Teaching English as a Foreign Language
Karatau Lyceum
I taught EFL and Computer Keyboarding for two years here.
I still remember the first day when I met my students at the Karatau
Lyceum. I had no idea what to think of them. I had a group of
students during my training in Kapchagay. Would they be the same in Karatau?
My host country counterpart, Sharizat, was quiet during her visit to Kapchagay. She barely spoke to me. Ruth and her counterpart, Lyazzat, were
concerned about this as they got off the train in Zhambyl (newly
named Taraz). Lucky for me, as we were taking the train from Taraz
to Karatau, Sharizat opened up, and then she started asking
questions. She was just a bit shy with her English. Her English was
good.
Oh, my Kazakh Grade 6 -8 students were great too.
Read the captions for my story about these images.
It took me a while, but I knew I had one photo of Sharizat. As I
mentioned above, we did not speak much when she visited
Kapchagai. She was completely different once we arrived in
Karatau.
Here is my favorite photo of all my Peace Corps experiences in
Karatau. These are some of my students. I took the photo on
October 31, 1997. It was the anniversary of the Lyceum at the
Palace of Culture. I love this photo so much that it became the
site logo for this website.
I remember my first winter in Karatau being very harsh. You can
see this in the image of the main entrance to the Karatau
Lyceum. The winter was so cold that all lessons were shortened
to 30 minutes.
My classroom was also the English Club. Yes, that was an
advertisement for an early Apple Powerbook on the wall. I wish I
had one during my two years in Kazakhstan. Notice the ABC sign
above? It has to be the first one in Kazakhstan with the correct
American pronunciation for the letter Z (zi).
I was very strict during my Peace Corps days. You could easily
calculate your daily grade in my class. During the late 1990s, I
could enforce my classroom rules. Parents listened to the
teachers then. When I returned to teaching in Kazakhstan in
2013, this changed. Teachers had to listen to parents.
In my classroom, I had an American wall. Since I was an airline
buff, I brought many pictures of airliners that I already had to
Kazakhstan. Of course, I had photos of Seattle and San Diego (US
Marines are there).
My classroom also had a Japan and World wall. My US and
Kazakhstan flags were hanging on the wall, but I had to take
them down. Eventually, I had to remove everything from the wall
due to complaints. I sent all these items to the Rose Kaplan
School in Taraz instead. I miss this designed classroom.
Meet Ainura and Aizhan. Aizhan is my Kazakh host sister. Ainura
was my student who later worked for Air Astana and then Qazaq
Air. She helped me a lot when I returned to Kazakhstan in 2013.
Here is a class photo with the Grade 6A students and their
homeroom teacher, Raihan. Raihan and I got back into touch on
Facebook a year ago.
Here is another photo with Grade 6B in my classroom. I met
several of these students in 2013-2013. I like this photo since
I had a picture of Riskul (a girl student on the right) in this
photo. When I returned to Karatau in August 1998, I had been
gone a couple of months. The week I returned, I attended
Riskul's funeral. It is an experience I still remember today
since she was the first student, and so far only, to pass away.
Riskul never smiles though you can see why the photo made me
emotional. Oh, and hey Dinumukhammed, I never expected you to be
a Major! I am proud of you and all my students.
Grade 6A students again. They were my best English students at
the Karatau Lyceum.
These were my Grade 7/8 students. Dana, standing behind the
front boy on the left, is a singer in Kazakhstan. She has a
great voice and was my best student at the Karatau Lyceum.
Aisulu and Nursulu Grade 7 students. Believe it or not, I could
tell them apart.
Ah, my favorite Grade 8/9 students. They made my two years most
interesting. They all studied hard. Three of the students in
this photo met with me in Almaty when I returned in 2013.
I got to teach Computer Keyboarding after the Asian Development
Bank gave a loan so Kazakhstan could equip schools with
computers. The students liked this class.
I convinced the School Director, who happened to be my host
father, to allow me to teach Computer Keyboarding to other
schools in Karatau. These were some of the students that came
from Pushkina and the Gymnasium.
My computers students in my computer class were using Mavis
Beacon's Typing course.
The Last Bell at the Karatau Lyceum in June 1999. I left
Kazakhstan next month.
My final picture with my Grade 9 students in June, 1999.
I was able to visit Karatau in November 1999. I was on my way to Talas, Kyrgyzstan. I met with some of my former Kazakh students who were in
Grade 9 at the time.
These were the last pictures of me with my former Kazakh
students. They were in Grade 10 at the time.
My famous Kazakh student
One of my students, Dana Mahanbaeva, is a famous Kazakh singer now.
I was surprised at how good of a singer she became. Watch her video
below:
