Starting from an impressive opening with the participation of the rector of Uzbekistan State World Languages University, a representative from British Council, the training became a parade of prominent EFL and ESP specialists, most of whom are Hornby Alumni (Elena Volkova, Nargiza Tadjieva, Erkin Mukhammedov, Svetlana Khan and Nilufar Begibaeva). Participants had a chance to receive very useful input from specialist on various aspect of materials development. At the end, tasks for the online part of the project were explained. Fifty ESP teachers from 34 institutions across the country took part in the training.
Online Phase of ESP Materials Development
(March-May) (Stage 2-Developing Materials)
After the two-day training the participants of the project, started developing their own materials based on the input received from the trainers. The teachers were divided into groups and allocated to be supervised by mentors, who provided feedback via email, social network telegram or in-person meetings until the materials were ready to be presented. The participants piloted their developed materials and made necessary changes based on their observations and student feedback. They showed their materials to their colleagues to obtain their opinions as well.
Presenting ESP Materials and Exchanging Feedback
(May 6-7) (Stage-3 Output)
For the meeting in May, each participant brought their own materials. They presented, exchanged feedback and received some recommendation from the trainers as well. This time trainers gave sessions as well to provide insights into materials design aspects that hadn’t been touched upon at their earlier training. After the exchange of feedback, the participants needed to make the required changes before making the final submission for the “Collection of ESP materials”.