A teacher from the Kazakh capital has developed a unique educational methodology enabling to master English through national folklore. Zamzagul Tuitina not only translated, but also made voiceover of excerpts from popular works of Kazakh writers. Thus, the characters of the novel entitled ‘My name is Kozha’ by Berdibek Sokpakbayev and the fairy tales ‘Aldar Kose and the Greedy Farmer’ and ‘Asan and Usen’ started speaking in lingua franca.
“If you talk to people in a language they understand, you can get to know their thoughts. And talking to people’s mother tongue is a direct way to their hearts. My methodology enables Kazakh-speaking children to learn collocations and idioms, as well as compare images of characters such as Tom Sawyer and Kozha,” said Zamzagul Tuitina, English teacher of school-lyceum No. 38 in Astana.
The new approach to teaching a foreign language not only improved linguistic knowledge of school students, but also had a positive impact on their academic performance. The manual is available in electronic format as well, all it takes is to scan a special QR code with a phone camera.
“It is a very convenient tool to learn the language since everyone now has mobile phones. The methodology allows us to compare the Kazakh and world literature. I particularly liked the translation of the ‘My name is Kozha’novel,” said Merei Tursynbai, school student of school-lyceum No. 38.
Among the previously developed methods of teaching English the educator with 40 years of work experience has a learning system based on Abai’s work. Zamzagul Tuitina also plans to translate and voice the Kazakh epic poem ‘Kozy-Korpesh and Bayan-Sulu’.
