Sarvinoz Akilova

Sarvinoz Akilova attended the Step by Step kindergarten in Tajikistan. Her mother was also an educator there. Today she excels in language, cookery and acting competitions. 

“The most interesting thing was the games. We learned through play all the time,” Sarvinoz Akilova sounds enthusiastic over the phone. She attended the Step by Step program in Tajikistan during preschool; she was between 3 and 6 years old.  

“We often worked in smaller groups and we were given each a theme like art, literacy, drama or construction. This was my favorite game, it was called Step by Step.” Sarvinoz says. “We were asked to create something and then we had to give a presentation in front of the whole group and our parents.”.

She was sent to the Step by Step kindergarten by her mother who was an educator there. She also had friends who attended the State kindergarten and she heard that they had a completely different experience. “They would also work with themes but they would study them through books, for the whole day. Their parents were not participating in the activities, which it was the case for us. From what I have heard, they had much more boring days and fantasized to come to our kindergarten,” she adds. 

Sarvinoz keeps herself busy. She excels in competitions on language, cookery and acting and participated in the national Olympics of Russian language in 2018 (as 10th grade student) where she won the silver medal against 11th grade participants. She also enrolls in debate competitions and, other than Russian, she speaks Tajik and English. 

“One of the things I liked the most was drama and poetry. We used to present a show in front of our friends and family which improved my public speaking performances.” More recently I participated in a regional Comedy Show competition in which our team won. 

“What I have also learned during kindergarten is to cook. This class also thought me the safe regulations while being in a kitchen and the healthy eating habits. Usually after class we would have a break to eat together and drink tea,” she says.

Sarvinoz tells us that, during those classes, she learned to make delicious salads that are famous among her family and friends. She has participated in regional competitions where she won the first price for the best salad. 

Today she is 17 and he lives with her parents, grandparents and three siblings, two sisters and one brother. His brother also attended the Step by Step kindergarten but her sisters did not. “I hope more Step by Step kindergartens will open in my country so that many more children get the chance to live this experience” she concludes.