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News Archives 2007

December, 2007

Christmas Fairy Tale

On December 23, 2007 there was held a Christmas party for 25 Sunday School children at American Culture Center. The presentation on Christmas history and traditions was shown and then Santa Claus (Casey Meyering, PCV-07) and Snow Maiden, fairy tales characters came to enjoy the party.  Heroes of our favorite books, Snow White,and Vasilisa Premudraya, Er-Tostik, and Harry Potter, introduced themselves and asked questions on the books they are from. Children were happy to demonstrate they read the stories and like reading, and then they sang songs, danced, recited poems, played games and showed their skills of playing the national instruments. Everybody got sweets and little presents from Santa and Snow Maiden and went home in high spirit.

“CITIUS, ALTIUS, FORTIUS”

On December 21, 2008 twenty works of young artists of Ust-Kamenogorsk were selected for participation in a youth art exhibition for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China. Thus we supported the initiative of International Paint Pals (Youth Art Connection, a division of Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta) and the Beijing Youth Federation. The Program aims at promoting cultural understanding and friendship among kids worldwide.
Children of 12 city schools aged 5-17, presented 64 works. Best works were chosen by the jury including K. Nursadykov, deputy director, Art Museum, B. Hamzin, an artist, K. Yarullina, a methodologist of Municipal Education Department. “We tried to be objective”, said K. Nursadykov “but it very difficult. All children have presented ideas of friendship, goodwill and peace in their works”. There are no looses in this art holiday, and all remained works are exhibited at the library entry hall. Welcome!   

A Step to Life without AIDS

AIDS awareness Day (December 1st) is important in reminding people that HIV has not gone away, and that there are many things still to be done. In the library there were displayed exhibitions of printed and electronic resource on the problem. A public lecture by  Zinaida Ivanovna Kolomitseva, an epidemiologist of the East Kazakhstan Oblast Center on AIDS prevention and fight against it, was presented to 68 school students. The lecture went in interactive way, the questions: What occurs after hit of a HIV virus in an organism? How AIDS is declared itself?, were answered; a documentary film was shown and at the end of the meeting students received bright booklets and posters. To know more about disease is a step to the future life without AIDS.

November, 2007

Native America

To commemorate NationalAmericanIndianHeritageMonth American Culture Center has displayed an exhibition “Native America”. It was presented to the users during last two weeks in November, 2007.
Colorful encyclopedia, History books of Native Americans, Atlas of Indians of North Americans and other printed resources were exhibited. The panorama of Mesa Verde and a little clay model Kiva, made by one of our users, postcards with Patricia McAllister paintings attracted people’s attention as well. Over 40 users have become interested in exhibition, especially school students.

Global UGRAD Program

International Pie Party

On November 18, there was held an International Pie Party within the International Education Week The aim of the event is an intercultural exchange and communication through the acquaintance with nations’ cuisine. 22 participants were from the USA, Germany, Russia and Kazakhstan (they are US PCVs, our users and guests of our city). Pies cooked in German, American, Kazakh, Russian, French and Tatar traditions were presented. During holiday different nation representatives not only took a closer look at each other, but also learned a lot about culture of each nation and specific peculiarities of cooking different national dishes. The holiday was followed by tea party and eating pies. Participants had a lot of fun talking on their favorite dishes and culinary styles of some nations. The best way to feel nation’s soul is to taste its cuisine.

On November 13, 2007 the discussion on topic “British and American English: similar different” between EFL teachers and native speakers was held at American Corner. They spoke about why Americans speak differently than people in England. A teacher of English language said: “Even if British and American English have differences, people have to speak easier to understand the language, for example, some words that are quite innocent in one dialect may be considered vulgar in the other”. The disccusion was rather interesting and all participants were active and shared their opinions. There were 19 people at the meeting.

