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International Project "People of the Lake" at PetrSU

19 February 2024

One of the most recent international projects undertaken by the twin cities of Duluth and Petrozavodsk was the "People of the Lake" project, which is aimed to explore and celebrate the customs and traditions of the indigenous peoples who have resided near Onega in Karelia and Lake Superior in Minnesota for centuries.

As a joint product of the project, the game "People of the Lake" (Native Connect) was presented to the 3rd and 5th year students of the Institute of Foreign Languages at PetrSU (English and French Languages) by the game developer Maria Arkadyevna Zhevlakova (St. Petersburg) and Vera Anatolievna Meshko, Director of the Autonomous Nonprofit Organization "Northern Development" (Petrozavodsk).

The first part of the game was conducted in English and consisted of various informative quizzes where students discussed and identified the traditions of indigenous peoples - Ojibway Americans and Karelians from northwestern Russia. They discovered aspects from these traditions that could contribute to a sustainable future. According to the rules of the game, small teams (5-6 people) gained points in the quizzes, which served as their "money”.

In the second part, this money had to be smartly "invested" in projects aligning with the principles of sustainable development. Some of the suggested projects included a "Clothing Design Atelier", "Seed Library", "Protein Production from Insects" and "The World of Birch Bark" etc. Participants had to rely only on their persuasiveness to convince other teams to participate in their chosen project.

The game format was so fascinating that nobody noticed how an hour and a half flew by.

The Department of English Language would like to express gratitude to the organizers of the Native Connect game for their generous donation of materials, which will allow conducting the game in other academic groups.