2nd year masters
degree student 6M010200-`Pedagogy and methodology of
primary school education` Khamitzhanova
A.
OF KAZAKHSTAN
Entirely people speak in order to communicate with other society and it
makes a need to learn other languages. Till the end of last century speakers of
several languages are perceived as lower class. However, knowing several
languages is becoming more popular even in governmental level. Multilingual
schools are opening all over the world. There are several main causes of
popularization of multilingualism. One of them is globalization that closely
related to the linguistic situation in our country, Republic of Kazakhstan.
As the president of said every Kazakhstani people must
speak in three languages: Kazakh as a state language and Russian as a language
of international communication; and in order to successful integration into
global economics people also should learn English as a global language [1].
This aim can be achieved by the integration those
languages into social life of the community. And the government started to
implement learning three languages from educational system. Now we can see the
development of multilingual education in Kazakhstan. But we should take into
consideration the fact of multi ethnic Kazakhstani society where minority
groups are strongly supported by the government.
From the ancient times there are lots of nationalities
living in the territory of Kazakhstan. Nowadays there are more than 130
nationalities are living in Kazakhstan, most of them big diasporas such as
Russian, Uzbek, Tatar, Uygur, etc. as in any multiethnic community there are
lots of minority languages [2].
From the period oà the USSR there have been huge
amount of multilingual schools which contained education in two or three
language, till 1999 bilingual
and multilingual education are subsumed under the term bilingual education.
However, UNESCO adopted the term ‘multilingual education’ in 1999 in the
General Conference Resolution 12 to refer to the use of at least three
languages, the mother tongue, a regional or national language and an
international language in education. Also in this conference the rights of
minority and indigenous language have been framed in
international agreements for minority and indigenous groups include the
following:
_schooling
in their languages, if so desired;
_access to
the language of the larger community and to that of national education systems;
_inter-cultural
education that promotes positive attitudes to minority and indigenous languages
and the cultures they express;
_access to
international languages.
The educational rights that have been formulated in international
agreements for migrant workers and members of their families provide:
_that the
integration of their children should be facilitated by teaching the language in
use in the school system;
_that
opportunities should be created for teaching children their own language and
culture [3].
Kazakhstan as a member of UNESCO also observes rights of minority. There
are multilingual, bilingual and international schools for minority group.
There are two types of minority schools fully in minority language, and
partly which works as Kazakh state schools.
There is a program of language development 2007-2010 where the
development and standardization of national language and keep other ethnos’
languages are the main aim of the program. Learning
Kazakh as a national language in order to keep national identity and give
traditional education for the new generation for developing sense of national
identity and belonging to one unique society and at the same time to be
tolerant to other nations and groups are the main goal of this program. Also
learning current lingua franca as the main tool of develop technology and
science [4].
Now trilingual
education with three medium languages is practiced. There are several types of
school that practice multilingual education:
1. International Schools such as “Almaty International
School” and “Miras International Schools, Almaty”;
2. Kazakh-Turkish High Schools
3. Specialized
schools for gifted youngsters with trilingual education by “Republic Scientific and Practical Center Daryn”
4. Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools
Let’s first
start from International Schools. In this paper “Almaty International School”
is described. The main difference between other schools from the list below is
curriculum in general. Majority of student of the school come from other
countries and instruction are in English, language classes are offered in
Russian, French and Spain. For Kazakhstani citizens Kazakh language instruction
are required. The curriculum is similar to that
of U.S. public and private schools [5].
Curriculum
of Kazakh-Turkish High schools are also unique the main case of that is
instruction in four languages. Whole science subjects are taught in English,
social subjects are taught in Kazakh, Turkish and Russian languages are taught
as language courses. In general the curriculum is similar to Kazakhstani
educational system.
By
the new dimension in languages from 2007 Ministry of Culture offered trilingual
education where Kazakh, Russian and English were as a medium of instruction.
For this program more than 30 state schools are chosen. There are pilot groups
where some subjects are taught in English, it is varied depends on the school;
the main course are in L1 depending on the schools Kazakh or Russian and some
subjects are in L2. In order to clarify let’s give example of #8 gymnasium
where medium of instruction is Russian. There is only Geography is taught in
English, Kazakh language and literature and History of Kazakhstan in Kazakh
language.
In Nazarbayev
Intellectual Schools trilingual education is practiced by their own system.
Subjects are taught in three languages: Kazakh language: History of Kazakhstan,
Geography, Introduction to Law, Kazakhstan in the Modern World. Russian
language: History of the World, Informatics (1-10), Physical Education, English
language: Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Economics, Informatics
(11-12), Global perspectives and researches.
“Scientific
subjects are taught in English in order to give students opportunity to
participate in world range competitions. That is why we want to make students
learn those subjects in English and try to develop Kazakh language by learning
humanitarian subjects such as law which is very important for young generation
as a builders of new developed Kazakhstan” said one of the teachers of Daryn
schools. In conclusion the objective of multilingual curriculum of all schools
is shown by the word of one teacher.
All these schools have one core
curriculum given by Ministry of Education of Kazakhstan. However, every school
built unique system and show best results of education by their graduators. It
might be the result of multilingual education that the main similarity of these
schools.
Reference:
1. N. Nazarbayev “Kazakhstan in a new world”
2. State.gov.kz
3. http://www.stat.gov.kz/faces/homePage/perepis/p_perepis/p_perepisFiles?_adf.ctrl-state=zdtsk6n4a_38&_afrLoop=77640484835702
4. General Conference Resolution 12.: Implementation of a
Language Policy for the World Based on Multilingualism (1999). UNESCO.
5. Қàçàқñòàí Ðåñïóáëèêàñûíäà ò³ëäåðä³ äàìûòó ìåí қîëäàíóäûң 2011 - 2020 æûëäàðғà àðíàëғàí ìåìëåêåòò³ê áàғäàðëàìàñû (pp15-18)
6. Web site of Quality International Schools http://www.qsi.org/
7. Trilingual Education in Nis , http://nis.edu.kz/ru/programs/trilingualism/