I’M VERY PROUD TO INTRODUCE OURPRESETT NEWSLETTER.

PRESETT has certainly been one of the mosteffective, important and inspirational program-mes the British Council has carried out in its20 year history in Uzbekistan. Nothing is moreimportant than education, no one more importantthan teachers! And as an English teacher myselfthe support of young teachers starting out in theircareer is so vital. This engagement is somethingthat will shape a teacher for their whole career,and therefore affects the thousands of pupilsPRESETT graduates go on to teach. Therefore,and without any exaggeration, PRESETT islife changing.

I believe that in Uzbekistan we have got PRE-SETT right, and this is evidenced by the influenceour programme has had on similar, newerinitiatives in other countries, for instance Ukraine.This success, in my opinion, is due to a variety offactors: the very high level of professionalism ofour team (amongst the best in the worldaccording to our UK experts), the strong andconsistent support of the Government ifUzbekistan for this work and of course theincredible enthusiasm and openness of the manytrainees who have graduated from the prog-ramme over the years.

We want to build on the success of PRESETTand are currently looking at modules for ICT inteaching, as well as designing new ways to helpdirectly improve the standard of English for thoseteachers who need it. Our newsletter is animportant tool to communicate our plans aswell as to hear your experiences and views.

Long live PRESETT!

Mark CrosseyDirector British Council

Uzbekistan

THE IMPACT OF THE PRESETTCURRICULUM

The PRESETT Curriculum has long since beenadopted and implemented in all the universitiesresponsible for the training of English teachersand many of the first graduates from the initialexperimental groups are now employed as statesector teachers across the republic. Educationalchange takes time, and as a project team, wewere always aware that we would have to take along view of the work we embarked on some eightyears ago. The long-term aim of the EnglishReform Project in general, and of the PRESETTProject in particular, was to improve the standardof English teaching in schools, lyceums andcolleges. Thus, it is only now that we are able togain an impression of the impact of the reformson learners of English in these institutions. Weawait a full-scale evaluation of this impact,planned for later in 2016, but in the meantime,project team members and PRESETT tutorshave had their ears to the ground in the schoolsector and they have sent in some of theirfindings for inclusion in this issue of ourPRESETT newsletter. In addition in this issue weare happy to extend the boundaries of ournewsletter from the national level to theinternational one and welcome our colleaguesfrom Ukraine who talk about how they initiatedthe PRESETT project in their country and howtheir visit to Uzbekistan helped them redesign themethodology curriculum. To these, we haveadded some interesting experience reports fromUniversity teachers in Uzbekistan and Ukraine.

Dilafruz Khodjaeva and Aziza Yunusova,Lecturers from the Bukhara State University,report on the success of the new curriculumimplementation in their institution. They sharesome valuable feedback of their former studentswho currently teach in schools and colleges.Nargiza Tokhtahodjaeva and Malika Yunusova,colleagues from the Uzbek State WorldLanguages University, reflect on their learningand teaching experience before and after theadoption of the new curriculum.They talk aboutpositive impact of the PRESETT project on theirteaching and their students’ learning. MadinaIsamukhamedova, a recent graduate of thePRESETT experimental group at the UzSWLU,who has been teaching at the Lyceum atta-

PRESETT Newsletter

ched to the University of World Economy andDiplomacy, writes about her experience of thenew curriculum as a student and emphasizes thecourses that she has enjoyed most. Shehighlights the skills, she has developed thanks tothe programme, that turned out to be useful in herteaching. Gulnora Nasirova, a former PRESETTproject member from Andijan State University,who currently teaches at the Tashkent StatePedagogical University according to the newcurriculum, revisits her professional path; the joyand challenges of changing her way of teachingand thinking under the influence of herinvolvement in the project and other professionaldevelopment opportunities. She notes that thecurriculum writing experience enabled her tosucceed not only in her profession but in herprivate life as well. Dr D. Khodjieva and the 4thyear student A. Smaylov from Karakalpak StateUniversity give a teacher-and-studentperspective on the new curriculum. They writeabout how PRESETT helps students developtheir language skills and use the new methods ofteaching English. They also share how theUniversity celebrates the “Annual English Week”.

