Nadira Ishanbekova
Nadira Ishanbekova found success using the Rob Lewis programme with her English Club. She believes the methodology is great for educating teachers because it saves prep time and engages both students and teachers interactively.
An English teacher at the State Institute of Arts and Culture of Uzbekistan, Nadira Ishanbekova began working with the British Council in 2020. She was invited to the Creative Spark project to implement the English Club at her university. She says the programme was great because it did not require lesson planning – she only needed to adapt the ready-made Rob Lewis materials to her students’ needs and levels. She says it was the first time in her teaching career that she used such a well-thought-out product that was a pleasure to teach.
Working with the British Council has also inspired Ishanbekova with exciting new ideas.
“Having programmes that can be adapted to students’ needs is a big step forward for the way we teach English in Uzbekistan,” says Ishanbekova. “The materials could be further developed by various bodies, for example, the Council of Teachers. Currently, teachers have to develop lesson plans themselves, but using the ready-made English Club programme, it was simply a matter of teaching the material. There was a high return for learning the material. Having a ready-made, high-quality, modern programme like this is essential.”
Ishanbekova feels the British Council’s well-coordinated launch of the English Club programme across seven CIS countries was also beneficial, particularly the teacher training offered with Rob Lewis. Participants were given the opportunity to connect to each other's classes and track and analyse student presentations from different countries. The benefits of the course were clear from the final student presentations.
“Over the six months, my students’ communicative abilities in English noticeably improved and their worldview widened. I believe this is because the English Club is not just a language course, it’s a dedicated programme focused on specific topics; in this case, business and technology,” says Ishanbekova. “My students’ feedback has been that the course has given them a significant incentive for further English study and to master business skills.”
Because of this incentive, Ishanbekova believes that professional, well-thought-out programmes such as this will be tremendously successful. Even despite the difficulties of teaching during the pandemic (the project began in November 2020), the online element of the course created a real advantage.
“Even using online communication, the English Club brought teachers and students together; everything is so well thought out. We did select students to participate, as a certain level of English was required from the beginning. But the feedback from students was great and the English Club has been very popular. Many are asking if there will be another opportunity to take this programme.”
Ishanbekova expresses her sincere gratitude to the British Council for this successful experience. She hopes that a structure can be put in place in Uzbekistan to further develop such productive programmes using a quality product like the English Club, whether through the Council of Teachers or another organising body.
Ishanbekova says she is always interested in the British Council’s projects and regularly checks the website for new projects and ideas that may help her work.
She says, “I would like to congratulate the British Council on the 25th anniversary of its fantastic work in Uzbekistan. I look forward to seeing further successful teaching projects and interesting ideas in our country! Everything that the British Council does, including for universities and non-linguistic institutions like the Institute of Arts and Culture, is fascinating and needed.”