To Baku and Back

In late June of 2022, I traveled to Baku, Azerbaijan with other NC State faculty and GTI instructors to coordinate and host a 3-day conference and lecture series at ADA University and Azerbaijan State Pedagogical University. The trip was a whirlwind from day one.

Monday, June 27

NC State and GTI faculty and staff were greeted at ADA University by faculty and staff at ADA University and the U.S. Embassy. We received a thorough orientation and tour of the state-of-the-art, ADA University campus and facilities.

Tuesday – Thursday, June 28-30

We kicked off the 3-day event at ADA University with pre-conference workshops led by Paula Wilder and Olga Uzun. The next day we highlighted ADA University faculty-led research on topics relative to teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in the morning followed by an NC State-led panel discussion of the impacts the program had on participants from the first cohort of the ELT program in 2021.

The third day was the culminating event at ADA with keynote addresses given by the U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan Lee Litzenberger, and ADA’s Executive Vice-Rector Fariz Ismailzade, who is also the deputy to the Minister of Education in Azerbaijan. The main event for the final day of the conference highlighted 30 individual teacher presenters. This event was live-streamed via Zoom, and the technical support from ADA University was top-notch, both in regards to the level of support they provided and in the professionalism displayed throughout the three days NC State was hosting events.

On that last day, we also hosted in-person and virtual audiences in five separate classrooms, simultaneously, every hour, for six hours. Participants were energized as they moved from session to session and were engaged throughout the presentations. The teacher presenters gave lively mini-workshops and presentations.

The faculty at ADA University who attended various presentations throughout the day expressed their enthusiasm and highest compliments about how well-prepared the presenters were, thanks to the hard work of the NC State team, and how energizing the format of the conference was for the participants. The ADA faculty were impressed by how the format of the conference emulated international TESOL conferences.

Friday, July 1

The NC State team visited Azerbaijan State Pedagogical University to deliver a lecture series targeting university faculty and how the faculty can prepare future teachers and train their colleagues on current EFL methodologies and pedagogy at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Participants at both events expressed immense gratitude to NC State for visiting Azerbaijan and the sincerest hope for NC State’s return to Azerbaijan and continued good work in supporting the English as a Foreign Language teachers of the country. These sentiments are echoed by the faculty and staff from NC State and the GTI.