October,2007

Halloween in ACC

This time Sunday School students had to celebrate Halloween four days later. On November 4, 2007 at American Culture Center there was held a mysterious and spooky holiday Halloween. Children dressed in different colorful costumes of witches, vampires, skeletons and ghosts told the history of Halloween, recited poems; sing witches songs, danced and played games. Special guests of the holiday horrible monster Sam, California Dracula Jay and Bloody Mary (our dear PCVs) had fun together with children and a lot of sweets and little presents were delivered. (37 children)

Internship at Alabama

Irina Labukova, a young talented teacher of school-gymnasium #38, has had a six week internship at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Irina is one of two finalists of TEA-07 (Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program) from the city. The second finalist Elena Mirgorodskaya is enhancing her teaching skills and knowledge of the USA at the moment. On October 19, 2007 Irina met with the members of City English Teachers Association (22 people) and shared her impressions on the program. “The whole program is happy excitement and hard work”, said Irina. “I am happy I was the lucky one to try it and hope I have coped with it.” Irina and Elena are to have a number of seminars for EFL teachers on their American experience.

Children are Welcome

Teen Read Week at ACC was marked by Children Sector resource exhibitions and special classes at Sunday School. But the most remarkable event is the start of Fairy Tale Hour with Mary McWhirter. It held place on October 17, 2007. At their first meeting children (aged 9-12) read The Little Red Hen story. Mary found easy ways of making children understand the tale, and they all together then played as animals from the story and spoke like them. Little students were interested and excited, and sure to come next time. Fairy Tale Hour is the first regular club for our young readers. Wish you long and wonderful life!

ACC Honorable Visitors

In October ACC was honored by hosting two remarkable visitors. Asiyat Suleimenova, US Embassy in Kazakhstan Cultural Affairs specialist, within her business trip to Oskemen paid a visit to American Culture Center. She had a talk with the ACC staff on advancing Fullbright programs, studied our collection and presented the Russian version of Rasma Karklins “The system made me do it: corruption in post-communist countries”. On October 19, 2007 John Drotos, a new Country Director of US Peace Corps in Kazakhstan, visited ACC to become acquainted on PCVs activity in Oskemen. A constructive and lively talk had place with the participation of library administration, ACC staff, EFL teachers and PCVs. The questions on enhancing Peace Corps activity in the city and the ways to attract volunteers to rural regions were discussed. Both guests expressed their appreciation of the ACC activity and responded highly on our collection.

Breakthrough to Successful Future

East Kazakhstan Association of American Corners is at work. The next big event initiated by Association on US Embassy in Kazakhstan assistance was a workshop “IT – Breakthrough to Successful Future”. The senior trainer Professor Vadim Stepanov, alumni 94,98, Moscow State University (Russia) within two days (October 15-16, 2007) dwelt on the role of the Internet in the libraries and American Corners and trained participants in searching sites and data bases own and foreign as well. The participants, Kazakhstani AC coordinators and village libraries directors (25 people), were introduced the best ways for searching proper information. “Do the Internet and the library go along together or is the digital awareness of a librarian to be always back of rapidly developing Internet technologies?” was a background question of the second day discussion. “We mustn’t fall behind new technologies” – answered the participants and demonstrated certain awareness on Web 2.0, having discussed ways of using it in their work. The workshop has contributed a lot to digital competence of a librarian and is to have long lasting beneficial effect.

Welcome, Teacher Trainer

On October 4, 2007 American Culture Center hosted Philip Kerr, English teacher, teacher trainer, director of studies in many countries in Europe and North Africa, author of course-book Straightforward. His visit to Ust-Kamenogorsk was initiated by our partner City English Teachers Association. There were 32 school and university teachers at the meeting. The lecturer spoke on The role of affect in learning to speak. The extent to which our students develop as autonomous learners depends significantly on their affective response to the language. Teachers cannot control this affective response, but there is much that they can do to influence it. Mr. Ph. Kerr explored how the teacher’s management of classroom speaking activities can foster both language development and learner autonomy. Participants highly appreciated the chance to learn from such an honorable trainer and, of course, used the opportunity to find more about teaching, coursebooks and teachers. The guest reviewed the ACC resource and remarked that our teachers have excellent opportunities to professional development for the Center possesses a beautiful collection of books on methodology.

