I was interested in the culture and the people here

“Greetings! My name is Tsendragchaa Myanganbayar and I’m from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. I grew up in a loving family with 3 siblings and two caring parents. I am a graduate of “New Era International School”.  I am a freshman in Chemistry and Chemical Technology faculty majoring in Chemical Engineering.

I was given this great opportunity to visit this country just after I’ve read an article on a news site, about how Kazakh people care for their younger generation’s education. So, I thought, “Maybe I will have a great time studying there!” and I applied for a government scholarship, and luckily enough I got it.

This is my first time ever in Kazakhstan and I am enjoying every part of it. Like, the weather is just perfect for me and the people here are also very nice. All the staff from the faculties are also very sociable and caring, always ready to help whenever I am in need for one. Also, the city is really big, like the people’s heart.

My professors and classmates are all lovely people. The one thing I really love about KazNU, specially in my faculty is that the community here is very welcoming.

A lot of people asked me why I chose KazNU or Kazakhstan to do my bachelor’s. Well, I don’t have a very grandiose reason for it. I just like how Mongolia and Kazakhstan are similar and I wanted to see it for myself. Basically, I was interested in the culture and the people here.

The one thing I am struggling with is the language barrier, so I will do my very best to learn the language as soon as possible.

I am really looking forward to studying here and making many new friends.

 Tsendragchaa MYANGANBAYAR

P.S  I have known Tsendragchaa for several months now and he has been a good friend since then. He excels in his academic performance. Beyond his academic excellence, he is a talented person. Tsendragchaa can play guitar, piano and is a good singer. Moreover, he is a very considerate person and has good manners. Whenever you need help, you can always reach out to him and he does his best to help you. We get to communicate with him in English because he cannot speak in either Kazakh or Russian. That’s why he is huge help to improve our spoken English. He deserves more kind words about him and we all appreciate that he is our groupmate.

Nuray ARYSTANOVA,

101 English group student,

Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology

Once I was lucky to be a student of “spets grouppy” at Physics faculty

Everyone, who is directly involved in teaching, knows that it is a rather difficult task to implement a program where the language of instructions is the English language only.

 These processes are rarely going smoothly and without major compromises between the quality of education and the readability of materials. Most often, the students and teachers are falling behind almost all foreign language requirements in teaching and start using their native languages to clarify and confirm questions about class and teaching materials, and understand instructions for everyday tasks and exams.

One of the academic alternatives to this situation was the program which once existed during the Soviet period at Physics faculty. The program was called “spets grouppa” with extended hours of teaching English.  I can definitely say that I was happy, together with the other selected students, to be admitted to this program based on my highest grades for entrance exams. The program was one year longer than the regular 4 years, and instead of teaching us all physics classes in English, we were given the extra classes of English.

We were lucky to have the best mentors and English teachers in our students' lives as well the other professionals in physics, math, history, philosophy, et cetera, who were doing the best jobs they can do while complimenting each other. Many of these teachers are still working in our department and are very productive in teaching and administrative work. Under their supervision and initiative two years ago was created the official TOEFL test center for our students, teachers, and everyone else from our country and abroad who is required to pass this exam.

As a result, we were prepared for many challenges of professional life with deep and sound knowledge of English and Physics.  In the light of the current development in educational programs, it may be beneficial to return to such practice.

Arman KUSSAINOV,

PhD, candidate of technical sciences,

enior lecturer, Physics and Technology Department

Master's Conference -2022

"Current trends in interdisciplinary issues"

Every year in mid-March, the Department of Foreign Languages ​​of al-Farabi Kazakh National University holds a scientific and methodological conference of fledgling scientists and master course and doctorate students. The very name of the conference "Current trends in interdisciplinary issues" suggests the interdisciplinarity of scientific results.

Holding students’conferences is always beneficial. The conference serves as a platform for the exchange of ideas and scientific developments between researchers from different fields of science. The main goals and objectives of the conference are to stimulate the research and educational activities of students, to attract students and young scientists to solve scientific problems, to develop the creative abilities of the most talented and gifted students and to promote the formation of the intellectual potential of young people.

This year it was decided to give the conference an international scope. Due to some restrictive measures still in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19 the conference was held in on-line regime. The conference participants were happy to welcome Professors Patricia Gilman, Paul I. Minnis (Oklahoma University, USA), Christopher Korten (MGIMO,  Russian Federation), Kurshat Jesur (University of Canakkale Onsekiz March, Turkey) and guests from Kirgizia.

The plenary session of the conference was solemnly opened by the Dean of the Faculty of Philology, Doctor of Philology, Professor B.U. Dzholdasbekova, Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Foreign Languages ​​A.A. Muldagaliyeva and head of the Department of Foreign Languages ​​D.D. Dosmagambetova, who wished the conference fruitful work and constructive scientific dialogue and discussion.

After the plenary session, the conference continued its work in three sections by branches of science: physics and technical sciences and technologies, natural sciences, social sciences and humanities, where the conference participants presented their research findings, shared their ideas and opinions, exchanged views and discussed topical issues .

A distinctive feature of this conference was that most of the speakers presented the results of their work in English.

Following the results of the breakout sessions, the moderators noted the reports of the participants who distinguished themselves not only by their excellent command of the English language, but also by the most fully revealing the essence of their research and clearly presenting the results of their research to a wide audience.

Thus, the reports of the following master course students and young scientists aroused particular interest among the audience and the speakers managed to successfully convey the essence of very complex issues under study:

 Arystanova Nurai “Sociolinguistic analysis of Kazakh kinship terms”, Mammadgasanova Gamyar “Peculiarities of aggression in adolescence”, Khasibulla Mohammadi “Ensuring and protecting human rights, civil rights and freedom in Islamic legal doctrine”, Mukhtarova Azhar, Zaynolda Nesibeli “Case study: A Comparison of Kazakh and Japanese Etiquette", Tolepbergen Arsen "Calculation of the concentration distribution for a three component gas mixture in a diffusion channel with different thermodynamic parameters", Embergen Magzhan "Impact of Physics Olympiad on education", Mukhamedali Bekzat "Game development and its relation to Kazakhstan”, Tokhtarova Madina “Modeling and Development of the Implementation of SMM Marketing in the work of the company”, Vaidman Nadezhda “The study of the star SDSS J150722.30 + 523039.8”.

We would like to thank all the participants of the conference and express hope that this event will give a fresh impulse to further achievements in their scientific research activities.

G.K. KULZHANBEKOVA

                                                                       Department of Foreign Languages

Some life quotes:

"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself." George Bernard Shaw 

"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." Thomas A. Edison 

“If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.”– Albert Einstein 

Prepared by  Аizhan MULDAGALIEVA