2001 Press Releases

American and Turkmen Governments Honor English Teachers of Turkmenistan

April 27, 2001

Twenty-seven English teachers of secondary schools from throughout Turkmenistan were honored as semifinalists of the Teaching Excellence Awards (TEA) program in a special award ceremony on April 25, 2001. The ceremony was organized by ACCELS, an American non-profit organization which administers this program on behalf of the U.S. government, and held in the National Manuscripts Institute of Turkmenistan.

Eric T. Schultz, Deputy Chief of the U.S. Mission in Turkmenistan, and Nury Bairamov, Head of the International Relations Department of Turkmenistan's Ministry of Education, congratulated the semi-finalists and awarded them with special certificates.

The semifinalists' schools will all receive awards valued at $2,000 each, which may be used to buy equipment and teaching materials for these schools. The program is fully funded by the U.S. Government.

Finalists will be chosen by a selection committee on April 29 – 30. Five teachers out of the twenty-seven will be selected as finalists (national winners), and will attend a professional development seminar on teaching methodologies in the United States. During two months in America, they will share their experience and teaching methodologies with their American colleagues and attend various cultural events.

Last year, five English teachers of Turkmenistan were selected as winners in this program and had a successful two-month travel to the United States. Two American teachers of English who were the winners of the same program for U.S. participants traveled to Turkmenistan and exchanged their teaching experiences with their Turkmen colleagues.