry into my American classroom some day.
The community design project was an excellent way for the children to expand their growing English vocabulary. This type of project also promotes team- building skills, and it is a great way for everyone to get to know each other and have fun while learning. This project could be altered to fit the needs and interests of older students, who could design a shopping area or athletic facility, or younger children, who could design a playground or park.
Our students had a great time working on the design project with us, and I hope they will always remember our time together. I know Alex and I will keep these wonderful memories with us the rest of our lives.
Journalism classes
On Thursday 29, 2007 Prof. Steven Youngblood, Fulbright Scholar from Park University, Missouri, USA, started Journalism classes for medrese students at the AzETA office to develop students’ language skills, as well as critical thinking. The class meets once a week each Thursday at 18.00 o’clock to learn the details of newspaper language. The students were given a chance to create their own newspaper, to give a title for it and deal with the topics they want to write about, select editor for the newspaper, photographers, writing from press conference and etc. Students are enthusiastic, they are eager to see the result of their “products”-newspaper. Students have chosen their topics on what theme they will write, and they work in a group and in an individual form to create news story as well as a feature story. All group members are involved in the work. “American students have certainly one advantage: journalism is taught in virtually every high school in America” Steven Youngblood stressed in his article “Azeris need good journalism instruction” published in “Baku Sun” newspaper on April 13. Students will work together to create their own class newspaper, learn about the different parts of a newspaper, types of information found in a newspaper, and how writing is developed for a newspaper and some other things which will help them to develop their critical thinking and bring out their media language skills, they will feel responsibility for the work they are doing. All these above mentioned works are implemented under the guidance of Park Communications Professor Steven Youngblood, in AzETA. The deadline for the newspaper issue is considered to be on May 10, 2007. It should be noted that, creating a newspaper for the secondary schools is a new idea for the environment of Azerbaijan.
Children's views on Journalism classes:
What we think of Journalism Classes
Ali Allahverdiyev: Journalism classes helped me to improve my language skills. We learned journalism at these lessons.
Aygun Aliyeva: Journalism classes inspired me to become a journalist, when I finish school I will be a journalist.
Yashar Aliyev: During 2 months Journalism classes I understood that this is not only a profession but also very interesting hobby.
Shahin Khalilov: It was interesting to write stories in different topics.
Murad Ramazanli: I am happy that I am in this project. I learned a lot from the Journalism Classes.
Elvin Hassanov: I am also happy that I attend these classes. I am sure that it will help me in future.
Gulnar Jamilova: I can say that during these classes I have learned a lot in the field of journalism. It was very interesting.
Asmar Hashimli: I feel very happy that I am also in this project. It was very interesting. I hope that we all will have bright future.
Zulfugar Guliyev: This class will play a great role for my future profession. It will help me a lot if I chose this profession.
The students issued their first newsletter. For viewing the newsletter, download it here:
No 1
No 2
US Embassy Independence Day Reception
Dimitry Tarakhovsky has newly been appointed Public Diplomacy Officer of the US Embassy in Baku. As soon as he arrived in Azerbaijan, he was interested in EAMP and attended the farewell party in honour of his predecessor Elizabeth Murphy organised by AzETA with participation of the EAMP students. He was amazed with the skills of the students and decided to closely work with them. His first idea was to teach these children some American songs as he has professional music education background. The first idea was to teach these students the Anthem of the United States. The students were very excited with the idea and all of them learned the Anthem by heart. However, some students were more successful as they had good music talent and voice. The next idea was to prepare these talented students for the US Embassy Reception on the occasion of the Independence Day. 8 students were selected for this purpose and Dimitri Tarakhovski rehearsed with them every day for two weeks after his work hours.
Both AzETA teachers and the students were thrilled for the opportunity. It is a very high level event where Azerbaijan Government officials, managers of local and international organisations, companies are invited.
The event was hosted on 3 July at the US Embassy. After the Anthem of the Republic of Azerbaijan performed by famous Azerbaijani singer Azerin, the children were invited to the stage to perform the Anthem of the United States. All the eyes were on the children as it was a very new experience for all the guests of the event. But when the students started singing with the accompany of Dmitri Tarakhovski on the keyboard, there was a deep silence. The guests were amazed. As soon as the students finished, HE Mrs Anne Derse, US Ambassador applauded the students and said “Bravo!” very loudly.
Only after performing the students realised what a big and responsible task they had had to accomplish, which they did very successfully.
AzETA President Ragsana Mammadova and EAMP Mashtaga teacher Sudaba Sadiqova were among the guests.
EAMP Forum
On 2 August AzETA organised an end of Programme Forum where the Programme students were brought together. The aim was to celebrate the achievement of the project, to present certificates and award most active students. All the students were actively involved in the Forum where they gave group presentations on the American culture, history, traditions, geography, political and economic structure. They also tested one another world knowledge though different questions, quizzes. Mr Donald Lu, Deputy Chief of Mission of the US Embassy presented certificates to the students on their English level resulted from the end-of-programme final test.
It was a programme end-up event where the students demonstrated their skills through short presentations. The presentation topics were mainly about the gained knowledge on the US, its history, culture, geography. The groups had included some general knowledge check questions, puzzles, quizzes in their presentations for their peers to answer the questions, to solve the puzzles.
A real surprise for all the students were that many of them were awarded with several certificates apart from the certificate of English profeciency. Raiq Aliyev from Lenkaran and Ibrahim Muradov from Qebele were awarded with certificate of acknowledgement apart from the certificate of accomplishment for their great support in co-ordinating the Programme in their respective regions.
The below students were awarded with different prizes for their successful writing under “How I See the World” Writing Competition:
1. Aliaga Allahverdiyev - 1st Prize
2. Elvin Hasanov and Kamran Allahverdiyev - 2nd Prize
3. Aygun Aliyeva and Narmin Hummatzadeh - 3rd Prize
4. Muhammad Jabbarov and Nigar Jabbarli - 4th Prize
5. Jala Jafarova - Certificate of Appreciation
6. Yashar Aliyev - Certificate of Appreciation
7. Yalchin Agayev - Certificate of Appreciation
8. Shahin Khalilov - Certificate of Appreciation
For their active involvement in the journalism classes and contribution in producing 2 newsletters, some of the students were awarded as below:
1. Yashar Aliyev - 1st Prize
2. Murad Ramayanli and Zulfuqar Quliyev - 2nd Prize
3. Shanin Khalilov and Aygun Aliyeva - 3rd Prize
4. Ali Allahverdiyev and Gulnar Jamilova - 4th prize
Certificate of acknowledgement to:
1. Asmar Hashimli
2. Elvin Hasanov
3. Narmin Hummetzadeh
For the sustainability of the achieved results, the most active students were invited to Enjoy English Club. Qebele students were invited to Enjoy English Club Forum held in Ismayilli on 11 August. |
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