Uzbekistan teachers learn from Charlotte

Charlotte Observer November 14 No, they weren't Chinese, and they weren't Russian. And yes, their students spend a lot of time watching television and playing video games, just like those in the United States. Two educators, Zamira Yuldasheva and Mohira Hamrakulova, recently spent about a week in the Charlotte area, hoping to pick up a few ideas on how to improve the schools back home in Uzbekistan. But they also found themselves answering a lot of questions about Uzbekistan and the people who live in the Asian republic, formerly a part of the Soviet Union and a neighbor of Afghanistan. "Some people asked if I were Chinese," said Hamrakulova, 27, who teaches English at an Uzbek government-run school for academically gifted students. "And we explained that we were once a part of the Soviet Union but now are an independent nation -- different from Russia," added Yuldasheva, 45, principal of a community public school for elementary, middle and high school students. The two spent a week at Providence Day School, as part of School Connectivity, a U.S. State Department program coordinated by the International Research and Exchanges Board. The program is an effort to build links between the United States and Uzbekistan, which has been a strong partner with America in the fight against terrorism in Asia. Yuldasheva and Hamrakulova met with groups of students and discussed world politics and the culture of Uzbekistan, a mostly Muslim nation. "We told them our nation is famous for its hospitality," Hamrakulova said. "When people come to visit, they almost always mention our hospitality." The two also studied U.S. teaching methods, for use in Uzbekistan. They agreed that U.S. students have much more access to computers and the Internet than in Uzbekistan. "And I like that the kids here are very open-minded," Yuldasheva said. But they found similarities in students from the two countries. "Our students are like those in the United States," Yuldasheva said. "They watch too much television and spend too much time playing (video) games. We talk to them about that." Yuldasheva visited the United States for the first time in 1999. She said few people had heard of Uzbekistan then. But the American-led military action in Afghanistan to oust the Taliban in 2001 was staged largely in Uzbekistan. "This time, many people here in America have heard of our country," she said.