Interactive Lecture at Abai Research Institute

As part of the celebration of Abai’s  180th anniversary  the demonstration  lecture on  "Abai’s Teachings" course  was held at  Abai Research Institute of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University. The lecture  topic was  "Hot Will, Enlightened Mind, Warm Heart: Traits of the Complete Person." This course was developed at the institute and integrated into the educational process. Since the 2021–2022 academic year, it has been successfully taught at KazNU, demonstrating good results.

The lecture was conducted by Associate Professor of the Abai Research Institute and Candidate of Philological Sciences, Layla Musaly, in an interactive format. The first part featured a thematic presentation analyzing the words of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, K. Tokayev, from his article “Abai and 21st Century Kazakhstan” regarding the concept of the “complete person,” highlighting its relevance. Students listened to an excerpt from a lecture by the prominent Abai scholar Mekemtas Myrzakhmetov, featured on the institute’s website in the “Abaitanu. Selected Lectures” series.

The lecturer assigned the students a linguopoetic analysis of Abai Kunanbayev’s poem “He who befriends wealth cares not for others.” Students were divided into two groups, asked each other questions about the content of each stanza, and formed their own conclusions. The epithets “hot will, enlightened mind, warm heart” from the final stanza were also examined. Each group presented its interpretation of the qualities of the complete person.

At the end of the session, the students participated in a challenge based  on  “Young men, cheap is the game, but laughter is costly”  poem by Abai which summarizes  its main idea. The lecture concluded with Associate Professor L.Zh. Musaly evaluating the students’ responses and recognizing the most active participants. The open lecture proved to be both beneficial and engaging for all attendees.

Author: A. Kenzhekhozhayeva, Research Fellow at  Abai Research Institute