EL Fellow Program
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Country Azerbaijan
City Lankaran
Host Institution Lankaran State University
Project Description
This EL Fellow will teach English to the third and fourth year students at Lankaran State University, located in Azerbaijan's conservative, religious southern region, which borders Iran. The EL Fellow will help both students and faculty build their conversational English language skills and become more familiar with American culture. The EL Fellow will work closely with faculty to develop an up-to-date curriculum and teach the faculty new methods of teaching English, and hold conversation classes for faculty. The EL Fellow will also play a key role in the ongoing English Access Microscholarship program in a Lankaran madrasa, which involves 15 religious students, 6 of whom are young women. The EL Fellow will work closely with active secondary school teachers and members of the Azerbaijan English Teachers Association in Lankaran and the surrounding 4 cities and hold periodic workshops for them.
Project Objectives
To develop a wider base of English language speakers throughout Azerbaijan as proficiency in English will help the country to develop its market and democracy, obtain access to more educational resources, and foster a freer and more open information environment. Developing English language skills in Azerbaijan will also create a more receptive audience for U.S. culture, ideas, and initiatives. In order to facilitate the development of teaching English, the US Embassy works closely with the Azerbaijan English Teachers Association (AzETA) and has supported many of its events. With the support of the U.S. Embassy, AzETA has already established four satellite branches in rural regions outside the capital city of Baku, with other branches currently under discussion.
About the Host Institution Lankaran State University was founded in 1992. It is the only university in the Southern region of Azerbaijan. There are four faculties at the University: Humanities, Natural Sciences, Economics, and Pedagogy. The specialties include: Mathematics, Information Technology, Biology, Ecology, Geography, English, French, History, Azerbaijani Language, etc. Approximately 12 English teachers work in the Department of Foreign Languages. And about 150 students study to be English teachers. There are approximately 1600 students and 150 teachers LSU.
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