North Caucasian Federal University (NCFU), with the support of Rossotrudnichestvo, launched the international project “Russian Language: My Formula for Success”. It is designed for students from Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan who study at the philological and pedagogical faculties.
The children at the International Youth Winter School got acquainted with interactive methods of learning the Russian language. As NCFU rector Dmitry Bespalov noted, Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have a common history, a deep interweaving of cultures and customs, and spiritual roots. And the Russian language unites this space of the states-participants of the project. He expressed confidence that such events only strengthen mutual understanding between peoples.
In order for students to get into the Winter School, an international competition of multimedia projects was held on the topics: “Teacher of the Future: a Universal Formula for Success” and “Formula of Life in Modern Russian Literature and Culture”. As a result, the best students were able to take online courses, where NCFU scientists presented innovative methods for learning the Russian language.
In total, 40 children from Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan completed educational intensives. All of them study Russian. BFL courses are organized on the basis of the Armenian State Pedagogical University named after Khachatur Abovyan.
The intensives went on for a week. During this time, students have worked out managerial competencies, project activities and the ability to work in a team. In the course of the work, emphasis was placed on innovative forms of training. We are talking about exercises on team interaction, communication and identifying leadership qualities. An interactive lecture on Rossotrudnichestvo projects was also organized.
As the NCFU press service recalled, one of the tasks of Russian humanitarian policy abroad is to spread knowledge about Russia as a state “in which socio-cultural life is dynamically developing in conditions of freedom of literary, artistic and other types of creativity, pluralism of opinions.” To do this, the Winter School organized trainings for personal effectiveness and intellectual games, which were aimed at team building the participants.
The students also attended master classes on the Russian language, its teaching methods for various audiences, and the preparation of a project on regional studies of Russia. For example, Anna Etko, Associate Professor of the Department of Russian as a Foreign Language at NCFU, discussed with the children, using the example of Alexander Pushkin’s poem “The Raven Flies to the Raven”, the ways of forming socio-cultural competence.
As a result of the Winter School, sessions of project ideas and a public presentation of project initiatives were held. The best of them were selected for further implementation in science, education and youth policy of the five countries.
As part of the International Winter School, an excursion tour was organized for students to get to know the rich historical and cultural heritage of Armenia. After all, in this country, about 80% of the population speaks Russian.
At the end of the School, a solemn awarding of the winners of the competition “Russian language: my formula for success” took place.
