Tajik Celebrity English Teachers Take the Limelight

The appearance of Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, George W. Bush, and Hillary Rodham Clinton in mountainous Isfara, Tajikistan in late January went largely un-remarked upon by the media. No crowds of paparazzi swarmed outside the yellow pillars of the Khizmat-Servis Hotel, where the four celebs spent four nights from the 26th to the 30th ― and not a single person remarked on the fact that Hillary wore a red headscarf with her floor length embroidered skirt, or that Brad had traded his blonde hair for black. Neither the local community nor the broader press found anything out of place. Yet, for the twenty Tajik English teachers, head instructor Mavluda Mahmudova, and FLEX alumni Bahrom Ismoilov ’05, Rukhshona Mirzoartikova ’07, and Farhod Umarov ’06, the appearance of the “celebrities” (actually Tajik teachers in role-play during a five-day English-language training) was remarkable less for the likelihood of appearing in the society pages, than for what the training accomplished: dramatically improving the teacher’s comfort with the English language, and their ability to pass it on to others.

Twenty shy sets of eyes and soft voices from all age groups greeted project coordinator Farhod Umarov ’06 at 8:30 am on January 26. They huddled in small clusters around the pale green tables, appearing, in Farhod’s description, “like little kids, or students just starting to learn English.” A few traded jokes about coming only for the promised three daily meals; others simply watched and waited as classroom rules (turn off cell phones, speak English, be active, be respectful, smile, be on time) were printed in large letters on the blackboard. After introducing the group to the program, Mavluda Mahmudova and the FLEX trainers chalked the words to the popular American cheer “Boom Chika Boom” alongside them, and led the teachers in singing. The last strains of “Boom Chika Rocka Chika Rocka Chika Boom!” (culminating in one loud “uh-huh…oh YEAH!”) were still echoing when the trainers divided the teachers into three groups, and began an identity card activity. The participants were encouraged to draw pictures on their cards that described themselves, and then discuss them in front of the group. Rather than drawing, however, one teacher wrote the words, “Knowing the English language is like being born again.”

Thus began a series of out-of-the-box English learning activities, partially drawn from Friederike Klippel’s book Keep Talking, but many developed by the alumni themselves. Instead of being publicly drilled in the present perfect tense, the teachers talked about what inanimate object they might like to be (“I would like to be an orange,” claimed one), their feelings about age, and what items they would carry with them to a desert island. They role-played famous people of the world (enter Jolie and Pitt), and were interviewed by the audience. They listened to presentations on the U.S. by alumni, hypothesized about “what if” and leaned forward in their chairs to see the Chronicles of Narnia, in English.

On the fourth day of the training, Bahrom Ismoilov ’05, Rukhshona Mirzoartikova ’07, and Farhod Umarov ’06 pretended to be children in an ideal American family. Their parents were played by teacher participants, and Mavluda Mahmudova interviewed them during a mock TV talk show. Finally, on the last day, teachers took on the role of receptionists at a hotel interpreting customers’ body language to respond to their needs. By the end of the training, they had progressed from timid, reluctant speakers, to eager, ready, and active participants. The daily chorus of “Boom Chika Boom” which initiated each session became a staple and much enjoyed element of the training, and additional songs, like the traditional Scottish tune, “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean” helped to encourage a relaxed atmosphere.

By the time Farhod delivered the training’s closing speech and distributed certificates in the hotel’s main hall, the sunlight streaming in through the ornate wooden doors revealed not the same hesitant collection of faces retreating behind flowered scarves and thick hats, but a beaming group of teachers. Their enthusiasm about the experience was reflected in a collective request to have a similar training done next year. Standing on the steps of Khizmat-Servis, the teachers proudly displayed their certificates, smiling as if remembering the emphatic capital letters of, “Uh-huh…oh YEAH!”