We hope that these reports will also inspire otherreaders of our newsletter to contribute to futureissues. We want to reach out to and involve teachers and students in all parts of Uzbekistan.

Bukhara State University was one of the firstinstitutions in Uzbekistan which adopted the newcurriculum in 2009, aiming at preparing teachersof English who are competent in practical class-room methodology and in language referred tointernational standards. The PRESETT Cur-riculum was piloted in two groups out of sixexisting. To date, the University has turned outabout 80 PRESETT graduates.

Any educational revolution is almost certain tohave a revolutionary impact. However, theEnglish Philology Faculty at Bukhara StateUniversity didn’t face any resistance orchallenges. The administration and the vice-rector responsible for education provided a solid

Nodira Isamukhamedova and Rod Bolitho

IMPLEMENTATION OF PRESETTPROGRAMME IN BUKHARA

support in launching the programme. Later on,the University Rector lent a hand to keep up theprogramme implementation.

Following the republic-wide adoption of thePRESETT programme in 2013, the number oftrained PRESETT teachers in the EnglishPhilology Department has increased and all newfirst year students have been starting theirstudies according to the new curriculum.

We should note that the applicants applying forthe English Philology Faculty don’t usually aim tobe teachers in future, preferring to think aboutprofessions like a guide or a translator, or simplygetting a job in a foreign firm or a company. Thistendency has changed in PRESETT groups.Most of the students changed their attitude to-wards the teaching profession and their mindsabout future profession. The number of PRE-SETT graduates among school teachers of Eng-lish in Bukhara is the evidence of the effec-tiveness of the curriculum.

The PRESETT Curriculum differed from thetraditional programme in language andmethodology modules, teaching approach,students’ role and etc. Consequently, it led toadvantageous outcomes so far. The PRESETTgraduates are competent and professionalteachers of English with a fluent command of thetarget language, meeting international stan-dards. After completing all the PRESETTmethodology modules, students are skillfulenough not only in planning lessons, but also inadapting and designing materials, working withdifferent age groups, using different approachesto teaching and learning, testing and assess-

PRESETT Newsletter

Zarnigor Jalolova is teaching in the secondary school

ment. This certainly contributed to a very positiveexternal evaluation by an international expert andthis evaluation also influenced the decision toadopt the curriculum nationally. Besides theexpert’s evaluation, the attempts of the studentsfrom traditional groups to move into PRESETTgroups were also signs that the programme wasbecoming successful. Additionally, many of theschools and colleges where PRESETT studentshave their teaching practice in year 4, invite thesegraduates to work with them after graduation.

At the moment there are 74 PRESETT gradua-tes for the last three years and about 60 (80%) ofthem are teaching English in differenteducational establishments including secondaryschools, academic lyceums and colleges. Theseformer students keep in touch with the Universityteachers as we are all UzTEAmembers and thereare regular association events where they sharetheir challenges and success.

As PRESETT teachers, we are always interestedhow the programme is helpful and useful in ourstudents’ teaching. Here are some some formerstudents’ views about the PRESETT programme:

a) about putting PRESETT learning into practicein teaching:

Zarnigor (secondary school teacher): Even beinga novice teacher, I could easily manage to workwith documentation as we had “Planningteaching and learning” classes where weanalyzed curricula and made our own lesson

plans. Another good point of PRESETT for me isthat we studied how to teach different age groupsas I have young learners and teenagers.

I’ve beenworking for three years in school and I see thatPRESETT is a very useful and easy way ofteaching English, because PRESETT teachersknow different styles and methods of tea-ching.

I always feelconfident while talking on different topics with mystudents and I really enjoy communication inEnglish.

It is not enough toknow English well to be a good teacher. A realteacher should know psychology of pupils, how toorganize lessons, how to communicate withpupils. I have learnt them from PRESETT, so Ifeel confident in class.

