Where Students are Trilingual and Serious about Learning

January 14, 2013

It was cold in Kazakhstan, so his first purchase was a big, warm, fox-fur hat.

As a trainer for Families and Schools Together, Chris Daniel is accustomed to flying here and there. But Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan were new territory.

The Families and Schools Together (FAST) program reduces critical barriers to school success: lack of family engagement, family stress, and child neglect in low-performing schools. It works with multi-family groups to build relationships among families, and between families and schools.

After adapting to the 11-hour time difference, Daniel spent two weeks in October supervising local FAST program trainers, who were working for national certification. He and UK colleague Elspeth Bromiley worked with sponsorship from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

The FAST program yields initial benefits of enhanced parent social support, improved parent-child relations, and increased parent-school engagement. These lead to improvements in home environments, classroom climate, and child behavior.

“My first impression of Kyrgyzstan was close to what I had generalized about a third-world country,” he says.  “I was amazed at the size of Bishkek, the capital city, and dumbfounded about how anyone could stay alive behind a wheel considering how reckless their driving appeared.”

He had done his homework prior to going, yet found it surprising that “everyone looked very Asian (Chinese mostly), but spoke Russian.” 

Each of the several meetings afforded a different impression. One Kazakh school, for example, offered instruction in three languages: Kazakh on Monday and Tuesday, English on Wednesday and Thursday, and Russian on Friday.

In general, students seemed quite serious and committed to education. They were interested in the U.S. education system. Daniel also fielded questions about U.S. music and fashion, not surprising for students in grades 9 through 11.  But the students said they were not interested in travelling to the U.S. because “it is too far away.”

He says the experience opened his eyes to a number of things.  “One, we have not done a good job at selling the importance of education to our children.  Second, we Americans are often too quick to discredit the values that are held in what may be described as third-world countries.  It was clear to me that families held their children in very high regard.  Every family who was invited to attend the FAST session attended, so they had 100% participation.”

“My understanding is that in Central Asian countries where FAST is conducted, they retain 100% of each family,” he says.  “It was great to see the bonding activities that were developed in Madison happening among families of Kygyz and Kazakh people.”

More about Families and Schools Together Inc.: http://www.familiesandschools.org/