Projects in Kyrgyz Republic

Education

Volunteers in the Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) program primarily strengthen the capacity of English teachers through team-teaching English in secondary schools and universities. The focus is on the communicative methodology and building creative and critical thinking skills. TEFL Volunteers provide assistance to their schools and communities in establishing or expanding English teaching resources, contributing to curriculum development, and production of innovative teaching materials. TEFL Volunteers serve as regular members of the teaching faculty in their schools, with a workload comprised of co-teaching, lesson planning, and clubs for 36 hours per week.

Volunteers are also involved in extracurricular activities such as conducting other clubs, computer training, and youth development. Since inception in 1993, 800+ TEFL Volunteers have served as teachers at 200 secondary schools and 15 universities.

John M., who was evacuated from the Kyrgyz Republic during the pandemic, returned to teach English in the same village school.

"I teach around 24 hours a week and hold supplemental English clubs after school for students who are interested. I have the privilege of working closely with four local English teachers, and we conduct all our lessons together. We’re currently focused on implementing communicative teaching methodologies and integrating technology into the classroom.

"In my spare time, I also work with the school administration to write grants to support our work. To date, we’ve secured new textbooks to support communicative methodologies, and we’ve opened a computer-based language lab to help students develop their listening and speaking skills," he said.