My learnersget both knowledge and pleasure from mylessons. I can see it from their test results andparticipation in the lessons.

Shakhlo (secondary school teacher):

b) about the confidence they feel as a tea-cher of English:

Nargiza (secondary school teacher):

Mukhayo (college teacher):

c) about the learners’ benefits from PRESETTmethods:

Zarina (secondary school teacher):

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Zarina Turaeva is teaching in the secondary school

Malika Jalolova is teaching in the secondary school

Zarnigor (secondary school teacher):

Shakhlo (secondary school teacher):

d) about resistance of other teachers to newideas on teaching English:

Ilkhom (college teacher):

Zarina (secondary school teacher):

The programme has been fully proving its valueand meeting all the expected outcomes. It is notonly skills and knowledge that distinguishPRESETT students from traditional students, butthe enthusiasm and zest for teaching, anddedication to their profession. They areconstantly on the lookout for new materials andopen to any new idea in the sphere. The othersignificant advantage of the PRESETTProgramme over the traditional one is that it alsoaims to develop students' transferrable skills

Though weknow a variety of teaching methods, we can’talways use them with all pupils as they aredifferent in age and learning styles. For example,some pupils like peer editing, whereas the othersdon’t prefer showing their writings. However, allmy pupils like to be involved in differentinteractive activities, like, jig-saw tasks and role-plays.

My pupilslearn English easier and faster than others. Theylike my teaching methods because I see themvery active when they work in small groups andpairs. They feel free when speaking English.They are not shy in front of me and eachother.

When I began working,I was afraid that teachers wouldn’t like myteaching style. But after three months two Englishteachers asked me to help them with ideas toapply new methods of teaching that I use. I didn’texpect it. Then I heard that some groups wroteletters to the school director asking for me to betheir English teacher.

Some of theteachers of my school prefer working withtraditional methods as they find them easy. Butwhen I invited them to observe my class theyfound PRESETT methods very useful andinteresting. Besides, when our school sent us tothe retraining institute, I didn’t find anything new,because we had already learnt and used every-thing in PRESETT.

along with the language skills which come inhandy not only in their teaching career butalso in their further personal lives.Consequently/Notably, future PRESETTteachers develop in their students critical andreflective thinking, time and stress management,teamwork skills, problem solving and settingSMART goals that contribute to their personalmaturity. Furthermore, we think PRESETT is theright programme to prepare appropriate cadresto implement the aim and functions of thePresidential decree №1875 which has beensigned to make fundamental changes in thesystem of teaching foreign languages in thecountry.

Dilafruz Khodjaeva, Bukhara State UniversityAziza Yunusova, Bukhara State University

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TEACHERS’VOICES

I’ve been teaching several courses like Reading I& II, Listening and Speaking I & II, Integrated skillsI and II for the last two years within the PRESETTcurriculum. We can see the advantages ofPRESETT in many aspects. For example, I wouldlike to highlight the reading skills. Before thePRESETT programme, within the old system ofeducation lessons were organized around acertain text designated for reading and translating.The teacher was dominant and students workedonly according to his/her directions. It was ratherboring. But now, the PRESETT curriculum targetsat developing learners’ reading skills andstrategies through various interesting ande f fec t i ve tasks . S tuden ts work moreindependently, striving for their goals by evaluatingthemselves. PRESETT helps students to improvetheir abilities in reading, writing, listening andspeaking skills. In my classes, I observed theimprovement of students’ fluency and confidencein language. Particularly, the Integrated skillscourse is one of the most interesting and usefulmodules. While preparing a project task, studentslearn how to organize the time, to work with others,to be creative, to search for information and othervaluable skills.

The curriculum contains new modules, many ofwhich we never had before. The Listening andSpeaking skills course is also very important inlearning the foreign language. If students knowgrammar very well it does not at all mean that theyknow the language. For that, students shouldimprove their listening and speaking skills inclasses with the help of audio and video recor-dings.

