Through our mission, vision, and strategic plan, TESOL International Association seeks to make a global impact on English language teaching. As the trusted global authority for knowledge and expertise in English language teaching, we seek to expand our global presence and connectivity, strengthen TESOL knowledge and expertise, and raise our voices to advocate for English language teachers and learners. Though we proudly proclaim our vision and promote our strategies, too often our work becomes more local than global. So, here I’d like to highlight how we are connecting English language teachers and bringing TESOL knowledge and expertise to a part of the world where we have previously had little reach: Uzbekistan.

This past November, we began working with American Councils for International Education, George Mason University, and the U.S. Department of State to support English language teacher development in Uzbekistan through the English Speaking Nation: Secondary Teacher Training Program, in close cooperation with Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Public Education. The program is part of a larger effort between the U.S. government and the government of Uzbekistan to improve English language proficiency and English language teaching. With more than 9,000 public schools educating 6 million students each year, the scope is massive. Through our work, we hope to reach 1,000 English language teacher trainers and more than 15,000 secondary school English teachers in Uzbekistan. The goal of the project is to improve the proficiency and pedagogic skills of English language teachers and, ultimately, improve English language outcomes among Uzbekistan public school graduates.

Our work on the project will be multifaceted. It will incorporate a needs assessment, where we will visit public schools and conduct focus groups with English language teachers and school leaders in order to contextualize our professional development offerings. It will also involve a series of cascading professional development opportunities, including the TESOL Core Certificate Program™, the 6 Principles for Exemplary Teaching of English Learners® Professional Development Program, collaboration with George Mason University to support the delivery of a Teaching English through English course, and workshops on leadership skills and action planning. Working with our partners, we will support cohorts of regional peer mentors to build on this expansion of knowledge and expertise by providing on-site mentoring and professional development through regional teacher training centers and schools conducted by TESOL English language coaches and local teacher trainers.

Through the project, we hope not only to reach those teachers we are able to educate directly, but to leverage our resources and help build the capacity of the local English language teacher community. As we all know, local connectivity is just as valuable as global connectivity. So, while we are pleased that this project will welcome many of our ELT colleagues in Uzbekistan into the broader TESOL community as new members, we are equally pleased that it will also help support teachers within their local communities of practice. We also recognize that professional development, learning, and community require bringing people together more broadly, so we will be working with our partners to convene a regional conference in Uzbekistan at the conclusion of this 3-year project.

This project is a great opportunity for TESOL to expand our presence to Uzbekistan, provide TESOL knowledge and expertise to teachers in the region, and help equip the growing teacher presence to advocate for the profession in the region. TESOL will have ongoing opportunities to support this project for coaches, instructors, and also regional conference presenters. If you are interested in being an English language coach, TESOL is now accepting applications. Watch the TESOL English Language Bulletin and the TESOL News page for more opportunities to participate.

Christopher Powers
TESOL Executive Director
Email: cpowers@tesol.org
Twitter: @TESOL_Powers