OCA #49 People edition Interview with GULNARA MAKHMUDOVA

WE ARE FOR PEACE!

OCA Magazine: Tell us, please, about yourself and your creative activity/work.
Gulnara Makhmudova: Good afternoon. My name is Gulnara Mahmudova, I am a teacher-psychologist. In 1999 I founded the “First” school, grades 0 to 6, in the city of Semey, and in 2018, a branch of the “First” school for teaching preschool children in Almaty (Kazakhstan). Being a teacher has been my dream since childhood. For children it’s a huge world, open to freedom of creativity. From the very beginning the first methodological theme (till 2004) of the “First” school was the theme of studying successful teaching methods of foreign schools. When teaching English, close attention was paid to the development of communicative abilities of bilingual education, communication skills as a whole and applied use of the English language.

The success of “First” school students allows the child to adapt to a multicultural environment. Our work successes became attractive for parents when choosing a school. Coming to Kazakhstan, foreign parents enrol their children of preschool age in our school, where they, communicating with their peers, learn the Kazakh language, and get acquainted with the culture of the peoples of the world.

At the school children learn the national cuisine of various countries of the world, listen to the national anthem of the country whose cuisine is represented, and national musical compositions are played from the dining room all day long.

At the end of each week, the children have a disco, and in the evening the school teachers perform famous works on the dombra. During creative classes, students listen to world classical music from operas and ballets by Giuseppe Verdi, Gioacchino Rossini, Giacomo Puccini, Beethoven and other famous composers – this is how the children are introduced to high culture when the songs and arias are performed by the teachers themselves, who have a specialty in “classical performance (opera singing).”

OCA: How did you choose your path and who is your role model in the creative space or life?
GM: The first person who taught me about choosing a profession was my mother. She, being a financier, studied mathematics and other subjects with neighbouring children with sincere pleasure. Mother was always interested in the success of children, and paid great attention to their studies.

Today I respectfully remember the names of my teachers not only in school, but also in life: the teacher of the drama circle, Igor Konstantinovich, was able to inspire us to talentedly play the roles of characters in performances. And my swimming coach is Tatyana, she helped develop the desire for a goal in me, its successful achievement and daily work. Working as a teacher, I devote a lot of time to reading educational literature. I enjoy teaching practice.

OCA: What is your main achievement in 2022-2023?
GM: Every year is interesting and eventful. Our achievements benefit the entire society by educating and informing worthy citizens of a creative future society. And this dream of mine came true!

OCA: What is the main feature that makes you and your art/work unique?
GM: There is one uniqueness of our methodology in the work of a school with young children: the system for implementing the success of education is accompanied not only by vocal praise, but also by a clear digital designation (plus, minus, percentage, rating) of all the moments of mastering the educational material by our young student: each item or exercise of each topic, each word or example, each task is marked with a plus or minus in a special journal, and transferred to a computer accounting system (CSU). The real, or objective, assessment is added up for a week, a month, a quarter and a year in the form of a graphic system: the direction of the diagram and the peak of the height in the coordinate system give a clear idea in which area of knowledge the student will be successful!

And, what is especially important, the school derives interesting patterns of the quality of a child’s knowledge and the influence of his genetic predisposition to success – and this, in turn, allows our graduate to enter a secondary school of any subject area and an increased requirement for knowledge!

I consider it especially valuable that our work allows us to form a civil position in young children, the concept of humanity, tolerance, love for the culture of the peoples of the world and for the Motherland – Kazakhstan.

OCA: What is your motivation and the main aim of your creativity?
GM: My goal is the personal happiness of people close to me. I wish my daughter happiness and all graduates to live their life trying to do good deeds so that there is world peace! My motivation? But isn’t the desire to live in a prosperous world already motivation within itself?

OCA: What would you wish for the members of the Guild and other creative people, just starting their career?
GM: I wish all novice creative people all over the planet to meet sincerely kind people who will share correct and wise ideas and instructions on the formation of a creative environment, such as, for example, in the Eurasian Creative Guild. I wish the Guild successful projects, loyal members in its ranks, achievement of the most humane goal, prosperity, peaceful days, and inner HAPPINESS!