Extra-Curricular Activities

Here's a dance class for college students that we
stumbled into while walking around Almaty.
They were teaching how to do the waltz in one of
the city's major parks.

Here's a question from one of my students:

• Do they have afternoon programs like we do?

One thing I discovered was that many children that I talked to in Almaty and in Ust-Kamenogorsk participate in after-school programs. Some of these are done at school, some are done elsewhere (at a dance studio, recreation center, or a specialty school. Some of these are free for students, but some have a fee. I spoke with some teachers who voluntarily run clubs or activities for their students, just like we do here. Here are some of the after-school activities that either students or parents told me about:

• Drama club
• Martial arts (I spoke with kids who did karate and tae kwon do)
• Sports teams
• Horse-riding
• English class
• After-school art class
• Music lessons
• Dance class

Overall, my impression was that these programs are important to families here. Several parents told me that they were willing to make sacrifices in order to send their children to after-school art, music, dance, or other classes.