OH, You got my card!
I know who you are. You are one of the 130+ people on my Christmas list who has decided to 
click on my blog to see what it’s all about. Well, let me start by answering the question on the card—Why am I in Turkmenistan?
I work for a non-profit educational organization (and have since my days in Russia 18 yrs ago) American Councils for International Education. They have sent me all over Central Asia on various programs, for the past 8 years I’ve been working on programs in Afghansitan. Now they have a new program in Turkmenistan, which they’ve asked me to work on--Prep4Success. It’s not really a new program, it’s just an improvement on many of the things we are doing there. Basically, I am developing and implementing a college prepatory course for senior high school students and those who have recently graduated from high school here and have yet to get in to a university or institute here in Turkmenistan. The options for higher education are few here and it’s very difficult to get accepted to the state university. Many students look for colleges abroad where they can get a higher education. Many want to study abroad but they don’t have the English level or knowledge base to be candidates for many univerisities and colleges abroad. That’s where I come in.
Prep4Success is a 3-month program for students to improve their already good English, develop critical thinking skills, prepare for standardized tests like SAT and TOEFL, and develop academic reading and writing skills. I’m the director of the program and am responsible for creating the curriculum, hiring the teachers, recruiting the 30 students for our pilot program and making the whole thing work. In the past month in Turkmenistan, my staff (Lale and Gulshat) and I have already hired 4 teachers, trained them in the teaching materials and recruited 30 students through a rigourous application process. There are many students who want to apply to the program but we are looking for students who are looking to further their education abroad and already have been looking at colleges and applying to them. Since this program is being funded by the US embassy here, the focus is on getting students to apply to US colleges. We will help them figure out the application process, improve their knowledge and make them better candidates for potential scholarships.
I love creating new projects and watching them grow and be successful, this is something I’ve done many times and always look forward to doing again and again. There is a lot of focus on this program and if it is successful (which I know it will be) there is interest in implementing it in other countries. I would love to see something like this work in Afghanistan for example.
Turkmenistan is not new territory for me, I’ve been here before. It is like stepping back into the time of the Soviet Union and there are many allusions to Wonderland. The capital is Ashgabat and the country is run by President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov. I will probably never meet him in person but it’s OK, I see him everyday, everywhere since his portrait is everywhere I go. Why he even made it on to my Christmas card (yes that’s who that man is behind me and the tree).
Anyways, please follow my travels and travails through Turkmenistan and other parts of the world like Afghanistan and India. My program officially begins on January 9th so I’m looking forward to that. While you’re waiting for what’s going to happen in Turkmenistan, you can read past posts and find out what I’ve already been up to. Happy reading, and Happy New Year everybody!!!
I work for a non-profit educational organization (and have since my days in Russia 18 yrs ago) American Councils for International Education. They have sent me all over Central Asia on various programs, for the past 8 years I’ve been working on programs in Afghansitan. Now they have a new program in Turkmenistan, which they’ve asked me to work on--Prep4Success. It’s not really a new program, it’s just an improvement on many of the things we are doing there. Basically, I am developing and implementing a college prepatory course for senior high school students and those who have recently graduated from high school here and have yet to get in to a university or institute here in Turkmenistan. The options for higher education are few here and it’s very difficult to get accepted to the state university. Many students look for colleges abroad where they can get a higher education. Many want to study abroad but they don’t have the English level or knowledge base to be candidates for many univerisities and colleges abroad. That’s where I come in.
Prep4Success is a 3-month program for students to improve their already good English, develop critical thinking skills, prepare for standardized tests like SAT and TOEFL, and develop academic reading and writing skills. I’m the director of the program and am responsible for creating the curriculum, hiring the teachers, recruiting the 30 students for our pilot program and making the whole thing work. In the past month in Turkmenistan, my staff (Lale and Gulshat) and I have already hired 4 teachers, trained them in the teaching materials and recruited 30 students through a rigourous application process. There are many students who want to apply to the program but we are looking for students who are looking to further their education abroad and already have been looking at colleges and applying to them. Since this program is being funded by the US embassy here, the focus is on getting students to apply to US colleges. We will help them figure out the application process, improve their knowledge and make them better candidates for potential scholarships.
I love creating new projects and watching them grow and be successful, this is something I’ve done many times and always look forward to doing again and again. There is a lot of focus on this program and if it is successful (which I know it will be) there is interest in implementing it in other countries. I would love to see something like this work in Afghanistan for example.
Turkmenistan is not new territory for me, I’ve been here before. It is like stepping back into the time of the Soviet Union and there are many allusions to Wonderland. The capital is Ashgabat and the country is run by President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov. I will probably never meet him in person but it’s OK, I see him everyday, everywhere since his portrait is everywhere I go. Why he even made it on to my Christmas card (yes that’s who that man is behind me and the tree).
Anyways, please follow my travels and travails through Turkmenistan and other parts of the world like Afghanistan and India. My program officially begins on January 9th so I’m looking forward to that. While you’re waiting for what’s going to happen in Turkmenistan, you can read past posts and find out what I’ve already been up to. Happy reading, and Happy New Year everybody!!!
posted by Tom T at 5:45 AM
1 Comments:
nice, liked it
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