On February 20, 2019 the Foreign Languages Theory and Practice Department hosted a round table called “TEACHER’S PROFESSION – A NEW STATUS, NEW OPPORTUNITIES” organized for graduate students with a major in “Foreign Language: Two Foreign Languages”. The venue was the Start-Up zone of the L.N. Gumilyov ENU.
This event was held in the framework of the discussions of the main directions of the Law “On Teacher’s Status” and was agitational in its nature: university and school teachers were telling students of the pedagogical specialty about the advantages and merits of working as a foreign language teacher in modern schools.
Welcoming speeches were made by: Sh. Zharkynbekova, Dean of the Faculty of Philology; Zh. Beisembayeva, Head of the Foreign Languages Theory and Practice Department; M. Buribayeva, Associate Professor of the Translation Theory and Practice Department and M. Yeskindirova, Head of the Translation Theory and Practice Department.
The invited speakers of the round table were: Assel Abildayeva, manager for work with alumni of the “BOLASHAK International Programs Center” JSC; Aizhan Arshabayeva, Deputy Principal of School-Lyceum No. 66 on Innovations and Digitalization, Astana, a teacher of English; Aibolat Yessentemirov, Head and Founder of the Youth Business Incubator of the Technology Commercialization Department of the L.N. Gumilyov ENU; G. Kushkeyeva, an English teacher of the highest category of School-Gymnasium No. 22 of Astana (branch of the Foreign Languages Theory and Practice Department), Arslan Darimov, General Director of the network of educational centers “Rocket Study” in Astana.
3rd year students – future teachers of two foreign languages – heard from speakers about the changes that are currently occurring in the system of primary, secondary and higher education, about the discussion of changes that are planned to be made to the Law “On Teacher’s Status”.
Dean of the Faculty Sh. Zharkynbekova, a Bolashak alumnus, appealed to students to go to work in schools that today are in a great need of teachers who own innovative, multimedia and web-based learning technologies. Today schools are equipped with modern technical training aids that can be widely used in the educational process. Our university trains teachers in many profiles and makes modern teaching methods as the focus in the content of educational programs.
Aizhan Arshabayeva, a Bolashak alumnus, told students about innovations that have been introduced in several schools in Astana. Today, teachers can share work with school students and private paid courses on the premises of the same school. This allows school teachers to increase their earnings and independently build their work schedules.
M. Buribayeva, also a Bolashak alumnus, presented to the students the differences that she revealed while studying and comparing the present and discussed versions of the Law “On Teacher’s Status” independently. In the “new” law, the teacher receives a number of privileges and advantages: social, financial, career, etc.
G. Kushkeyeva, an English teacher with extensive experience in school, shared her impressions about the need for such agitational events for university graduates and invited all interested students to practice and internship with subsequent employment in her school.
Of particular interest was Aibolat Essentemirov’s presentation about a competition of projects of young start-up entrepreneurs from among ENU students. The main requirement for participation in the competition is the preparation and submission of a 3-minute video about your business project, which will later be posted on the website of the Youth Business Incubator. The best projects receive financing, free rental of premises in the Start-up building as well as financial and legal support. On the same day, an open door was held in the Start-up zone, where all interested students were invited.
Students received answers to their numerous questions and received a certain charge for further personal development, seeing firsthand vivid examples of how one can become a successful teacher, a good teacher, a wise teacher, and, most importantly, what benefits they will receive according to the “new” Law “On Teacher’s Status”, if they go to work in secondary schools.
Dean of the Faculty Sh. Zharkynbekova and Associate Professor of the Translation Theory and Practice Department M. Buribayeva, both being Bolashak alumni, gave interviews to representatives of the “International Programs Center” JSC about their vision of the upcoming changes in the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On Teacher’s Status”.
