Cooperation between PetrSU and Dalian Polytechnic University (China)
The Institute of Philology of PetrSU organized a series of online meetings of students from Russia and China.
On the Russian side, they were attended by students studying at PetrSU on the program “Russian as a foreign language, Chinese language” (Ya. Kuzmina, O. Detko, A. Yakovleva, V. Borodkin, D. Ulyanov, D. Zherdev). Chinese side was represented by the 2nd and 3rd year students of the Department of Russian Studies of the Dalian Polytechnic University (China). Among the participants of the meeting also were the teachers of the Institute of Philology of PetrSU and the Department of Russian Studies of the DPU, altogether more than 30 people in attendance.
The list of topics for discussion of interest to the parties was very wide, and students were asked to choose in advance what they found most interesting and useful. As a result, the following topics were brought up for discussion: “What do we do in our free time”, “Which people do we like to be friends with the most”, “Sights of China and Russia”, “Russian traditional musical instruments”, “What online applications are useful in Russia and China in everyday life", "Chinese robe (Qipao dress)", "Special dishes of Chinese cuisine".
Each side prepared presentations on a particular topic in Russian and Chinese, and after a presentation and a short story, the participants of the meeting engaged in a lively discussion, answered questions, and exchanged opinions. The moderators were students (group leaders), as well as teachers from PetrSU (A. A. Kotov, O. V. Semenova) and DPU (Li Yanchun, N. S. Kasyuk).
Initially, the meetings were planned in the format of a conversation club, which is actively used in the practice of mastering a foreign language, within the framework of several meetings lasting 90 minutes each. However, the interest in live informal communication on both sides was so great that this led to a significant increase in the duration of communication and to a change in the format itself - the online conversation club actually became a full-fledged online discussion language camp, within which Russian students not only could practice Chinese, and Chinese students practice Russian, but they learned a lot about the peculiarities of the culture and everyday life of the country of the language they are studying, exchanged contacts and made new friends.
Dean of the Department of Russian Studies at DPU Li Yanchun noted:
“We had a full-fledged summer language camp for cultural exchange online, organized by the Department of Russian Studies of Dalian Polytechnic University of China and the Institute of Philology of Petrozavodsk State University of Russia. All students took an active part in the online events. By communicating via an online platform, the students not only have quickly improved their language skills but also broadened their horizons. The summer language camp was fruitful. Thanks to PetrSU, thanks to the organizers, the Institute of Philology.”
Some feedback from the event participants.
O.Detsko:
“Despite the fact that the students have been studying Russian for only two years, and we have been studying Chinese for only one, we managed to communicate well, even without using English. The students divided into groups in a very organized manner, so each of them was able to tell their part of the report and ask us questions.
We talked about convenient and useful applications in Russia and China. We also discussed interesting places in China, for example, the city of Chengdu, famous for its reserve where pandas live in their natural habitat, and Zhangjiajie National Forest Park.
It was great to practice the language with native speakers! It’s so wonderful that we have the opportunity to communicate with the students and exchange experiences. At the end of the meeting, we made a group chat on the WeChat app, and now we are all communicating there. Thank you very much to the organizers!”
Ya. Kuzmina:
“Today we had a meeting with our friends from China. It was amazing! We discussed many topics in Russian and Chinese. For example, a student from China Lesha told us about the traditional costume of Qipao, Fedya showed us a Chinese violin and told us why it is called Erhu, and we told our Chinese friends about traditional folk instruments, discussed which places are best to visit in China and Russia, and shared our opinion about Russian and Chinese cuisine.
All the students were very responsive, I really liked the fact that we actually practiced Chinese, and the guys practiced Russian. It was very fun and educational! It's so great that we have the opportunity to make new friends from other countries! We have already agreed that after our meetings we will still correspond and call each other in order to immerse ourselves more in the culture of Russia and China! Many thanks to the Institute of Philology and our university for this opportunity.”
V.Borodkin, D. Ulyanov, D. Zherdev:
“It was a wonderful experience, many Chinese students asked us with interest numerous questions in Russian on the topics that interested them, and we answered them in Chinese. All our students actively engaged in dialogue, we exchanged experiences and had a good time, showing interesting presentations.
Our group received a lot of positive emotions and incredible language experience. In addition, we have made very useful contacts and are now actively communicating. Thanks to Dalian Polytechnic University and our PetrSU for providing the opportunity for such communication.”
Lu Yifei (Fedya):
“I really enjoyed this event. The Russian students were very friendly and patient, and our conversations went very well. I'm looking forward to the next event!”
Sun Yidi (Sonya):
“I think this is a good opportunity, all this time we were just learning without practice. Thanks to this practice, I increased my interest in learning the Russian language, met new friends, and also, to a certain extent, trained my listening skills in Russian.”
Liang Jiayi (Lisa):
“This exchange gave me the opportunity to meet many Russian peers, learn about their studies, lives, hobbies and interests. At the same time, we train our spoken Russian language and listening skills, which allows us to feel the joy of the Sino-Russian cultural exchanges.”
Wu Jini (Jonah):
“Thank you very much for giving us the opportunity to chat. It's nice to meet so many beautiful and sweet Russian peers. I hope that in the future we can make progress together and make the friendship between China and Russia eternal.”
Teachers of the Institute of Philology of PetrSU:
“Mountains do not meet but people do,” wrote the 3rd year Chinese student Jiang Chuqiao in her feedback. Let’s hope that the online format will develop into the format of full-fledged meetings in Russia and China.”
