Comments on: The School System Explained http://www.kzblog.net/2009/12/30/the-school-system-explained/ An American expat living in Astana, Kazakhstan Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:30:26 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Chris Merrimanhttp://www.kzblog.net/2009/12/30/the-school-system-explained/comment-page-1/#comment-355 Chris Merriman Tue, 05 Jan 2010 19:17:04 +0000 http://www.kzblog.net/?p=1613#comment-355 $500 on one week's trip to the grocery store? Sounds like someone is shopping exclusively in Ramstore :) Interesting post, I've added it to the growing list of "really must link to that soon" entries :) $500 on one week’s trip to the grocery store? Sounds like someone is shopping exclusively in Ramstore :)
Interesting post, I’ve added it to the growing list of “really must link to that soon” entries :)

]]> By: NAhttp://www.kzblog.net/2009/12/30/the-school-system-explained/comment-page-1/#comment-347 NA Tue, 05 Jan 2010 04:36:07 +0000 http://www.kzblog.net/?p=1613#comment-347 Thank goodness for the international schools here in Astana! I should also add that my daughters teacher worked in an Astana public school for three months and was paid $500 a month. And she was paid higher than the regular teachers because of her western training and English language. Yikes. That doesn't even cover one weeks trip to the grocery store here. Thank goodness for the international schools here in Astana! I should also add that my daughters teacher worked in an Astana public school for three months and was paid $500 a month. And she was paid higher than the regular teachers because of her western training and English language. Yikes. That doesn’t even cover one weeks trip to the grocery store here.

]]> By: KZBloghttp://www.kzblog.net/2009/12/30/the-school-system-explained/comment-page-1/#comment-311 KZBlog Thu, 31 Dec 2009 03:38:54 +0000 http://www.kzblog.net/?p=1613#comment-311 The ENT (School leaving exam that basically determines whether kids can go on to university or not and which university they go to, how much grant or loan money they get for university, etc..), at least the ENT in English, is ridiculous. I've gone through previous year exams and you don't have to know any English to pass it, just some basic rules of grammar. I had students who got over 100 on the ENT despite not being able to formulate a sentence in English correctly because they just memorize the 10 or 20 points of grammar the test always covers. Furthermore, the test is full of questions that have two or more right answers. The readings and sometimes the questions themselves have grammatical errors in them. And then there are random questions like, "When was the Great Fire of London?" What does that have to do with knowledge of the English language? No idea if the other subject tests are as bad, but the ENT in English needs serious work. The ENT (School leaving exam that basically determines whether kids can go on to university or not and which university they go to, how much grant or loan money they get for university, etc..), at least the ENT in English, is ridiculous. I’ve gone through previous year exams and you don’t have to know any English to pass it, just some basic rules of grammar. I had students who got over 100 on the ENT despite not being able to formulate a sentence in English correctly because they just memorize the 10 or 20 points of grammar the test always covers.

Furthermore, the test is full of questions that have two or more right answers. The readings and sometimes the questions themselves have grammatical errors in them. And then there are random questions like, “When was the Great Fire of London?” What does that have to do with knowledge of the English language? No idea if the other subject tests are as bad, but the ENT in English needs serious work.

]]> By: Zoyahttp://www.kzblog.net/2009/12/30/the-school-system-explained/comment-page-1/#comment-304 Zoya Wed, 30 Dec 2009 13:19:11 +0000 http://www.kzblog.net/?p=1613#comment-304 1. author of the article was working in village school, so some facts are not really applicable for schools in Almaty for example. 2. sections based on test? well, may be smthg has changed very recently. i don't remember any tests, and believe me, we had very different kids in our class with different level of intelligence, discipline and interest. but within class we indeed had labeling - "good" and "bad" (labels were given first of all based on how disciplined and well-behaving kid was). and unfortunately teachers (very often) are more loyal to "good" students. 3. teachers can say better, but i was always under impression that they don't work all 10-12 h. they need to work certain amount of hours a week. plus they have some additional responsibilities (like being curator, or in case of elementary school so called prolonged hours) 4. ENT - well, i believe that decision to introduce ENT was one of the biggest mistakes. typically last quarter if not half a year students don't really study, they get ready for ENT = get copies of questionnaires from previous years and just go thru those tests again and again. so "teaching is geared by ENT" - it's bullshit. 1. author of the article was working in village school, so some facts are not really applicable for schools in Almaty for example.

2. sections based on test? well, may be smthg has changed very recently. i don’t remember any tests, and believe me, we had very different kids in our class with different level of intelligence, discipline and interest. but within class we indeed had labeling – “good” and “bad” (labels were given first of all based on how disciplined and well-behaving kid was). and unfortunately teachers (very often) are more loyal to “good” students.

3. teachers can say better, but i was always under impression that they don’t work all 10-12 h. they need to work certain amount of hours a week. plus they have some additional responsibilities (like being curator, or in case of elementary school so called prolonged hours)

4. ENT – well, i believe that decision to introduce ENT was one of the biggest mistakes. typically last quarter if not half a year students don’t really study, they get ready for ENT = get copies of questionnaires from previous years and just go thru those tests again and again. so “teaching is geared by ENT” – it’s bullshit.

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