Help Osman to study at Cambridge

Hi, my name is Osman and I am 24 years old. I am currently working as an English teacher in the eastern part of Turkey. My passion is English Language Assessment. This summer, the University of Cambridge launched a new master’s degree specializing in this field.

When I found out about it, I immediately applied. Two months ago I had an interview. I was nervous and excited at the same time. Then, the unexpected happened. Last Friday, I received a conditional offer from Cambridge.

Now, I am raising money for my tuition fees to allow me to take up the offer from the University of Cambridge to study MSt in English Language Assessment. I have to provide Cambridge with evidence that I have £ 10,000 for my tuition fees for the first year available – otherwise, my offer will be withdrawn, and I will lose my place.

I am incredibly grateful for each and every donation, however big or small.

It would also mean the world to me if you would share my GoGetFunding page with people in your network to help me get the word out about my campaign. :)

ACCEPTANCE MAIL SCREENSHOT

I hope to present you with my intentions for studying the Master in English Language Assessment. To achieve this, I would like to talk about my experiences, explain why I am so passionate about this course and why I believe Cambridge University, with its rich history and cultural diversity, is the ultimate learning environment I can benefit from.

WHY I NEED YOUR HELP

• Scholarships are not available for Turkish citizens most of the time
• Currently I am a teacher in eastern Turkey. A teacher earns around £ 400 a month, which makes it impossible to afford an education like this
• I don’t have any financial support from my family members or anyone else
• In Turkey, a teacher has to provide the teaching materials and is not supported for any kind of stationary (Well, we even have to pay for cleaning materials, food and tea at work :)

To provide the tuition fee for the second year I am looking for a more promising job offer and hope to raise the money myself. To gain the money for the first year I have only 40 days left.

To take up the offer from the University I need help to provide Cambridge with evidence that I have £ 10,000 for my tuition fee for the first year available by the end of December 2021. Besides I need to apply for Visa, book a flight to the UK, find accommodation to get started. For that I calculate £ 2,000 and hope I can set foot.

WHY I WANT TO STUDY LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT

Everything started when I participated in a part-time project with a university professor in my country. We were only two people when we started, and our purpose was to research and read the academic publications in English Language Teaching area and try to create an authentic work that would be useful in language sciences. Then, we had some other members joining in our group, and each one of us was responsible for different areas of subject. We scanned academic and scientific resources and prepared presentations out of them.

The part I was responsible for was Language Testing and Assessment. It is one of the core elements of language sciences. The main goal of this discipline is to find better ways to assess language learners’ ability of using the language and guide them properly to have them use their full potential in the process. The reason it is so important is the fact that every language learning journey starts with assessment and ends with assessment. It is a gateway each learner passes through almost infinitely.

I believe that Language Assessment can be the solution to the language learning problems of the modern world, in which there are not equal opportunities for all, and many learners cannot learn English due to the lack of accessibility and financial abilities.

If I can study in Cambridge, I will offer a better solution for language assessment for all the learners of English around the world, regardless of their ethnicity, religion, culture, financial situation and of course, handicaps. Everyone can learn a language cheaper, faster, and in the most efficient way. The barriers learners have might no longer be an issue, thanks to the innovations that will be done in Language Assessment.

It is a topic that is in development for the last few decades, and the need for experts in it emerges significantly. The University of Cambridge has just announced the course for meeting this need in the world. Cambridge is one of the only places right now to take this course. I want to take part in this grand quest and change the world to be a better place where all the people can learn languages and communicate with each other without obstacles.

ABOUT MY EXPERIENCE SO FAR

I studied English Language Teaching in Hacettepe University and comprehended the theoretical basis of SLA. I took courses on themes like ‘young learners’, ‘material development’ and ‘linguistics’. I was mostly drawn by ‘CALL’ and ‘Language Testing and Assessment’. I was instructed on how technology can be implemented into material development process and affects the quality of assessment systems by speeding them up. As a teacher candidate, I had the chance to look from a universalistic perspective where all the topics in language sciences are interconnected.

Later, I took part in a project where a group of people led by a professor studied different sub-parts of ESL and I selected English Language Assessment. Our purpose was to conduct an academic study which would be helpful in real life. I read Kopriva’s (2007) book and noticed that language diversity is a very important problem. Having read Chapelle & Douglas’ (2006) book, I started to think the adaptation of new technologies to testing systems may ease the process. I spent some time to research on the idea of localized assessment in different cultures.

To gain expertise in the practical area, I worked in a tech startup where I was assigned to develop materials and give consultation on how to improve a language app. I teamed up with software engineers and got an idea on how technology is being used in education. I also worked as an English teacher in a private school, and we were visited by experts from Cambridge Assessment for a training about language testing.

Thank you for your time and help. Furthermore, I will post regular updates to keep you up to date.