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South Branch
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On December 15th, Huzura Agayeva and Mahbuba Islamova, both AzETA trainers from Baku, visited Lankaran to conduct a workshop entitled, “Classroom Management” at School #4. Anxious to learn new methods, the nine young teachers in attendance were very engaged with the topic presented. By the end of the afternoon, all who attended felt it had been a very successful and worthwhile presentation.
In addition to looking forward to another workshop in the near future, the teachers set a date to discuss organizing an AzETA branch in Lankaran. The Lankaran region, far south in Azerbaijan on the Caspian Sea, is a rural area that has had little access to continuing education courses for English teachers. Also, Lankaran is one of the largest cities in Azerbaijan and a regional hub in the South. The principle goal of an AzETA branch would be to provide support for English teachers with more frequent professional development training, as well as by providing teaching method materials to use. It is also an educational imperative to create an AzETA South branch and join the other AzETA branches in Baku, Ganja, Khachmaz, Mingechevir, and Sheki.
Until November 2007, Lankaran had only 3 AzETA members. Thanks to Kathy Taylor, an English Language Fellow who has been assigned to teach English as a Second Language at Lankaran State University, there are more men and women taking an active role in AzETA. She recruited 8 people to attend the 4th AzETA International ELT Conference held in Baku on 10-11 November 2007. She also helped facilitate the Classroom Management workshop held in December. One of her main goals while in the Lankaran region is to increase membership in AzETA, as well as to help the teachers establish a branch. Membership is growing. There are now 15 AzETA members, with anticipation of many more joining as the Branch becomes a reality. Thus, beginning in February 2008, AzETA teachers from Lankaran, Astara, and Jalilabad have been meeting every two weeks with U.S. Embassy English Language Fellow - Kathy Taylor, and U.S. Peace Corps Volunteers - Tim Ong, Joyce Hahn, Jane Flegal, and Whitney Bey to build a foundation to formally establish an AzETA branch in Lankaran for the benefit of all AzETA members in Southern Azerbaijan.
Southern AzETA members from Lankaran State University, Lankaran Schools, Astara Pedagogical College, Astara Schools, and Jalilabad Schools are all actively working together with a dual purpose of establishing an AzETA South branch and an English Resource Center.
Lenkaran is also one of AzETA's EAMP (English Access Microscholarship Programme) regions. The Programme was launched in October 2006 will continue until August 2009.
AzETA included Lenkaran in its other project titled Establishing Enjoy English Clubs in 5 regions of Azerbaijan. The Project was launched in December 2007 and will continue until September 2008.
Please read more on the South Branch activities at: http://azeta-south.org/ |
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