KazNU celebrated the 10th anniversary of the program "Flagman"

KazNU hosted the international conference "Optimization of the model of language training of future professionals in multicultural and multilingual environment of Kazakhstan". The event is dedicated to the 90th anniversary of Al-Farabi KazNU and the 10th anniversary of the "Flagship" program.

The conference was attended by: diplomats of the United States and the Republic of Kazakhstan, heads of the American Councils for International Education (ACCELS), teachers of the program "Flagman", specialists in teaching Kazakh and Russian as foreign languages from universities of Kazakhstan, PRC, USA, Kyrgyzstan, as well as students of the program "Flagman" and doctoral students of KazNU.

Yerkin Duisenov, member of the Board - Vice-Rector for Operations of KazNU, addressed the guests and participants with a congratulatory speech. The speaker noted that the international conference is aimed at popularization of modern transformative model of language training in multicultural and multilingual environment of Kazakhstan. The bilateral cooperation agreement between Al-Farabi KazNU and American Councils for International Education (ACCELS, USA) was signed in 2014. The agreement is based on equal partnership cooperation and recognition of the need to develop further bilateral humanitarian relations in education and science between Kazakhstan and the United States of America.  For 10 years under the program "Flagship" (Russian Overseas Flagship) at the University trained more than two hundred students from different universities in the United States. "They managed to improve their Russian language skills and successfully achieve the appropriate state certification level (C1), which is confirmed by the results of testing in the United States. This is the undoubted merit of the experienced team of teachers of the Faculty of Philology of KazNU", - said Vice-Rector E. Duisenov.

In KazNU in July 2023 for the first time were held professional development courses for 15 American Russians - school teachers and university professors from different states. They had a unique opportunity to familiarize themselves with the theoretical and methodological achievements of KazNU teachers, showed genuine interest in the culture and history of Kazakhstan, were engaged in collecting educational material about Kazakhstan for use in professional activities in their home country.

In 2023 a joint international project was started, the participants of which are professors of ACCELS and KazNU. The work on creation of two training complexes has been started: on Kazakh as a foreign language and on Russian as a foreign language.

The welcome speech was also made by: Consul General of the U.S. Embassy in the Republic of Kazakhstan Erkin Michel, Deputy Head of the MFA of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Almaty Islambek Raimov, Deputy Director of the Department of Educational Programs for Strategic Languages, Cultures and Regions (USA) Catherine Cashner and student of the program "Flagship" Chloe Edgington.

Professor of KazNU Eleonora Suleimenova made a report "Experience of the program "Flagship": language teaching in multicultural and multilingual environment of Kazakhstan".

The participants of the international conference shared their experience of integrated teaching of Kazakh and Russian as foreign languages to students on the basis of competence, cultural and motivational approaches. During the event there was a presentation of the textbook "Morphology of the modern Russian language" (authors: E. Suleimenova, O. Altynbekova, L. Ekshembeeva, Z. Sabitova) and a plenary session.

Honorary Doctor of Al-Farabi KazNU, Professor Dan Davidson (USA) made a report on "Transformative learning of the "Flagship" program according to the results of test data for the last 10 years".

During the conference there was a master class "Assessment of competence levels of the third threshold level of future foreign professionals in the program "Flagship", which was conducted by Martin Cynthia S. (USA) and resulted in a discussion among the participants of the event.

The organizers of the event were: "Flagship" program of the American Councils for International Education (ACCELS) at Al-Farabi KazNU, Research Institute of Turkology and Altaic Studies, Department of Foreign Philology and Translation Studies of the University. 

Press-service of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University