Cadets Go on Excursion to Southern Kazakhstan

During week 8 of their semester abroad Team Kazakhstan and all the students from the American Counsels RLASP in Almaty went on an excursion to Southern Kazakhstan. Cadets and students spent three full days seeing all that the region had to offer. The group toured Mausoleum Domalak-ana, a historical and religious landmark, the Akmechet Cave, a sacred cultural location known throughout Central Asia, the Aksu Canyon, which gave the cadets a better understanding of Southern Kazakhstan’s geography. They also visited Turkistan, where they visited archeological sites and ancient ruins in the area, as well as the Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi which was built all the way back in 1389 and is world-famous as a mass pilgrimage site. This trip was an amazing opportunity for the cadets to connect their linguistic and historical/cultural education, they discussed the significance of the places and things they saw in the target language with the tour guides as well as language partners. Out-of-classroom opportunities like this visit are made possible by donors supporting the Margin of Excellence.