September, 2007

Within the republic action “One Book – One Country” members of the Discussion Club dwelt on philosophic and worldly meaning of Abai’s Book of Words. Abai was a great Kazakh poet, musician, translator, philosopher and political activist. In his Book of Words laying stress on higher moral standards, Abai does not denigrate his own people but rather calls them to his wisdom. Sam Robertson, PCV-06, this meeting manager, had selected some quotations from Abai’s book and alongside prepared some of R. Emerson, American author, poet and philosopher. So the participants (there were 30! people) were to speak on two authors’ points of view on the same things. Abai is sad, Emerson is optimistic; Abai addressed to the nation, Emerson to an individual; but both believed in happy future, so discussed the participants.

Talk like a Pirate Day

On September 19 Talk like a Pirate Day was celebrated at American Culture Center, Oskemen. The holiday was visited by 78 school students. They enjoyed PP presentation about the history of the holiday, great pirates and their activities ( www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html was used). Students have learned how pirates talk and sang pirate song. The chance to compete in smartness and quickness was given to those who participated in games dividing into two teams: Jack Sparrow’s team, and Davy Jones’s team. At the end all participants were awarded little presents.

August, 2007

 Back to School

Traditional EFL teachers’ August Conference was held at the library on August 28, 2007. Almost 80 city people gathered to make the analysis of the previous year and set the tasks for the coming one. The event has become our big joint project since 2004. This time the resource exhibition was arranged under the rubrics “Teach”, “Learn”, “Create”, and “Research”; an overview of the ACC renewed site was demonstrated; Jay Chen and Sam Robertson, PC volunteers, conducted a workshop on the importance of warm-ups and cartoon games. The audience showed great interest, was active and definite plans for further collaboration were discussed. Kulzira Muhamadieva, a City Education Department methodologist, said “It is hard to overestimate cooperation with American Culture Center – for us it is the synonym of success”.

US Embassy Vice Consul at the ACC

On August 10, 2007 American Culture Center hosted John M. Lankenau, Vice Consul, US Embassy in Kazakhstan. J. Lancenau and Elena Cogai, US Embassy employee, got acquainted with the Center and met with the Center patrons. Vice Consul spoke on visas and American programs in Kazakhstan. The meeting was held in Q&A form. The auditory of about 50 people, mainly students and university graduates, was informed on visas types and categories, got answers to what the reasons are to reject the visa, why fingerprints are taken, whether two Consular Departments in Astana and Almaty are different or not, and the questions on summer and educational exchange programs. The meeting went on in a lively and friendly way and both sides benefited by its results.

ACC – Regional Center of Observers’ Assistance

Center of foreign observers’ assistance was opened on the basis of American Culture Center at the Pushkin East Kazakhstan Oblast Library during organization and holding of the election of Mazhilis and maslikhat deputies of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Long-term observers, Onno van der Wind (Holland) and Tord Dugge (Sweden) have already visited this center.
All necessary conditions were created for observers of foreign countries, international organizations and foreign mass-media. Observers are provided with all necessary materials, copying machine, vehicle for communication and computers with Internet access.
ACC staff volunteered for helping foreign observers in organizational issues.

On June 13, 2007 there was held a public lecture with an intriguing title “Baseball in Ust-Kamenogorsk”.  Dwayne Williams, American coach and trainer, has come to Ust-Kamenogorsk for a certain purpose – to teach children baseball. The idea occurred to him when about ten years ago he brought there US high school students on exchange program. Only this year Dwayne was able to realize his dream. He had bought the necessary equipment (on his own account) and brought it to the city. Now the teacher trains two groups of children of school #38 (the host school) and those from the neighborhood.
In his lecture Mr. Williams dwelt on what is baseball for Americans, its peculiarities and rules. “In your country when a little baby first able to play a ball, he kicks it, in America - throws”, he stressed. “Baseball is a game that first happens in your mind, then on the field”, he continued. His passion to baseball was supported by US PC volunteers participating in the meeting. They told baseball history and even demonstrated some techniques. Books, CDs and DVDs about baseball from ACC resource were also interesting for audience.
 Listeners: high and secondary schools students, PC teachers were active too. They asked a lot of questions: baseball promotion in Ust-Kamenogorsk, differences between baseball and softball, Mr. William’s followers in our city and so on.
Baseball in Ust-Kamenogorsk? –Yes, it is real. A demonstration game with PC volunteers is to be held this Saturday on a football field of Komsomolskii Ireland. 

