Akelius Initiative in Kazakhstan: New Approaches to Learning
On May 20, 2022, in Nur-Sultan, with the support of the Center for Modernization of Education, an online conference “New language - new opportunities. Literacy program for children using the Akelius platform” was held. The participants of the conference were the coordinators of the Akelius project in the city of Nur-Sultan, representatives of UNICEF in Kazakhstan, experts from IITU, teachers of educational organizations, methodologists of the school department of the Center for International Relations, Deputy Directors of educational organizations of Nur-Sultan city.
During the conference, Tatyana Aderikhina, Head of Education Programs, of UNICEF in Kazakhstan, spoke about the international approaches that are used in different countries to implement this literacy project.
“The International program to teach children literacy using the Akelius platform is being implemented in a number of countries. Kazakhstan took up this initiative in 2021 in order to promote the learning of foreign languages by children and adolescents from socially vulnerable groups (refugees and out-of-school migrants from ethnic and linguistic minorities), thus facilitating their integration into formal education systems and society by development and localization of the platform for learning languages,” Tatyana Aderikhina said.
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According to her, now 10 countries including Greece, Mauritania, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and others are participating in the project. The implementation of the project in these countries is at different stages. In the first year, development and testing takes place, and in the second - consolidation and expansion.
“If we talk about the implementation, the program is currently being implemented in 10 countries. Each of the countries has chosen a different stage: some are at the planning stage, some are at the testing stage, some are starting to expand the program. In the countries that are already expanding or testing the project, the coverage of users of this platform exceeds 10 thousand. But this is only possible if the program goes through the pilot stage,” she said.
According to her, more than 50 thousand people already use this platform. It is free and easily accessible to anyone who wants to learn languages. The course program is based on the literacy levels that have been adopted by the European Association for Foreign Language Competencies (CEFR Common European Framework of Reference).
“There are 6 levels of language learning – beginner, intermediate and advanced. The platform provides all these levels, but it all depends on the language: for example, English, French and Greek already have a higher level of competencies, while for the Russian language course, the first initial levels are still being developed and it takes time to enrich the platform with new language tasks,” she explained.
Countries use this program in different ways: some introduce it through non-formal education, like in Kazakhstan; others through tutoring or extracurricular activities, as well as through language courses or creative or sports workshops.
“There are countries that are very serious about the use of such a program, introducing it into the curriculum of the basic school, and into the plans for the professional development of teachers,” Tatyana Aderikhina said.
The project coordinator, Head of the Department of Languages at IITU, PhD, Zhannura Manapbayeva spoke about the role of IITU in this project. According to her, at the moment, IITU experts have commented on the levels A0, A1, A1.1 and A2 of the Russian language on the Akelius platform. Technical and cultural errors are being corrected.
“Technical errors include, for example, the time allotted for an exercise. Sometimes very little time is allocated, and students simply cannot to complete certain tasks. As part of the commentary, we provide recommendations for improving the platform: we determine whether this or that exercise is effective. Then our experts draw up methodological recommendations on the use of certain lessons of the Akelius platform and we share them during methodological trainings and consultations that are systematically held for teachers,” Zhannura Zharkanbekovna explained.
In addition, IITU provides technical support to the schools involved in the project, as well as assistance in developing criteria for assessing the results and achievements of students.
“IT specialist from IITU helps teachers work with the platform and tablets, solves certain tasks over the Internet. We plan to advise schools on the creation and functioning of the digital space. We also help to evaluate and monitor the progress of students within the framework of this project. And our most important task is to introduce and expand the methods and technologies of blended learning for more effective teaching of the Russian language using the platform,” she added.
In conclusion, Zhannura Manapbayeva noted that the use of the Akelius platform necessarily requires the use of the Russian as a foreign language method, since the traditional method of teaching Russian in primary or secondary school, which was practiced before, is not suitable for foreign children. Here we need a focus on communicative learning, and the study of grammatical rules must be relegated to the background.
Link to the conference - https://youtu.be/34avGxAjhWc
Link to the platform - https://languages.akelius.com/