American Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Sciences ISSN (E): 2832-8019 Volume 12, | May, 2023 P a g e | 135 www.americanjournal.org ENGAGING AND COLLABORATING IN THE COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE Erkaboyeva Saodathon, EFL Teacher at Andijan National Center of Teaching New Methods to Teachers A B S T R A C T K E Y W O R D S In this article, continuous professional development through community of practice will be discussed continuous professional development (CPD), community of practice (CoP), mentoring INTRODUCTION Currently, teachers around the world are collaborating with their peers in local and even global contexts to take charge of their own personal development and share teaching ideas as part of their professional development. The critical examination of one’s own teaching methodology is known as reflective teaching, and it is crucial to one’s ongoing professional development (Wallace 1998), and it applies to all educational situations, including language teaching. Last decades English teachers in Uzbekistan needed some help with their teaching methods and the use of technology in their classrooms. Many experts believe that continuous professional development is essential, especially in today’s world of ever-changing technologies. English teachers trained to use new techniques and resources are more likely to try them out with their students. (Chisman and Crandal 2007). The Presidential Decree of May 2017 on measures for further enhancement of higher education system was seen as one of the catalysts in improving foreign-language teaching in Uzbekistan. Another vivid action was the English Speaking Nation: Secondary Teacher Training program in 2019 by the US Embassy in Tashkent and the Ministry of Public Education. The goal was to strengthen secondary education in Uzbekistan by improving the student centered pedagogical skills of Uzbek teachers and cultivating a supportive teaching and training ecosystem to achieve excellence in English teaching. The program enabled 82 teachers to get TESOL Certificates by participating TESOL Core Certificate Program and an intensive internationally recognized 140-hour in-person and in-classroom practicum course. Core Trainers had cascading trainings throughout all 14 regions of Uzbekistan. Each Core Trainer had trainings with 10-12 peer teachers known as Regional Peer Mentors. Nowadays they are having their cascading trainings to the mentees in their districts. While implementing program Core Trainers had the various challenges like finding venue, time and motivating their peers to engage in the program. From those challenges, they learned how to take some actions to solve these issues and they learnt how to engage and collaborate in their own community of practice where they worked with their Regional Peer Mentors (RPMs). In their cascading training, American Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Sciences Volume 12, May, 2023 P a g e | 136 www.americanjournal.org those regional peer mentors shared their knowledge and experience they obtained from the program. Of course, without a help of the coaches finding a solution and having cascading were not impossible. The role of coaches in the program was a huge. With their advice and suggestions, coaches helped core trainers to become good advisers and run their own communities of practices effectively and easily. The program enabled teachers to become good leaders, bring, and use the latest and innovative methods in their classroom through the instructional English. Teachers changed their classroom to student-centered classroom. Students are engaging their learning through interactive techniques in a moveable classroom. There are given more opportunity to use a language and they are responsible for their learning themselves. The ESN program materials are widely used at teacher training courses and centers nowadays and we believe such kind of programs and collaboration are good chance for the continuous professional development and community of practice. Provided links to the works and portfolios of the participants of the program can express more deeply the importance of the program for the participants and other teachers can be beneficial from them. List of Links: 1. https://sites.google.com/view/saodats-portfolio-gr-8/home 2. https://sites.google.com/u/0/d/10wkAk5W4MEILWbei9gaZyaaKENOLvu6D/p/1KrcPSeZDbesb 27FB-SAFjV7ofAHtK83-/preview 3. https://sites.google.com/d/1- 176FiEIPCB1FtkjawilIN4yOFwH2TtA/p/1d4FqS8raxUGWdd92I9rX7Mzu0QG3ar6L/edit 4. https://padlet.com/tadoas/resources-for-english-teachers-aykqce8jnpqz0z2w References: 1. Chisman, Forrest P.; Crandall, JoAnn Passing the Torch: Strategies for Innovation in Community College ESL, 2007 2. Wallace. M. J, 1981. The use of video in EFL teacher training. London: British Council 3. https://www.esn-teachers.org/ https://sites.google.com/view/saodats-portfolio-gr-8/home https://sites.google.com/u/0/d/10wkAk5W4MEILWbei9gaZyaaKENOLvu6D/p/1KrcPSeZDbesb27FB-SAFjV7ofAHtK83-/preview https://sites.google.com/u/0/d/10wkAk5W4MEILWbei9gaZyaaKENOLvu6D/p/1KrcPSeZDbesb27FB-SAFjV7ofAHtK83-/preview https://sites.google.com/d/1-176FiEIPCB1FtkjawilIN4yOFwH2TtA/p/1d4FqS8raxUGWdd92I9rX7Mzu0QG3ar6L/edit https://sites.google.com/d/1-176FiEIPCB1FtkjawilIN4yOFwH2TtA/p/1d4FqS8raxUGWdd92I9rX7Mzu0QG3ar6L/edit https://padlet.com/tadoas/resources-for-english-teachers-aykqce8jnpqz0z2w https://www.esn-teachers.org/