Ufa, Russia, is home to the country’s first Access group, launched in 2004. In the same school building where it all began, English Language Fellow Johanna Campbell was welcomed by the program’s current Bashkir students in the region’s traditional costume, presenting their native Chak-Chak desert tower of local honey-laden pastry.
The students proudly showcased their favorite heritage sites in memorized English. Afterward, the Fellow, teachers, students, school principal, an inspector from the Ministry of Education shared a meal and conversation, with lots of questions asked and answered.
The Fellow also gave a plenary and several workshops to 150 teachers at the Jubilee International ELT Seminar, hosted by American Bashkir Inter-College in Ufa.
At Bashkir State Pedagogical University, the Fellow gave a lecture entitled ”Experience-Based Teaching Tips for New Teachers” to over 100 undergraduate students training to be interpreters and language, teachers. Later in the day, she met with teachers at the In-Service Teacher Training Institute and workshopped TESOL conference proposal techniques.