In conclusion I want to say that in the PRESETTcurriculum students learn the language in acomplex way, where all language skills are taughtin integration.

I always thought that there is only one way ofteaching and learning English. The reason why Iam saying this is that my teacher always had thesame routine of teaching every class. Forexample, my teacher asked me to learn grammarrules, some poems and exercises by heart. Typicalexercises were for translating from one languageto another. First we translated at home, then allstudents used to read their translations one by onein class. Then, the teacher used to give his/herown version and we copied it out to our notebooks.Next day we used to learn those translations byheart. We did a lot of drilling exercises to improvepronunciation. I remember how awful and boring itwas for all the students.

After I started teaching I understood how to teachdifferently. Through participating in DUET in-service sessions, teacher training events andUzTEA conferences I realized what Communica-tive Language Teaching means. These profes-sional development events really helped me a lot.The culmination was my involvement in teachingexperimental PRESETT groups. I had to changemy traditional methods, reflect on my teaching,and continuously work on my professional deve-lopment.

Nargiza TokhtahodjaevaSenior Teacher,The Uzbek State WorldLanguages University

Malika YunusovaEnglish TeacherThe Uzbek State WorldLanguage University

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PROJECT MEMBERS’VOICES

How Curriculum Writing has Influencedmy Way of Teaching

As an English language teacher with 15 years’experience I can divide my teaching into twoperiods: my teaching before the new curriculum,almost 8 years, and teaching according to the newone.

While graduating with honours at the languageuniversity in Andijan, I was sure of my classroomlanguage, teaching methodology (which I copiedfrom my teachers), the course book (the same onewhich I’d been taught for 5 years), documentation:group register, due to the fact that sometimesbeing a group monitor while studying I was askedby lecturers to fill in the register, so, I started mycareer with full self-confidence.

In order to develop my professional skills, I often,attended training courses, seminars, observed mycolleagues’ classes just to copy new activities(knowing nothing about its objectives, aims) in myown classroom. As the years went by, I becamedissatisfied with my teaching, classroom activities,tasks for assessment, my students’ achievements.What was the reason?! I worked hard, in thelessons tried to keep to English rather than Uzbekor Russian, the atmosphere in the classroom andmy relationship with my students were positive,students were supportive, full of enthusiasm, didall their homework, class work, they were veryactive but I saw no results. The good learnersknew by heart all the grammar rules andstructures, their store of lexis was rich enough, anddespite this they had problems with accuracy andfluency. Moreover, as a teacher I did not know

ALUMNI VOICES

I had an opportunity to study in the experimentalgroups between 2010 and 2014 at the Uzbek StateWorld Languages University. Studying under theprinciples of PRESETT not only helped me todevelop as a future teacher, but to grow as aperson as well. All the subjects we covered at theuniversity have made an influential contribution tome as a future teacher. I strongly believe that everylesson was useful and effective. For instance, fromsubjects like Testing and Assessment andTeaching Approaches I have learnt the principlesof assessment, giving feedback, using modernand interactive technologies instead of outdatedmethods while teaching. Moreover, the course onTeaching Different Age Groups and LessonPlanning have taught me how to composeeffective lesson plans, how to build strongcommunication with students and be a persuasiveteacher.

Having graduated from the Bachelor’s Degree Igot work in one of the local lyceums. I was given anumber of sophomore groups to teach the Englishlanguage. The English lessons in the lyceum weresubdivided into skills: students had separateclasses for Grammar, Listening and Speaking,Writing, Reading, Vocabulary and Cross CulturalIssues. As I entered upon my duties I faced nodifficulties dealing with the aspects given. I havehad experience to teach almost all the aspects andit was not so complicated for me to work on eachsubskill. Moreover, dealing with students gave mea great pleasure: I saw their sparkling eyes ofinterest as I used plenty of new methods andgames while teaching.

