Kazakhstan: English in Demand, a future in ESL

In 2007, the government of Kazakhstan promised an increase in funding for the countries education.  The boom in spending is sparked by the countries recent growth in oil (Kazakhstan has huge oil and gas reserves).  English is on top of the education spending:

“In a further bid to make the workforce more competitive, the government also seeks to boost the role of English in Kazakhstan. Nazarbayev proposed a new project called Trinity of Languages, with an ultimate view to making the country trilingual in the state language of Kazakh, in Russian, "the language of inter-ethnic communication," and in English, "the language of successful integration into the global economy."

The target is ambitious, says Markus, but the goal of training graduates to work in English is attainable: "I don’t know if Kazakhstan will be truly trilingual, but I think it would be able to produce a good-sized turnout of graduates who would be functional in English."  - Eurasianet

This year we are seeing some of the effects in Kazakhstan.  Surprisingly enough, some professional jobs in the country are paying much hire than Korea or Japan.  One Blogger involved with the Peace Corps last week wrote:

“Kazakhstan has decided to spend some money on serious English education. A friend just leaving the Peace Corps in Kazakhstan has signed on for a promised $2000/month, plus reimbursed travel. That might not cut it in super cosmopolitan Astana or Almaty, but in Shymkent it’s enough to live very comfortably. Shortly after hearing this, I received an email and a phone call from two other former Peace Corps comrades that they had heard the salary might well be pushed to $5000/month.” - Registan

These jobs are from networking and experience in the country, it is doubtful that the jobs will be available this year over the internet.  However, with such high spending in education, Kazakhstan may be a location to investigate for future employment in your ESL career.


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Comments

  • 7/1/2008 Borat Sagdiev wrote:
    VERY NICE!
    Reply to this
  • 7/1/2008 Mario Mo wrote:
    it was a perfect report, but how can we get a teaching job there? please write to zagross_mo@yahoo.com thanks.
    Reply to this
  • 3/19/2009 ESL Daily wrote:
    I did not forget about this comment... I found a job in the country advertised on the internet... sounds not bad too:
    http://www.tefl.com/jobs/job.html?jo_id=38162&from=rss

    The is a great opportunity for qualified teachers wishing to gain additional experience in international companies. KIT's Atyrau clients include both foreign and national companies from a variety of industries including oil and gas, recruitment, shipping, and finance....
    Reply to this
  • 3/29/2010 Kyzylorda teacher wrote:
    I am currently teaching here in KZT, but the salary is only 800 USD ,but free accommodations with all conveniences...
    Reply to this
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