Anna Soboleva on Distance Work with International Students
The Head of the SLOVO International Agency, specialist of the Preparatory Faculty of PetrSU Anna Soboleva talks about her work during the quarantine.
“It seems that there is even less time now. My principal occupation is teaching at the Preparatory Faculty, so preparation for my classes takes even more time now. I work with international students who study the Russian language. They come to enroll in the Preparatory Faculty, where they study Russian and take classes in specific subjects for a year and then enroll in the first year of university studies alongside Russian students. I use various apps for videocalls and material sharing: Zoom, Facebook, WhatsApp.
SLOVO is working online for the moment. We have launched the Online-DUET project, which is a reboot of the old project that has united dozens of PetrSU students. The project brings together people who wish to study foreign languages online under quarantine. For instance, we have a student from Mozambique who speaks Portuguese (Portuguese is the official language of Mozambique) and we have a Russian student who wants to learn this language. We pair them. In this way, one can help an international student studying Russia and master a foreign language, or start learning one from scratch.
When asked how she spent her time, Anna said:
“I prepare classes, check students’ assignments, work on grant applications. I try to do my 10 000 steps a day, which is a challenge as I am always at home. What alternative have I found? I have discovered video lessons on Youtube and now watch Zumba classes and try to follow and repeat."