PRESETT shaped my personality as well asteaching abilities. Most subjects were focused ondeveloping students’ critical thinking, creativityand better language acquisition. I have learned towork in groups, manage my time, prioritise tasks,plan and avoid procrastination.

Madina Isamukhamedova,PRESETT Experimentalgroup Alumna, 2010-2014Currently Master’s studentThe Uzbek State WorldLanguages University

Gulnora NasirovaTeacher, Tashkent StatePedagogical Universitynamed after NizamiyPRESET Project teammember 2008 - 2013

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what to do, what the problem was, but I was 100%that there was something wrong with my studentsand not with me.

I had been involved in two big projects by theBritish Council (my students actually nominatedme as a good teacher for the Baseline Studyproject). The third one was the PRESETTcurriculum development project and I was invitedas an assessment specialist, and was ready todevelop some kind of official document for“stakeholders at the top”, but I did not suppose itcould influence me and my colleagues in our rolesas teachers of the English language at the Uni-versity.

Working on the new curriculum for almost fiveyears I have discovered a lot of new things abouteducation. Step by step I began to find solutions tomy concerns about teaching and learning. I beganto regard them as a continuous process and asinseparable. I understood the problem was withme as well, and not only with my students.

Unfortunately it was not too easy to change myteaching methods and strategies like reading andtranslating, sentence based tasks, using onecourse book for all modules, having methodologyclasses in Uzbek / Russian languages, productbased writing, teaching practical phonetics byasking to learn by heart diphthongs and all 44sounds, repeating isolated words in order topractice phonemes, reading a book (fiction) forthe home reading module, which was chosen by ahead of the department, and so on.

Even if someone has an eagerness to learnsomething new in teaching and to apply it inteaching, it is not a painless process. It is difficult togive up your teaching principles, methodology youhave practised for many years, to re-establish yourbeliefs about teaching, teachers, and learners; tobegin to think differently.

Teaching a language, for me, turned out to bemore than just using different activities during alesson, always keeping to English with students,and evaluating after each unit of the course book. Iradically changed my understanding of what itmeans to be a Good Language Learner and aGood Language Teacher. I found out other alter-

native ways of assessment not only using multiplechoice questions and dictations. I totally changedmy attitude towards writing and assessing writing(I was an error/mistake hunter; misspelling was myfocus when I assessed writing). While working onthe new curriculum for all four years, I wasimpatient to pilot it with my colleagues at myuniversity, get teachers’ and students’ feedback oneach module. Feedback from learners andteachers was in general positive but there wascertain resistance even from teachers. As I statedabove, it is difficult to start thinking differently.

In addition, as a team member, I have developedpersonally too. I became more patient, moresociable; I have developed some transferableskills like making presentations, IT skills, workingas a team, which helped me in my private life aswell.

I’d like to mention here DUET in-service coursesas well, which helped me a lot in my second periodof teaching.

Through all this, I have come to understand thatchanges do not happen in a day, not in a year. Ittakes time and it involves learning, investigating,trialling, analyzing, implementing and digesting.

For personal reasons I have moved to Tashkentfrom Andijan and was invited to work for one of thestate teacher training universities. As everybodyknows, it is not easy to find a good job. But myexperience within the project helped me to get thepromotion. There, they started to implement thenew curriculum three years ago and so, I haveclasses with students in Years 1, 2, 3 according tothe new curriculum.

I am really proud of being a part of that projectteam; looking back I cannot believe that we did itwith the support of our government, and the BritishCouncil. I am profoundly proud of my contributionto the development of my country, specifically inthe area of education.

PRESETT Newsletter

RENEWING LANGUAGEEDUCATION THROUGH PRESETT

Karakalpak State UniversityPh. D. doc. D. Khadjieva,A. Smaylov,4th year student

Following our President’s decree on the 10th ofDecember, 2012 about measures for furtherenhancement of the system of teaching of foreignlanguages, there is now a special focus on Englishlanguage learning and teaching in every partof our country.

