Azerbaijani Teachers Attend Course at St Mary’s

A cohort of Azerbaijani teachers recently completed a continuing professional development course in teaching English as an additional language at St Mary’s University, Twickenham. The completion of the course was marked by a presentation ceremony in the Common Room, with speeches from Academic Director for English, Creative Arts and Applied Linguistics Michael Foster and the Course Tutor, Claire Brennock. The 30-hour programme, which was funded jointly by the Azerbaijan Ministry of Education and the British Council, and run by St Mary’s, was attended by the group of teachers who were selected by the Ministry of Education to learn techniques for teaching English language lessons in Azerbaijan. On returning home, the teachers will train up colleagues in the techniques they have learned. For many of the group, the journey to St Mary’s marked the first time they had ever left their home country, and lessons were accompanied by cultural visits to London attractions, such as the British Museum, as well as visits to local schools. St Mary’s Director of Enterprise & Business Development Catherine Sheppard said, “It was a pleasure to host our first ever group of Azerbaijani teachers, who were such an enthusiastic and professional group. We are enormously pleased that The Ministry of Education is talking about a repeat trip, and we look forward to developing this relationship in future years”. The Azerbaijan teacher group is the second British Council group hosted by St Mary’s recently, following the visit of 45 Japanese High School students in August 2013, who completed a short course to introduce them to life and studying in the UK.