Relevant Issues of Teaching Russian as a Foreign Language have been Discussed in PetrSU
Since 2018, the Institute of Philology, the Preparatory Faculty of PetrSU, Petrozavodsk State Glazunov Conservatory have hosted the Inter-university scientific and methodological seminar with international participation on «Relevant Issues of Teaching Russian as a Foreign Language».
This year the organization of the seminar has been changed due to the coronavirus pandemic. It was held online via Zoom.
On October 23, more than 25 people participated in the 3rd scientific and methodological seminar, including teachers of Russian as a foreign language from the universities of Russia (Petrozavodsk, Moscow, Omsk, Vladivostok) and other countries (Hungary, Iran, China, Myanmar, Uzbekistan). Anna Nilova, the Director of the Institute of Philology, and Konstantin Tarasov, the Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs, welcomed the participants. Muhtor Nasirov, the Vice-Rector for International Affairs of Samarqand State University, joined the seminar as a special guest.
During the seminar, the participants discussed various teaching aspects of Russian as a foreign language: problem areas in Russian phonetics, vocabulary, and grammar in teaching practices of Russian as a foreign language; use of audio and video materials in classes; reading and analysis of original literary texts; use of digital reading in online teaching practices of Russian as a foreign language for students of different levels of preparation. The most relevant themes related to the online teaching Russian as a foreign language at the Preparatory Faculty, in the bachelor and master programs, as well as digital teaching in Russian as a foreign language classes.
An electronic collection of academic papers entitled «Relevant Issues of Teaching Russian as a Foreign Language at the university – 2020» had been published earlier.
Summarizing the results of the seminar, all speakers and listeners noted that it was an interesting informal discussion, useful for the participants. Considering the level of the seminar, it was proposed to change its status for the conference in the future. The teachers also expressed a desire to publish a collection of academic papers twice a year.
Elena Fadyaeva, Associate Professor of the Department of Russian language of Omsk Tank Engineering Institute:
Much attention was paid to the present-day challenge – digitalization of learning. How should we teach online? What are the differences between the structures of online and traditional classes? What is a teacher’s role in the new circumstances? What methodological findings might be discovered via the Internet? The seminar allowed us to get more than only new knowledge: become a part of a wide community of enthusiasts, who consider Russian as a foreign language to be not only a profession… We are waiting for the online meeting next year in wonderful Petrozavodsk!
Muhtor Nasirov, Vice-Rector for International Affairs of Samarqand State University:
It was a great pleasure to meet you online and participate in the conference on the Russian language. Honestly speaking, I haven’t participated in such an enjoyable and insightful meeting for a long time. We can use this model of teaching Russian to develop teaching methods for teaching other languages. We will be pleased to get presentations as well as available methodological, training, and academic materials to support the educational process at our university.
Tatiana Veselovskaya, researcher of the Laboratory of Cognitive and Linguistic Research, Pushkin State Russian Language Institute:
Once again, I’d like to thank everyone for the interesting and insightful seminar! I send my presentation and consent with pleasure to distribute it by overall mailing.
Marina Rudina, senior lecturer of the Department of Humanitarian Disciplines of Petrozavodsk State Glazunov Conservatory:
I appreciate the fact that this year colleagues from other cities of Russia as well as other countries attended the presentations. At the seminar, we have covered various topics related to the issues of teaching Russian as a foreign language. The teachers have shared their thoughts, new ideas, and best practices. The seminar was held online, but it couldn't be more relevant than it is during a pandemic. We hope that practice of conducting the seminars will continue in the future, and the geographical scope of the participants will expand.
Ekaterina Velikanova, Candidate of Philology, Associate Professor of Humanitarian Disciplines of Petrozavodsk State Glazunov Conservatory:
The seminar showed that the range of issues to be discussed is wide and relates to different teaching areas. How should we update the educational material (Viktoria Bestsennaya, Elena Fedyaeva), increase the educational process attractiveness (Natalia Urvantseva), organize the educational process online (Marina Rudina, Andrey Kuznetsov). Russian grammar issues (Elena Mukhina), reading (Tatiana Veselovskaya), and work with literary text (Ekaterina Velikanova) have been also discussed during the seminar. Despite the collection of scientific articles published by the Department of Russian Language of PetrSU by the date of the seminar, the meeting resulted in fostering scientific and creative ties of the institutions. The participants believe that it is necessary to continue to arrange the scientific and methodological meetings, exchange materials and ideas, implement joint projects.
