Improve Your English Language Skills
The English for Professionals in Mass Media (EPMM) program is a free, grant-based English for specific purposes course. It is designed for mass media professionals in Uzbekistan to improve English skills, gain experience working in new formats, and to raise media literacy. Improved English skills mean that mass media professionals are empowered to access a greater number of people and resources. With expanded contacts and information, they become bridges between Uzbekistan and the world as journalists who can express complex issues in multiple languages.
The first cohort included journalists, correspondents, bloggers, PR officers, press secretaries, photojournalists, and others. Students are grouped in beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. Classes were driven by practical skills. The students first learned about various formats, such as podcasts, video, op-eds, and then developed stories within these formats. The program also enabled students to network with each other and with professionals who delivered guest lectures.
The EPMM program is administered by Webster University in Tashkent based on a grant provided by the Embassy of the United States in Tashkent.
Explore Student Work
Take a look at the stories that EPMM graduates researched and created, with topics ranging from environment to culture to COVID-19-related news.
Discover how you can apply to the EPMM program for 2021-2022. Applications are accepted until Oct. 27.
Celebration
Students in the first year of the English for Professionals in Mass Media program recently participated in the official graduation ceremony for the class.
Meet the Program Faculty and Staff
Josh Gaston
Lead Trainer and Curriculum Developer/Coordinator
Josh Gaston is a passionate educator with a variety of professional experiences. He has a broad background in cross-cultural education and collaboration. Throughout almost 8 years of teaching English as a second language, Josh has taught both abroad and in the United States, teaching anywhere from beginner to advanced levels. He received his MA in TESOL at the University of Kansas.
Hilola Samatova
EPMM Trainer
Hilola Samatova is an Adjunct Professor at Webster University in Tashkent. She is an experienced ESL teacher and translator with 8 year of experience in education sphere. Hilola earned her MA in TESL from Webster University.
Tawney Kruger
EPMM Trainer
Born in Namibia and raised abroad to parents who are teachers, Tawney Kruger felt she was always meant to be an educator. Starting out as a teaching assistant PYP in Qatar, she began her ESL/EFL career in Bahrain seven years ago. Now, she trains local Uzbek teachers on how to improve their teaching practice through a TESOL teacher training program affiliated with the Ministry of Education and the International Tesol Training Institute. Kruger joined the EPMM program in January 2021 as a co-teacher for beginner level students.
Learn More
Founded in 1915, Webster University is committed to ensuring high-quality learning experiences that transform students for global citizenship and individual excellence. In 2019, Webster Tashkent joined our network to bring the best of American education with the first U.S. university in central Asia.
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