One of the achievements is the establishment ofthe new PRESETT curriculum in the foreignlanguage faculties of higher education institutions.In terms both of standards and content, it is closelyrelated to modern approaches to the educa-tion of future English teachers in Europe ancountries.

We regardthe PRESETT curriculum as a rainbowacross our education land. Just as a rainbow iscomposed of several kinds of colours, PRESETTcontains various features and components.

In our University the PRESETT curriculum has ledto positive results in the learning and teaching ofEnglish.

In our language courses we have acquired all theskills to express our opinions in the targetlanguage, and are aspiring to be fluent speakersof English. We used to consider writing as boring,but with the help of the new PRESETT Program-me it turned out to be really interesting and weenjoy producing different pieces of wri-ting. Weespecially like the Integrated Skills course, wherewe have developed all four skills.

In our new Discourse Analysis course, we havelearned how to analyse both written and spokendiscourse.

In the methodology courses we can show ourabilities both in learning and teaching. We havegiven presentations using laptops and projectorson topics in the course. This has helped us tode-velop our body language, use of eye contact, ourself-confidence and self-control, our way of spea-king, our voice tone, and our teacher presence.We have also learned to observe classes and togive feedback.

The British Council has supported us with aconsiderable number of course books andmethodological aids, and we also havea realchance to communicate with native speakers ofEnglish when the representatives of the BritishCouncil visit us.

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All in all, the most challenging, demandingresponsibility and clear organisation is researchwriting. After choosing topics suggested by oursupervisors we have done a great investigation,library research, data collection and data analysis.In addition we havecarried out our research duringour teaching practice with college, lyceum andschool pupils. Finally, the most exciting day comeswhen we defend our research papers in front of thestate commission. It is an unforgettable day ineach student’s life as every graduate will get thefruits of his hard work. As the English proverb says“You reap what you sow”.

Every year in April our faculty organises an“Annual English Week” activity which involvesstudents in demonstrating different skills.Theymay act role plays, organise funny performances,sing English songs, make video recordings,prepare interesting English-centred posters andwe celebrate the birthdays of the great Britishpoets Robert Burns and William Shakespeare.In addition, we have published articles on impor-

tant topics of teaching in PRESETT groups indifferent journals published by our University andin foreign countries. For instance, this year, 4thyear student Rose Kurbanbaeva’s article on thetopic “Analysing written texts in the classroom”has been published in aninternational journalin Sweden.

In conclusion PRESETT is playing a special role inthe development of the education system in ourcountry and we can be proud of it. We hope thenew curriculum will continue in this way and bringabout progress in learning and teaching foreignlanguages effectively by boosting new methodsand approaches. PRESETT is a bright light inUzbekistan’s valley of education.

PRESETT Newsletter

The Baseline Study revealed an imbalance in thecurriculum for preparing foreign languageteachers in Ukrainian universities, with only 3 – 5% of the available time devoted to languageteaching methodology and the rest of the timespent on largely theoretical studies in eitherphilology or pedagogy. In addition, the team foundthat methodology courses were delivered aslectures in the mother tongue, with little practicalrelevance to students as future teachers, and inmany cases were not up to date in terms ofcontent. Assessment on these courses focusedon students’ command of the oretical know-ledge.

Based on these findings, the team made thefollowing recommendations:

• to establish modified or new state standards inlanguage teacher education at Bachelor’s andMaster’s level

• to design a unified core curriculum forMethodology which will take into account thepractical needs of future language teachers aswell as trends and practices in other count-ries.

After a succession of in-country workshops, and anumber of revision stages, work on the newmethodology curriculum is now nearing comp-letion and it will be piloted in a selected cross-section of universities starting in September 2016.The main characteristics of the new curriculumare:

• a flexible modular approach, with 22 modulesspread over years 2 – 4 of bachelor-level study

• progression through studies planned in a waywhich reflects students’ journey from languagelearners to language teachers

• greater integration of theory and practice

• entirely new modules in areas that have hithertobeen neglected, e.g. Learner Autonomy, SecondLanguage Acquisition, Special EducationalNeeds, Classroom Action Research and Con-tinuing Professional Development

• an explicit, staged framework for school expe-rience and teaching practice

NEW GENERATION SCHOOL TEACHER:AREPORT FROM UKRAINE

We are very busy in Ukraine with a reform projectaimed at improving and updating the Pre-ServiceTraining Programme for future teachers ofEnglish. The project is managed by the BritishCouncil on behalf of the Ministry of Education andScience, and the project team is made up ofteachers of English and Methodology from uni-versities across the country, supported by a localand a UK consultant.

