“I remember I didn't want to take part in the ETTE project thinking that I had different plans for summer. 26 years of teaching experience is my rich professional portfolio and I have special literature on professional development. But the situation changed when I had to recycle my knowledge and face the challenges of the project. I would like to confess that at first inside there was a resistance which prevented me from perceiving many new things. However the more I was trained the more I felt confident of the new skills I was acquiring. It is no secret that I had my strong points and weak points during different sessions.  It didn't discourage me. Stages in a group life change a person. The more we worked in teams and different groups the more we understood each other.  Communicating with teachers from different countries with different teaching background and culture made the project our common environment.

Now having new skills as a teacher-trainer and practicing new knowledge at training courses I feel I am doing my job because I am able to meet the needs of teachers living and working in distant areas. Different situations cropped up at the training courses and I understand how much I have to control myself, to be patient and encouraging. I know from my own experience that the main motivation for change comes from dissatisfaction. I would like to quote Curran: “To want to teach others what you know or know how to do is in fact a natural part of being a teacher'. Interaction with teachers from different areas of our region changed my understanding of the contributions trainees could make to my own development as a trainer. How many skills a teacher has to develop to change! I think the participants of ETTE project will agree with my saying that we are proud of ETTE!"

“I am very obliged to the ETTE project for helping me to grow professionally, personally and build up my self- esteem. First of all, as a part of the project I was trusted to work as a teacher-trainer trainer, which I have never done before. Although, I was acting as an assistant to the trainer, the invaluable experience helped me to design, create the materials and run a similar course later.

Secondly, I got an opportunity to learn what mentoring is and to develop my mentoring skills, which I later put into practice. I have also got access to great "Classroom Language materials", which made my daily work much easier. The task that I got  after the "Material design" course which I took in Almaty in October 2008, was a real challenge, as I had to do a lot of field work before and talk to many English Teachers in Kyrgyzstan. We got very positive feedback from our trainers Simon and Sue; however, the evaluation by Ainuru Jolchieva, the trainer from the Academy of Education who is piloting the materials, and feedback from the participants of the course is much more valuable for me. I would also like to mention that since I became a part of the project the list of my friends has grown a lot, I met people who I can ask for advice, who are interested in my opinion and who are always ready to help. I strongly believe that I benefited a lot from my participation in the ETTE project, but I also believe that my country got a lot from it. Now we have got a strong team of well qualified teacher trainers who demonstrated their abilities while conducting seminars and training for teachers in Bishkek. Moreover, three resource centres in three different oblasts in Kyrgyzstan were enriched with course books, methodological literature and many other materials which I think will help the teachers in those areas to become more effective teachers. Hope for further productive cooperation…”

“Participating in this project I realised that I had become more professional, more critical of myself, more patient to my colleagues and very proud of my country. Teaching is hard and every English teacher in the different regions and remote areas of Kazakhstan needs a lot of help. To understand the value of an English teacher in modern society is very important, but to help teachers become professionally stronger using different "instruments" is more important for me now in my real life.  In the West Kazakhstan region a lot of teachers began to understand that each Methodology problem would be solved `delicately’. It is a nice process - being trained. It gave them a lot of joy and happiness, because their students became stronger in their knowledge. Teachers from remote areas are very talented, and the exchanging of ideas and creating of new workshops and presentations demonstrated their increasing interest in their jobs. As a result more teachers wrote more applications in May and June to raise their level category. Personally I am very happy because 17 of my school-leavers have chosen the profession of an English teacher...”