Summer Discussions and Baseball

A happy chance to have weekly discussions with native speakers has occurred to our users this June. Sam Robertson initiated an English Summer Camp for the children of village school he works at. To help him he invited PCVs working in other regions of Kazakhstan. They responded eagerly, and a team of nine! US Peace Corps volunteers works at the camp now and alongside held discussions to our patrons.
On June 9, 2007 they had a hot discussion on Food and their meals preferences. Diets and fats, vegetarians and foodies – these topics helped not only develop speaking skills, but learn each other closer and become friends.
Discussions are not the only point our users can meet new PCVs. At the moment at the city we host a great enthusiast, American teacher and baseball trainer Dwayne Williams. He has a lot of work to popularize baseball in Ust-Kamenogorsk. And helping him is another great opportunity for us, our users and young Americans to meet, collaborate and make friends.   

Book of Words

There are four new samples of Abai’s great Book of Words in the collection of American Culture Center. Abai is the most prominent figure among the Kazakhs, a poet, composer, translator and social worker. His creative work is a fusion of thought and feeling, an exchange between the mind and the heart. His Book of Words is a deeply meaningful way to truth... It reminds us that humans have the greatest value in the world, and that they should be beautiful and harmoniously perfect.
The book is translated and published in English on the initiative of Abai International Club run by Rollan Seisenbaev. The former is another prominent Kazakh writer and social worker, and a Chair of the Amanat journal International Board. He does a lot to introduce Kazakhstani reader to best world literature and world reader to Kazakh heritage. We do hope to have more new editions in our Center, including the writers own works.  

May, 2007

On May 29-30, East Kazakhstan Oblast Pushkin Library hosted American Corners International Workshop Global Knowledge and Partnership Opportunities. There were library directors and American Corners coordinators from 7 Kazakhstani and two Tajikistani AC. US State Department representatives Holly Murten, American Corners coordinator; Mary Nell Bryant, specialist on librarian programs and Victoria Sloan PAO, US Embassy in Kazakhstan participated as guest speakers.
The workshop aimed at determining social-diplomatic mission of the American Corners, their role and purpose. The participants shared experience, identified ways in which to promote American Corners, learned about US Government resources on the Internet and new technologies, discussed measurement, reporting and evaluation. Our American Culture Center activity was presented as experience in best management, programming and partnership.
The workshop schedule was both strenuous and inspiring, friendly environment was created and strategies on successful AC management and programming were worked out. “It has been a productive and wonderful two days in Ust at our long awaited conference bringing together AC staff throughout Kazakhstan. We have planned meaningful programs for this region and beyond”, Victoria Sloan said. 
The workshop has become the first great event in building effective collaboration of American Corners of Kazakhstan.

Want to Study in America

TOEFL training by Jay Chan is going on. It started in April and on May 23 there was held the 6th workshop. Jay, PCV-06 has experienced some separate trainings for students before, but this time it is a special course arranged for potential participants of American Programs. Nine trainees are to try themselves for graduate and undergraduate study in the USA. They are taught the structure of the TOEFL and how to work with it. Jay teaches, corrects, encourages and gives a lot of practical training. “There are many great TOEFL preparation books here in ACC that can help with exercises for the test. But it is hard to overestimate the tutor help we get here.”- Lena Smirnova, a trainee says.

New Fiction at the ACC

May and June are the months when PC volunteers return back to the USA. One of them Frieda Bowerman is to leave us in June. She has decided to present her home-library to the American Corner. “First I wanted to distribute the books among my friends but then decided library is the exact place where the books can be available to a lot of people eager to read in English”. So we were happy to get the collection of about 50 contemporary fiction books. These are mostly books of Modern American writers such as: J. Evanovich, N. Roberts, T. Gerritsen … Easy language, vital and verve characters…These are books young people like to read. Thank you, Frieda! Soon our readers will be able to enjoy the books from your collection.  

