English Language Training "Making Big Impact" in Azerbaijan Thanks to Partnership with Oxford University Press

BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 22, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The collaboration between Oxford University Press (OUP), the world's largest university publisher, and The European Azerbaijan Society's press division (TEAS Press), its exclusive distributor of English Language Teaching materials in Azerbaijan, is yielding positive results, improving the lives of teachers and students. TEAS Press was launched by TEAS to support education and publishing in Azerbaijan.

"After more than a year of working together, I believe OUP and TEAS are making a big impact on the learning of English in Azerbaijan, as teachers and students alike are benefiting from access to world class materials," said Simon Mavin, International Sales and Development Director at OUP, a department of the University of Oxford, which publishes about 7,000 new titles each year.

"We really appreciate TEAS sharing our commitment to giving customers the solutions that best fit their educational needs and look forward to more success together in the future."

Mavin announced the collaboration together with TEAS Chairman Tale Heydarov in May 2015. Since then all English Language Training resources and international programmes have become available in Azerbaijan. At one Oxford Teachers Academy workshop alone, 30 teachers from 15 different schools expanded their teaching skills over the three-day course.

Vafa Maharramova, an OUP Education Consultant in Azerbaijan, stressed that the original books will bring additional quality into the Azerbaijani education system. "Now our teachers are aware not only about the hard copies, but also online resources, iTools, flashcards and other vital teaching materials."

More seminars are planned, ranging from primary school teachers to university professors, helping them to use these materials in their classrooms to develop students' English-language skills.

"I consider these books a treasure for all teaching methodology skills and techniques," said Irada Yahyayeva from the Physics, Math and Informatics Lyceum in Baku. "I hope that all teachers will quickly understand and grasp the importance of these resources."

Nigar Nasrullayeva, an Education Officer at the British Council, the UK's education and cultural relations organisation, noted that this is the first time that English teachers of general schools in Azerbaijan have access to the teaching resources within the English Centres Project by the British Council.

"The books not only help them with the language teaching but also with lesson planning, assessment, classroom management and other important issues that are important for changing the approach and increasing the quality of teaching in Azerbaijan," she said.

For Tale Heydarov, the successful collaboration with OUP is another step towards Azerbaijan's development.

"Education plays the most important role for developing countries," Heydarov said, noting that as global demand for English continues to grow, "at TEAS we aim to provide the necessary tools to enable English learning, helping students fulfil their personal aspirations and effectively position Azerbaijan in the global economy."