On February 5,6,12 and 13, IITU methodological and language experts visited schools in Astana and Shymkent involved in a project to improve children’s literacy. The main goals of the experts’ visit to the capital’s schools and schools in the southern region are: acquaintance with schools, administration, teachers of Russian and English languages, conducting a survey among teachers on the Akelius project (in electronic form), providing offline methodological/technical consultation, planning online trainings (topics, dates), work on improving the course on the Akelius platform, etc. It is important to note that the experts planned and carried out visits to the following schools in Astana: school-gymnasium No. 51, school-lyceum No. 53, school No. 60, school-lyceum No. 62, school No. 67 and school No. 75. Observation of lessons and live Communication allowed the experts to outline a further plan for organizing trainings for teachers and creating methodological guidelines for assessing students.

Dinara Aliyeva, IITU language expert and Associate Professor of the Department of Languages noted that the 2nd phase of the Akelius project is proceeding successfully. This is evidenced by the experience of teachers who adopted knowledge of those educators who were involved in the 1st phase of the Akelius project. According to her, there is no sense of “trial and error.” Dinara Asylkhanovna also noted that all teachers’ lessons are different and interesting: each teacher strives to use different tools to involve students in the learning process, thereby achieving a common learning goal. Dinara Asylkhanovna believes that success at work directly depends on the working conditions in which the work process takes place. The teachers of the city of Astana seemed to her successful in their work. Most likely, this is explained by the level of training of children and teachers, as well as the technical equipment of school classrooms.

Dinara Aliyeva also noted a number of methodological difficulties in the process of observation during classes: often during a lesson teachers involve strong students (but this is a feature of demo lessons). In some classes there is no clear lesson structure or smooth transition from one type of activity to another. In some classes, there is no creative approach to the use of Akelius materials: children perform tasks separately, but the teacher does not check or comment on their answers.

Oksana Bublikova, Associate Professor of the Department of Languages also noted the technical equipment of the capital’s schools, especially school-lyceum No. 62, which they visited during the trip, as well as the professional preparedness of its teachers. According to her, Astana has a really high level of schools and teachers who actively participate in the project and are always aimed at fulfilling their duties and achieving results.

Zhannura Manapbayeva, IITU JSC Project Coordinator, PhD and Head of the Department of Languages also shared her opinion regarding the equipment of schools. She noted that each school is equipped with the necessary equipment, and this is primarily a personal computer and a printer. Basically, there are places for teachers to rest during breaks everywhere. Thematically equipped classrooms are more conducive to a productive learning process. She also mentioned school No. 75, which created comfortable conditions for working with children.

Yevgeniy Medvedev, Candidate of Philological Sciences and Assistant Professor shared his observations during a visit to capital schools. According to him all teachers use Akelius in regular, not additional classes (this point caused us concerns when we began the 2nd phase: whether the materials of the main curriculum could be combined with Akelius materials). However, most teachers cope with this task successfully. At the same time, teachers note that tablets arouse children’s interest, they are not distracted by other gadgets and are active during the lesson. At school No. 75, teachers use tablets to work with children with SEN (special educational needs). Teachers in Astana always use descriptors.

Also, language experts visited a number of schools in the city of Shymkent, which are involved in the project: secondary school No. 39 named after M. Zhumabayev, school-gymnasium No. 50 named after A. Baitursynov, secondary school No. 76 named after R. Myrzashev, IT school-lyceum No. 80, secondary school No. 86 and secondary school No. 122. In schools in the city of Shymkent, the situation is not much different from the capital’s schools.

Dinara Asylkhanovna believes that no special technical difficulties were noticed during the visit. Everyone actively and efficiently uses tablets, and most importantly, there is no dependence on the Internet, since all the necessary materials are downloaded to the tablets in advance. According to Dinara Asylkhanovna, in some classes there are not enough active forms of work in the classroom; children are divided into groups using the “Station Rotation” technology, but they perform the same tasks.

Oksana Vasilyevna noted that just like in Astana, teachers skillfully combine tasks from the electronic textbook with materials in the Akelius application, and also actively use the index to search for suitable materials. There are a lot of tasks on a common interactive board and joint completion of tasks from Akelius, which allow you to practice listening skills.

Zhannura Zharkanbekovna also shared her observations, noting the following: “At school No. 50 we met student Zhaksylyk, who has been participating in the project for the 2nd year. I would like to note that the dynamics are noticeable; now he is studying at intermediate level B.”

IITU experts gave appropriate recommendations for further work with Akelius. Yevgeniy Yuryevich concluded that it is necessary to publish a methodological manual with lesson developments, which will become a methodological assistant for new teachers, expand pedagogical horizons, and also organize meetings of teachers from different regions to exchange experiences, since the approaches of teachers in the three cities are different.”

During the visit to the above schools, experts not only attended classes, but also conducted a survey among teachers on the Akelius project. They also conducted offline methodological and technical consultations, presented methodological materials for the effective project implementation, and noted that work on improving the course on the Akelius platform will continue. At the end of the visit, they awarded certificates for the completed trainings.