Program Overview

The CLS Turkish Program in Baku, Azerbaijan provides students with the opportunity to learn Turkish through intensive language study in an immersive environment. The program covers approximately one academic year of university-level Turkish during an 8-week period. The language instruction is designed to meet the needs of students from a variety of language levels and backgrounds, including advanced students and those who are learning the language for the first time.

Formal classroom language instruction is provided for an average of four hours per day, five days per week with a focus on developing students’ reading, writing, speaking and listening skills in Turkish. Formal language instruction is then supplemented with cultural activities and excursions across Azerbaijan, such as group trips to the local opera and museums. These supplemental activities are designed to expand the students’ understanding of both Azerbaijan’s and Turkey’s history, geography and culture; as well as to provide the opportunity to use their target language outside of the classroom.

Students will live with host families, which gives them an opportunity to experience daily life inside an Azerbaijani family and further practice their language skills outside of class. In addition to their relationship with the host family, students also have regular one-on-one meetings with language partners. Language partners are often local university students that offer not only conversational practice of Turkish, but are insight into cultural norms and customs.

All program activities will be conducted in Turkish. Furthermore, students are placed within host families and paired with language partners that speak Turkish. Many people in Azerbaijan have a strong knowledge of the Turkish language, particularly due to exposure to Turkish television. Therefore, while CLS students will hear and be spoken to in Azerbaijani, they will still be able to use Turkish in their daily life in Azerbaijan.

The CLS Program in Baku is hosted by the Azerbaijan University of Languages. AUL is the premier pedagogical university in Azerbaijan and prepares its students for continued study at the graduate level and professional teaching careers. The university has three campuses, eight schools of study, and more than 5,000 undergraduate students, as well as over 300 graduate students. For more information about the Azerbaijan University of Languages, please visit their website.