Students of S. Toraighyrov Pavlodar State University participated in a training session for volunteers taking part in International Specialized Exhibition “EXPO-2017”.

The event was organized by members of Social Volunteering Center. They held a team-building training session for members of the Volunteer Training Center of S. Toraighyrov PSU. Such activities are carried out under the project “Organization of Volunteer Groups in all Cities and Areas of the Region (Organization of the EXPO-2017 Youth Club)”. Students took part in various games thus introducing themselves to each other, demonstrating their abilities to work in a team and leadership skills. The training session included the following exercises: “Getting to Know Each Other Better”, “Chains”, “Bridge”, “Drop, Stream, River, and Ocean”, “Path”, “Pass on a Signal”, “Centipede's Run”, and “Electric Fence”.

The training session was held to develop such qualities as adequate evaluation of one's own potential, ability to work in a team, feeling of personal responsibility, readiness to cooperate with other participants of the volunteer movement.

S. Toraighyrov PSU established special courses of the Kazakh and English languages in order to prepare volunteers for the International Exhibition “EXPO-2017”.

According to the Head of the Volunteer Training Center, Zhanarsyn Kapenova, active work is being carried out to prepare students for participation in this large-scale event. “It is important to select the best candidates. Not only do such trainings help students learn the skills required from a volunteer, they also teach how to work in a team,” she said.

The lessons of Kazakh are primarily aimed at enriching students' vocabulary in such topics as “I Am a Voluteer” and “EXPO History”. There are also many games, e.g. “Who Am I?”, “Complete the Sentence”, etc.

In their first lesson of English, students learned different definitions of the word “volunteer”. All students were given the opportunity to express their thoughts in English and explain how they understand the word “volunteering”. There was also much information on the history of EXPO, i.e. first international exhibitions, their themes, problems and main features.

All members of the team noted that such lessons are characterized by a communication-based approach and the atmosphere of openness, friendliness and cooperation.