Public Lectures

On April 26th and May 2nd public lectures were held at the library. Guest speakers, John Guidry and Daniel Nakano, are professors of Kazakhstan American Free University on E2ES Visiting Faculty Program.
Dr. John Guidry presented a lecture on Making a Good Impression Professionally. He introduced the public to how make contacts and to behave at meetings with people correctly. On May 2nd, Daniel Nakano, the top executive with General Electric Company presented a lecture on Being an Effective Manager. The statement was we must be not managers, but leaders. The question Are Leaders born or are Leaders made? was set, and the way how to move from management to leadership was explored. “Leadership is about the person that you are: your ability to inspire people to action, to take the hill, commit to the mission, and be the best they can be”.
The public (there were about 70 people both times) was very active and asked questions, sometimes provoking. Such as “If both sides are aware of interview instructions, won’t intent eye-contact look suspicious or even aggressive?”
Such international education experience benefits both the audience and lecturers

April, 2007

Language is a Mediator of Friendship and Collaboration

Language is a Mediator of Friendship and Collaboration is a title of annual high school students Conference initiated by the American Culture and Municipal Education Department. This year the East Kazakhstan Pushkin Library hosted it for the third time. The language of the Conference is English. The Conference aims at promoting the role of English as a language of international communication.
Nine research papers chosen for presentation dwelt on Linguistic and Country Studies.
The jury of seven members, 5 university teachers (4 of them US professors) and 2 PCVs, and the auditory of 88 students and teachers, were both friendly and exacting. The young researchers have proved high level of competence, knowledge of English and confidence. Still, the best were Nastya Fedorova (11th grade) with
Culture Shock: Is It Possible to overcome?, Adil Smanov (10th grade) with
Regional Variation of pronunciation in the South-West of England, and Kristina Petrovich (10th grade) with American Slang. (the works are soon available at  http://www.pushkinlibrary.kz/ACC/index.htm)
The question Nastya tried to answer in her work is “Why are foreigners unaware of the Republic of Kazakhstan?” She states “Foreigners coming to Kazakhstan often face culture shock because of their lack of knowledge regarding the country”. The honorable jury decided she succeeded in her research, and the girl was awarded the first prize.
“Writing a research paper is a project that enables you to learn more than the average person typically knows. It is a challenge. Your task is twice a challenge for you try it in English. You prove you can experience it”, Jury Chair’s Doug Christgau words encouraged our students to further development.

A Book for Grant

A rare book has joined the collection of the ACC,. The Silent Steppe is the first – person story of Mukhamet Shayahmetov, granted by the author on April 17, 2007. Today he is in his mid-eighties, and the book tells of his life full of dramatic events, starting from consolidation of Soviet rule, collectivization of agriculture, Great Hunger of 1932-34, to World War II and nowadays. Originals in Kazakh and Russian are in the library’s collection, and now a wonderful Jan Butler’s translation into English is presented at the ACC. Perfect English, local environment, modern design, certainly, the book is to cause great interest of our users and researchers.

In April the International Children's Book Day was celebrated all over the world to inspire a love of reading and to call attention to children's books. Devoted to this holiday there was held a Week of Children’s Book at our library. Children of all ages, from 5 till 13, were introduced with the services and resources of our library and American Culture Center. An exhibition of bright colorful books was presented and a game-quiz “Traveling through the Pages of Favorite Books” was arranged to our young visitors. Disney cartoons and movies about animals demonstrated during the week aimed at drawing their attention to the similar books.
Result: about 200 children have visited and enjoyed the events of the Week.

The next Info –Caravan started on April, 10 to the East – Kazakhstan Humanitarian College, Ust-Kamenogorsk. It aimed at popularization of American Culture Center (ACC) resource and services. College teachers and students - future teachers of English at elementary school (84 people) were presented to an exhibition and a special web-collection for EFL teachers. Frieda Bowerman Peace Corps volunteer - 05, a member of Info-Caravan team told about the methodology of teaching English and international education. She accompanied her speech with interesting activities. The students were very happy to interact with a native speaker and to find out so many important things on studying abroad and the ACC activities. Their interest was so high that they kept asking questions for about 15 minutes after the meeting. We do hope to have new patrons from the college soon.

