School Environment

I visited many schools during my time in Kazakhstan and all were very new. Children from Kindergarten to high school all attend school in the same building.

In most classrooms the desks are arranged in rows, like this:

Most classrooms have chalkboards and smartboards.

In some classrooms, the students have computers at their desks.

Smaller children have classrooms with beds for nap time.

Often the walls show off certificates that students and teachers have earned.

Here are the walls in my partner teacher's classroom.

When I was interviewed by the Aktobe newspaper, they asked me my main goal as a teacher. I told them that I wanted my students to develop the skills that they needed to be successful in the working world.

The journalist asked, "It's not to give them knowledge?"

My response was that,  "The next best thing to knowing the answer is knowing how to find the answer." I added that I wanted my students to be able to use the skills they learn in school to be able to answer their questions about the world. My partner teacher smiled at me and said that in Kazakhstan they provided their students with knowledge. To me, this moment showed a big difference between how Kazakhs and Americans view the role of school.

Here is a link to my newspaper interview. If you open it in google, it will offer to translate it for you.
 http://diapazon.kz/aktobe/aktobe-face/37491-otkrytki-iz-aktobe-poslala-amerikanskaja.html