Between March 2013 and February 2014, theproject team carried out a baseline study, whichinvolved:

• collecting and analysing documents relating tothe preparation of future teachers of foreignlanguages: standards, curricula, and syllabuses

• studying the interests, needs and attitudes ofstakeholders: primary (students and schoolteachers, university students and lecturers), andsecondary (Ministry of Education and ScienceUkraine, Departments of Education, Rectors ofUniversities)

• exploring the Uzbek experience of reforminginitial English language teacher training through avisit to the State University of World LanguagesTashkent, Uzbekistan in December 2013 (thisgave us a great deal of impetus in our plans toreconceptualise our methodology curriculum)

• undertaking a study visit to Norwich Institute forLanguage Education Norwich, United Kingdom, inMarch 2014.

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• an innovative, varied and integrated approach toassessment, with a much stronger emphasis onpractical outcomes and transparent assessmentcriteria

• a strong recommendation to move away fromlectures to a more student-centred, task basedapproach to the implementation of the curricu-lum.

With piloting now looming, the project team hashad to focus increasingly on disseminationstrategies, which involves them in honing theirskills as trainers. The curriculum is being intro-duced through exposure to same training sessionsand key principles at summer schools and winterschools targeted in the first instance at teacherswho will be involved in piloting. We have alsoconducted a thorough review of the final drafts ofall the modules by sending them out for evaluationand comment to more than twenty teachers inpiloting institution. The feedback from training andthe module review has helped the team to identifyshortcomings and gaps in the materials.Participants in the summer and winter schoolshave been articulate about their own professionallearning, too, as this quotation from a teacher inKharkiv reveals:

“I’ve always been inclined to reflection (both inaction and on action) but having attended theschools in Kyiv and Drahobrat I’ve become evenmore aware of my teaching style and the ways itcould be improved. The question which is currentlyat the forefront of my mind is whether my classesare learner-centred enough.As yet I can’t honestlygive a positive answer to this question but I knowthat I’m on the right track. I think twice now beforelaunching into detailed explanations and thushogging the talking time – instead I try to elicit theanswers from the group. I bite my tongue so as notto interrupt a student in an attempt to prevent apossible mistake – I let students make their ownmistakes and thus learn from them. I try to bemore careful with my classroom language, e.g. notto ask empty questions such as Do youunderstand? Is that clear? Are there anyquestions?, the answers to which don’t usuallyreflect the true degree of learners’ comprehension.All this goes to show that thanks to the schools I’mslowly but surely moving towards learner-centredteaching.”

We can safely say that our new methodologycurriculum is arousing enthusiastic interest amongboth language and methodology teachers, manyof whom have never had the opportunity to rethinktheir practices or to be exposed to alternativeapproaches to teaching, and as our ideal profile ofthe new generation of teachers emerges, we hopethat there will be a sustained impact on theteaching and learning of languages across thewhole educational system in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian PRESETT teamDecember 2015

(for more information, please see our projectwebsite: http://ngschoolteacher.wix.com/ngscht

or contact Viktoriia Ivanishcheva:Viktoriia.Ivanishcheva@britishcouncil.org.ua )

PRESETT Newsletter

OUR PRIDE - PRESETT GRADUATES

Chingiz Urazimbetov teaching in the academic lyceum 2 in Chimbay

Malika Kalmenova teaching in the secondary school 31 in Nukus

Dilfuza Makhmudova teaching in the academic lyceum in Namangan

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