In March 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic forced schools in Kazakhstan to close, with learning switching online rapidly. The project team came together to develop a new strategy and to work more efficiently online. Surveys and direct calls to teachers across Kazakhstan revealed their needs in teaching remotely.

 

The Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan transferred all educational institutions in Kazakhstan to remote teaching, broadcasting video lessons through national broadcasting companies and online providers. Since the first video lessons were recorded rapidly, the Minister Askhat Aimagambetov, has urged providers to strengthen the quality of subsequent video lessons for schoolchildren and add multimedia resources. 

To support teachers and the Ministry’s initiative, we invited experienced teachers from the Remote English Teaching Project in Atyrau, funded by the North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC), who recorded six ten-minute video lessons. Each video covers one topic that they teach at school and is linked to British Council online resources. Video tutorials demonstrate an activity and contain explanation for students of how to complete tasks. These were uploaded to YouTube for trialling by teachers:

English for Success_ Grammar_Conditionals

English for Success_Vocabulary_My favourite clothes

English for Success_Grammar_Past Simple

English for Success_Vocabulary_Holidays

English for Success_ Vocabulary_Health

English for Success_Vocabulary_My favourite clothes 2

Since the Kazakh government has temporarily closed educational institutions to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, we switched to online training and offered a series of live webinars for six groups of teachers:
  • CLIL group
  • STEM group 1
  • STEM group 2
  • STEM group 3
  • English group 1
  • English group 2
Webinars aimed to provide further professional development for STEM teachers and English language teachers. The programme focused on developing teachers’ practical skills in using the jigsaw technique by planning and delivering lessons in the subject they teach at school. Another focus was on strengthening the teachers’ confidence in using the 5E learning model and integrating the 5E model into a series of teaching episodes. A series of webinars also focused on teamwork and the development of communication skills, as well as thinking skills.  
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