March, 2007

On March 17, 2007 there was held the third meeting of Model UN Club. The issue on Child Marriage (a practice in which the parents of two small children arrange a future marriage) was the topic. It caused hot discussion. The participants divided into several groups presented the interests of their countries. They tried their best in being informative and conclusive… and speaking English.
Jay Chen, PCV-05, Sam and Mary, PCVs-06 run the Club with great enthusiasm and responsibility. They prepare tasks and activities and participants even have home works. As the experience shows the former like working hard for the number of the participants is constantly increasing: there were 28 (20 was the start) last time. Ruslan, fourth-year student, says “We benefit both in developing English and getting new knowledge and skills there. I hope, soon we’ll be able to make contacts with Model UN clubs in other countries.”

Info-Caravan is Going On

Info – Caravan is a special ACC program aimed at delivering information to rural regions. On March 14, 2007 the route of the Caravan led to Ridder. Ridder is a small industrial town (130 km far from Ust-Kamenogorsk). Traveling collection of 45 editions on English Teaching Techniques, English Courses (some including video), regional geography and fiction was presented to 22 EFL teachers Town Central Library hosted. The ways and opportunities how to use the collection effectively were discussed; the participants were introduced with the ACC education advising activity and got information on FLEX and TEA Programs,  and International Language Tests (TOEFL, IELTS, FCE). The work Gulzhan Kuanysheva had made on searching useful web-sites for teachers was greatly appreciated (htpp://www.webenglishteacher.com; htpp://www.englishclub.com; htpp://www.englishraven.com…) The former found the suggested sites very informative and helpful. Antonina Terebova, the President of Town English Teachers Association, TEA-2000  says “Nowadays when English has become a global language  we, teachers and our students, experience constant need in getting new up-to-date information that is not easy in the conditions of our little provincial town. The seminar meets our needs and it is a big challenge for us to develop everything we got in our work”.

Resource Seminar for EFL Teachers

On March 6, 2007 there was held an annual Macmillan Publishers seminar for EFL teachers at the ACC. Sholpan Ergalieva, Macmillan Publishers Country-Manager, presented a wonderful power-presentation on the publishing house novelties. She has stressed the representative  constantly refreshes its menu. An overview of such courses as Laser, Move, Inspiration and Straightforward was made, the teachers (there were 20) got valuable information on IELTS and the European Framework Common Reference Levels. Posters, bookmarks and brochures were distributed and participants got enough to go over again and choose the appropriate course. Kulzira Mukhamadieva, Municipal Education Department Methodologist, thanked Sholpan on behalf of teachers. “I believe, we all will benefit a lot using these courses in our work”, she said.

February, 2007

New Horizons

A new NGO there appeared in Kazakhstan in February. It is the East Kazakhstan Oblast American Corners Association created on the initiative of Ust-Kamenogorsk American Culture Center. The new association aims at uniting and coordinating American Corners’ activity to strengthen mutual understanding between Kazakhstani and US people, to enhance professional, educational and cultural exchange.
The EKO AC Association initiators do believe the association will help in successful professional development and methodological and technical support of American Corners. We are to make contacts with foreign libraries, attract grants, and provide steady professional development.
In our plans is realizing projects on arranging English-Kazakh courses and creating American Corners in rural libraries. As far as the membership concerns: everyone aged 18 and up of any citizenship can enter the Association. The main idea is to take part in its activity and share the goals and tasks consolidated in its Charter.

