AzEdu.az Education Portal talked with the teacher about the reasons for the emergence of this initiative, the benefits of the application for students, and its overall impact on the teaching process.
Babek Rzazade has been engaged in pedagogical activity for 10 years. He graduated from Lankaran State University in 2013, and then received a master's degree in accounting in English at Azerbaijan State University of Economics (UNEC) in 2016-2018.
Babek, who worked in Lerik region for the first 2 years, then worked in Shahbuz village for one year. He has been working as an English teacher at Astara city school No. 1 for 8 years. At the same time, he had the opportunity to study in the USA within the framework of the "Fulbright" program and studied at the University of Montana.
- Babek teacher, we would like you to provide information about the mobile application you developed. What was the main goal of this project and what specific contributions did it make to the development of students' English language skills?
- This project was one of the first projects I won within the Grant Competition for Development and Innovations in Education. The platform worked on both Android and iOS devices. The main idea of the project was formed during the pandemic. As students were away from school due to quarantine, there was a need for an accessible and free resource for their self-development in English.
The platform contained tests that developed students' reading comprehension and listening comprehension skills. The user read the text, answered questions, or performed tasks by listening to listening materials. The results were immediately displayed by the system.
The main target group of the project was 9th, 10th and 11th grade students. Due to the limited resources at that time, this platform played an important supporting role in their exam preparation.
- Approximately how many people used this platform?
- It is difficult to say the exact number, but I remember that approximately 9 thousand users registered.
- What were the main difficulties when preparing the project and how did you manage this process?
- This was my first grant project and it was quite a difficult process. Moreover, the project coincided with the pandemic period. Both the development of the platform and the writing of reports within the project required great responsibility.
I prepared all the content myself.
Working continuously for three months, I prepared 75 texts and 8 questions (open and closed) for each. In addition, I wrote and voiced 75 listening texts myself and prepared separate questions for each. Then we presented these materials to the programmer and put them into a platform.
Although this process was very laborious and tiring, after seeing the positive feedback from users, I realized that all the effort was worth it.
- Did weak internet in the regions affect the use of the application?
- We had considered this issue in advance. One of the advantages of the platform was that once the user downloaded it, there was no need for internet. That is, students could easily use it even in areas with weak internet.
- Do you currently have any projects you are working on or planning?
- I am currently working on a project called "Smart English". This project is implemented through its platform. For 6 months now, we have been learning English interactively with 20 selected students in our school through this program.
Students develop their language skills independently using the "premium" version. We even held an event called "Duolingo night" within the framework of this project. This project can be considered a more developed continuation of the previous application. In addition, last year I successfully implemented a training project called "EcoProfess" on the topic of ecology.
- Was the mobile application idea a personal initiative, or did it develop together with students?
- The idea mainly arose from my personal experience. When I worked in a village school, I clearly saw the lack of resources. Students had limited opportunities and access to additional materials was difficult.
At first, I prepared various materials myself and gave them to the students. Later, I decided to turn this idea into a broader platform. A teacher colleague also supported me in turning this idea into a grant project.
- As an English teacher, you participated in the certification exam. What was your result and how do you generally evaluate this exam process?
- Yes, I participated in the certification exam. I scored 58 points from the test stage and 40 points from the interview - a total of 98 points. I highly appreciate the certification. This process provides serious motivation for teachers to work on themselves. It is true that only the score does not determine everything, but it is an important indicator that reveals the general level of preparation of the teacher.
- How do you evaluate the English language preparation level of students in the regions?
- In general, there is an improvement compared to previous years. Resources are now more accessible. But there are still shortcomings. One of the main problems is that some teachers are not fully open to innovative approaches. In addition, conducting lessons mostly in Azerbaijani weakens students' speaking skills.
I believe that speaking is essential for learning English. More work needs to be done in this direction. As a general assessment, I consider the level to be average.
- Were there any students who showed high results among your students this year?
- Yes, we have students who showed high results. There were students who scored 90 points, as well as those who showed 70+ and 60+ results. But at the same time, there are also those who showed weak results. This is normal for regional schools, because there are students of different levels in the classes.
- What are your future plans and goals?
- My main goal is for students to learn English not only for exams, but as a means of real communication. I want them to grow up as open-minded, self-confident and proactive individuals.
At the same time, I consider it important to develop skills such as leadership, critical thinking, teamwork and social responsibility in students. My wish is that in the future, when I see the successes of my students, I feel that I also had a small share in their development.
