About a month ago out of the blue i got an email from Kyrgyzstan, and i almost immediately deleted it unread, assuming it was one of those Nigerian bank scams. Luckily, though, i read it. The email was from two young women who are trying to launch an initiative to help English teachers in Kyrgyzstan get resources both for the classroom and for their own professional development.
These two women, Jazgul and Tolgonay, are trying to get funding from the US Embassy in Kyrgyzstan ECA Alumni Grant program in order to publish a newsletter containing resources they have gathered from the web. Internet access is not widespread in Kyrgyzstan, so most English teachers are not able to easily find classroom handouts and other information.
Some of you may be wondering what this has to do with me. When i was in France for the 2006-2007 school year, i created a website that houses all the materials i made for my classes. This website, eslresources.wordpress.com, averages 200-300 visits per day even though i have not added any new material in over two years. One of those visitors must have been Kyrgyzstani, i guess.
I am very proud to have my work included in this effort, and it is exciting to me to know that my materials, many of which were devised in a desperate attempt to engage 13-year olds in learning English, are actually of some use to other teachers.