About the USA in IT Language

ACC takes a good start in introducing the USA to school students. This time it was our media – lesson devoted to geographical characteristics of the USA. Senior students of the schools # 4 (24 people) and # 36 (25 people) were shown the presentation “Spotlight on the USA: From sea to shining sea”. Picturesque slides, compact text and post-lesson activities make lessons interesting and cognitive.
This series suggests continuation: Toward the City on a Hill, We the People, a Responsible Government, Cultural Life in the United States… Power point presentations US University (US Embassy) and President’s Day (American Corner, Mary) are appeared up-to-date and are becoming popular among our users as well

Valentine’s Special

Valentine’s special celebrations started on Sunday (February 11), when the Sunday School classes were arranged for the holiday and little students worked hard over creating their own Valentine cards. Their works are displayed at the exhibition “From Your Baby with Love”.
Love was the main theme of the informational video-lesson for the 5th grade students on February 14. Children have learnt about the history of St. Valentine’s Day, how it was celebrated hundreds years ago and what its symbols mean; they have greatly enjoyed guessing puzzles and crosswords, and winning little prizes: sweets and books in English. “This is the way when they really learn with fun”- Olga Dolmatova, the teacher says. “I would like them to become your constant customers. Thank you”.

The Model of the United Nations Club

Model United Nations (also known as "Model UN" or "MUN") has been presented at the ACC. Jay and Sam ran the first meeting of the club on February 10, 2007. Each year approximately 60,000 high school and university students participate in a variety of "Model United Nations" programs worldwide. The program is a simulation education activity focusing on civics, communications, globalization and multilateral diplomacy.
Jay and Sam introduced the participants (there were 23 of them) to a basic understanding of the United Nations - its structure and internal rules of procedure. They have stressed communication value of the program and its contribution to developing students speaking and critical thinking skills. The students tried themselves immediately discussing the law of religion freedom. Inspired, they have decided to hold meetings weekly starting from March.

January, 2007

ACC Busy Weekend

Sunday is a time to have a rest, but not at the American Culture Center. Actually, a weekend at the ACC is the hottest time. Every Saturday and Sunday there are about 30-40 visitors. Both rooms are occupied by the users investigating the information for their classes, term works and research papers; searching in the Internet; watching films… And they are looking for weekends’ activities: movie clubs and discussions. The most active stay longer to have lively talks with native speakers. “I really love Sundays”- Indira Ospanova (4th year EFL student) says. “I come here in the morning to work over my research paper, and stay for the whole day to practice English and enjoy the busy atmosphere of the Center”.

ACC for Oblast Teachers

On January 30, a new group of city and village teachers, trainees of oblast Teachers’ Development Institute visited American Culture Center. They have got acquainted with the ACC: its history, resource and service. Special attention was paid to the series Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers; Teaching Techniques in ESL (Oxford American English); Oxford Resource Books for Teachers.  The Forum issues on teaching young learners were marked as very useful and up to date. The teachers have highly appreciated the ACC collection of informational media-lessons. “I have never thought I can find there such helpful and advanced support. Your Center is a bank of bright ideas!” Farida Lukpanova (Novaya Bukhtarma secondary school) admitted.

Traveling Collection at Work

Traveling collection goes on an active work round the East Kazakhstan oblast. This time ACC resource is sent to Ayagoz, Tarbagatay and Bolshenarym. Collections include about 20-22 editions: valuable dictionaries (“Longman dictionaries of phrasal verbs, “Dictionary of great Britain’ and “Oxford Student’s dictionary of current English”), fiction (classics by M. Twain, S. Maugham, R. Stevenson) and books on science and the USA. The resource will enhance scarce resources of village libraries and help to raise the students’ motivation in English language acquisition.
The libraries are gifted a set of books and periodic in English as well. It is made of English Teachers Association resource and aimed to serve EFL teachers in the villages

American Culture Center hosted the successful graduates of the online course in Practical English Teaching Methodology that was piloted at the beginning of 2006. 50 teachers from villages and small towns of Kazakhstan took part in the course, which was headed by Kolesnikova T. and Vasilyeva G., highly qualified professionals.   

The project was made possible in partnership with East Kazakhstan State Technical University, Russian Open University and with financial support from PAS of the US Embassy in the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Five of nine graduates were present at the feed-back session at the library. They marked the course for its high practical value and the use of English as a medium of instruction. The participants noted that it was challenging, but exciting; they could use the suggested strategies and activities right in their classrooms. “The course gives us a possibility to develop our practical language skills” - Gulshara Talasbaeva (Ayagoz) said.

The teachers received the certificates and a set of books in English (from the collection of ETA) which is an invaluable resource for any village school.