Within the framework of the State Program for Education Development in the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2011-2020, the Center for Intensive Study of the Kazakh Language and Multilingual Education held a regional seminar entitled “Multilingual Education: Directions, Priorities and New Trends”.

The seminar was aimed at developing new ways and approaches to additional types of teaching Kazakh, English and Russian for ensuring higher effectiveness and efficiency of multilingual education in HEIs.

The seminar included two stages. The first (training) stage was devoted to the organization and conduct of additional types of teaching the Kazakh and foreign languages taking into account students’ level of language proficiency. The second (scientific and practical) part included discussion of a profession- and competency-based approach to training multilingual specialists.

The seminar was attended by Aynur Karipzhanova, Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Kazakh Philology of S. Toraighyrov PSU, Kundyz Mukatayeva, the Head of the Academic Mobility Center of S. Toraighyrov PSU. Besides, there was a special guest: Harry Leeds, an English teacher from New York, USA.

Members of PSU's academic staff and teachers from schools of the region made reports during the seminar. Undergraduate and postgraduate students of PSU were also among the speakers with reports in Kazakh, Russian and English.

Yevgeniya Ivanova, a teacher from School 42 named after M. Auezov, told about some features of teaching the “Man and Nature” special course in the context of multilingual education. Zhanna Kasenova, a teacher from School 42 named after M. Auezov, told about the use of the cognitive and communication techniques in teaching the History of Kazakhstan in multilingual classes. Galiya Bayguzhinova from Gymnasium 3 described a model of a multilingual specialist.

The seminar was organized by Zhanarsyn Kapenova, the Director of the Scientific and Practical Center for Intensive Study of the Kazakh Language and Multilingual Education. She emphasized the effectiveness of such events. “The new time dictates new rules, and multilingualism of education is essential nowadays. This seminar is a sort of training meeting with live communication among participants in the Kazakh, Russian and English languages,” says Zhanarsyn Kapenova.