The weekly column

Article 21, July 2000

English as a vehicle of a More Open Society in Uzbekistan

By Saodat Khaitova, TV4, Tashkent

English is not only the language of international commerce and diplomacy, it has also become, in the wake of the collapse of the former Soviet Union, an important vehicle of promoting an open society in the newly independent states such as the former   Soviet Republic of Uzbekistan. Although Uzbekistan has taken some significant steps towards democratization and human rights since independence, the level of social and political development still leaves much to be desired.

Background: ELT Programming and its Objectives

The International Channel of UzTV in collaboration with UzTEA (Uzbekistan Teachers of English Association) and USIS signed an agreement in December 1998 for broadcasting the American Television series,"Family Album, USA" on Channel 4,UzTV. "Family Album, USA" (FAUSA) is the only television series with integrated classroom texts designed to teach American English and promote American values. In cooperation with the United States Informational Agency (USIA) and an Advisory Board of experts in the fields of English language teaching, television, radio, and educational publishing, an entertaining and educational series consisting of 26 episodes, each lasting 23 minutes, was created to teach English to speakers of other languages. In addition to focusing on English grammar, punctuation, and usage, the series also exposes the audience to American values.

The program uses a combination of teaching methodologies, such as functional, communicative, interactive, and natural, and is designed for young adults learners who have studied English for at least one year. In Central Asia, FAUSA video and print materials are distributed solely by USIS.

In addition to each FAUSA episode, International Channel broadcasts short segments, which are filmed locally with the members of UzTEA. "English for you" includes FAUSA and local episodes, with the whole program lasting 30 minutes (23 minutes of FAUSA and 7-8 minutes of local material). These short segments have pedagogical content; they offer additional language practice and cultural information/contrast to adapt the FAUSA episodes for Uzbek audience. Currently, Larisa Agakhanyants of UzTEA and Anne Polatchek of USIS English Teaching Fellow lead a group of UzTEA members who record these segments with me. Taking into consideration the needs of UzTV viewers, the creative group is trying to adapt this videocourse to local conditions in order to assist the Uzbek population to learn spoken English. In accordance with this goal,the creative group shoots and assembles grammar, commentary, and linguistic material chosen by Larisa Agakhanyants and Anne Polatchek. In the year 2000 the whole program consisting of 26 episodes will be re-broadcast. The course will be evaluated in segments and overall. USIS  monitors the participants' progress at six monthly intervals over 2 years. In November and December 1998 the "English for you" program crew covered activities carried out by the International Organizations such as USIS, IREX, British Council, Accels, Peace Corps, and others dealing with the problems of ELT and teacher training in Uzbekistan. We also arranged coverage of such event as UzTEA Annual International Conference organized and sponsored  by UzTEA, USIS, British Council, IREX, University of World Economy and Diplomacy and other local organizations.

Moreover, the International Channel of UzTV in cooperation with the British Embassy in Tashkent and Ulugbek International School has begun translating the series "FunTime" starting March 1999. In this case of ELT TV programs for children we add educational cartoon-series made by the BBC and presented by the British Embassy specialists to the program. It is a prime-time quality program , aimed at 7 to 13 year-olds, but viewers include people of all ages. The length of each program is 10 minutes(5 minutes of educational cartoon and 5 minutes of local episodes). Each episodes relies on elements of comedy and games to assist viewers in learning English as a second language.The series centers around some characters experiencing all the humor of everyday life in Tashkent: two teachers, Toto (a puppet) and their friends. Learners watch each episode and may use the corresponding text materials to advance their English language skills.

"Fun Time" is designed to give beginners a good start with basic, everyday English. However, it may be used successfully to give students listening and oral fluency practice. "Fun Time" provides many opportunities for practicing extra words and phrases, especially useful expressions.

Both programs have been shown once a week on Sunday morning, and are repeated the following week. These two projects of ELT TV Programs give students a wide range of suggestions for exploting the main language points on video in some depth: a rich source of ideas designed to help students enjoy using TV programs and discover the possibilities they offers for exellent language learning.

Uzbekistan is in desperate need of tools and technology to teach English in an effective manner.Unfortunately,we have no resourses to enhance our prociency in producing ELT programs for TV. Despite this, based on the viewers' letters, we can say that our programs are useful and helpful.

Saodat Khaitova, TV4, Tashkent

Saodat Khaitova has been a journalist-translator for the International Channel of UzTV since 1994. During this period he has translated a number of documentary films and cartoons produced by NHK (in accordance with an agreement between Japanese Found of Culture and UzTV). He has furthermore been co-author, producer and manager of two ELT TV programs for the past 2  years.

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