Dashoguz American Corner

Grant Writing workshop

On March 3, 2012 Muskie Alumnus'11 Dayanch Hojageldiyev organized 5 hour Grant writing workshop for 9 U.S. Sponsored program alumni from different years. The main purpose of the workshop was to teach participants about grant writing and to train the participants as grant writing specialists so that they can teach others in the future. Organizers used an easily accessible way to make the workshop more effective by using different icebreaker games and activities that helped them to get to know each other very easily. By the time they finished being involved in different activities Dayanch Hojageldiyev gave him a task to prepare two minute speech for asking money from a sponsor. Then they all moved to learning different aspects of grant writing such as planning, proposal guidelines and funding, reporting, budgeting and finding ideas. Afterwards they started learning deeply about finding creative ideas and developing projects. Dayanch taught alumni about the SMART way of solving a problem. The trainer also gave tips on writing a good grant proposal. Then he divided the attendees into groups and gave a task: to find ideas for projects. Then Nilufar Gylyjova talked about Budgeting and reporting. There also were wrap up activities and exercises for budgeting and general grant project managing. Moreover, there were coffee break and lunch times, where participants could have some snack to get more energy to keep on working hard and gaining essential information. The workshop helped alumni and to learn how to develop ideas for grants and carry out their projects using different skills. They also learned how to pass on their knowledge to other people.

Teachers Seminar

On March 4, 2012 PeaceCorps Volunteers together with ACCESS Teachers conducted a workshop for 10 secondary school teachers in methods of teaching English as a foreign language. The main purposes of this workshop was to share and exchange classroom activities and help teachers to conduct new ways in teaching grammar, vocabulary and question formation. The first session focused on speaking activities that promote the development of speaking and creative thinking skills. The second and the third sessions covered the visual learning styles and grammar activities through various games. During the training teachers discussed new approaches of teaching English. Also, the participants received visual aids such as: U.S. maps, pictures, magazines and other resources for teachers.

The participants left the workshop full of new ideas and teaching tools to apply in their classes.

U.S. Culture Presentation

On March 3, 2012 William Stevens, Public Affairs Officer, organized “Current U.S. culture “ presentation where the main point was to help Dashoguz society to understand and appreciate intercultural differences and to promote clearer communication among youth, break down barriers, build trust and strengthen mutual understanding between countries. William talked about expressing emotions. Americans are most likely to express positive or negative reaction even to their bosses whereas Turkmens should keep their emotions in check. During the presentation he was able to demonstrate how Turkmen people confront challenges even if they think that the authority is wrong whereas Americans also express disagreement with their authority. By seeing responses he was able to show to students how Americans answered the same questions. By the very end he talked about individualism and collectivism. Americans are more individualistic and tend to do things on their own and act independently, whereas Turkmens are more collective and lean on each other to make a decision and prefer acting as a group.

Baseball Practice

Baseball is one of the sports which is not widespread outside of the United States. Therefore on March 25, 2012 Madina Sabirova, FLEX alumna 2011 organized a baseball game practice for 14 participants.One of the main points of the game was to teach how to play baseball. At the beginning of the practice Madina led the stretching process where participants learned how to stretch properly and not injure themselves. Afterwards, participants learned how to use hard balls in this kind of game. Firstly it was hard for them to use hard ball but then after a while of practicing they got used to it. Later on players broke down into two groups and started playing against each other. By playing against each other players were able to work as a team and improve batting skills. As a result, participants learned basic skills of playing baseball and became informed with the rules of the game

"How to apply for a U.S. Visa” presentation

On March 30, 2012 Fadi Haddad, U.S. Consul to Turkmenistan launched “How to apply for a U.S. Visa” presentation for 52 participants. At the beginning of the presentation Bradley McGuire, U.S. Embassy Information Officer took a survey about what kind of topic people wanted to talk about. The topic of U.S. government system got the most votes, so Bradley talked about it. Then Fadi Haddad took over and started to talk about the visa process. He also asked questions about what visitors know about the visa process and whoever got the answer was rewarded with candy. He explained the different types of visa such as visitor visa, student visa, work visa, fiancé visa and green card or diversity visa. He explained how the visa interview is conducted and what kind of documents need to be presented at the Interview. By the end of the presentation U.S. Embassy guests presented certificates to volunteers for their commitment to the Dashoguz American Corner. As a result, visitors were informed about the steps they need to take in order to apply for visa and get it approved.

FLEX Alumni Reunion

On March 30, 2012 with the initiative of Jalal Bekchanov` 02, Madina Sabirova`11 and Jahan Agayeva, Dahoguz American Corner manager, Dashoguz FLEX Alumni reunion was organized for 12 participants in order to unite old FLEX Alumni and discuss future plans. Because of the participant`s schedule the meeting took place after lunch. Therefore all of the participants were able to attend. The meeting was conducted in a relaxed atmosphere over a cup of tea and a piece of cake. First of the FLEX finalist Pashiyeva Amangul ` 97 shared her experience of working as a secondary school English teacher. FLEX Alumni Ogulsoltan Ashyrova` 05 talked about how she won a grant to open a branch of American Corner in Tagta region. She also discussed her plan to write a grant to open a “fitness club” for women. Then Jalal Bekchanov` 02 proceeded with his presentation of “Self-Motivation”. Afterwards the audience eagerly watched a short movie done by Madina Sabirova about success stories of FLEX Alumni Studying abroad. Guvanch Berdiyev` 11 received third place in State Olympiads on English Language and got congratulations from FLEX Alumni. Afterwards U.S. Embassy Guests from Ashagabad such as Fadi Haddad, U.S. Consul to Turkmenistan, Bradley McGuire, U.S. Embassy Information Assistant, Serdar Jorayev, Information Assistant and Shemshat Matyakubova, Visa Assistant surprised us with their visit. As a result, new FLEX Alumni were able to get some ideas about what kind of activities they could organize for their local community.