Trilingual Education Policy for Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools

Trilingual Education Policy for Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools

Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools support the development of the state language, Kazakh, as the common language of the citizens of Kazakhstan, Russian as an additional language for communication within the nation and with other nations, and English as a tool for accessing opportunities in the global environment.

By teaching core content through Kazakh, Russian and English, students will also gain access to extra information, new perspectives, deeper understandings, and greater intercultural competence while building additional learning skills. In addition, the trilingual model aims to promote student flexibility, creativity, critical thinking, and autonomous learning.

Trilingual education in Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools supports the acquisition of Kazakh, Russian and English:

• by offering Kazakh, Russian and English language arts classes that are taught through those languages;

• by teaching non-language different subjects through Kazakh, Russian and English so as to promote both language learning and content learning;

• by organising extra-curricular activities in Kazakh, Russian and English;

• by studying individual subjects in the second (Kazakh/Russian) and third languages (English) regardless of the language of instruction: World Understanding, History of Kazakhstan (Kazakhstan in the modern world), Geography, and Fundamentals of law in Kazakh; World History and ICT in Russian; Science, Economics, and Global Perspectives and Project Work in English.

Aims and values:

Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools seek to support students in becoming engaged trilingual citizens, who:

• are able to use these three languages (Kazakh, Russian, English) at an appropriate level in all necessary circumstances;

• value their own culture, and

• understand and respect other cultures.

Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools and their students and educators, will be further guided by the following values and skills:

• the maintenance and continuous development of Kazakh or Russian as a first language, and the learning of two additional languages;

• the government’s vision of having Kazakh take a ‘lead role in all spheres of life’ by 2025;

• respect for the culture, customs, opinions, and the ideas of others;

• responsible citizenship;

• functional literacy in three languages;

• life-long learning;

• transparency by making information about trilingual programme development, successes, challenges, and plans accessible to stakeholders and society at large, and

• co-operation among citizens of Kazakhstan.