THE INSTITUTE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION LAUNCHED THE EDUCATIONAL ONLINE PROJECT "RUSSIA-KENYA CONVERSATION CLUB"

The Institute of Foreign Languages and International Cooperation organized the first session of the online speaking club, which was attended by students fro, Kenya who are styding at the Center for Open Education in Russian language. The session was organized according to the technology of "learning in tandem": communication took place in Russian and English, which allowed all participants to improve their foreign language skills. 

During the first session, the participants got to know each other and discussed their interests. During the conversation Russian and Kenyan students found out that they have similar interests: sports, learning foreign languages, communicating with interesting people, traveling, and so on. Kenyan students told about their homeland: regions of the country, traditions and customs of Kenya and other countries of the African continent. The students of the TSPU presented linguocultural information not only about Russia, but also about Kazakhstan and Georgia, as among the participants of the meeting there were representatives of these two countries.

«Any language, as you know, should be studied in a natural environment, then learning will be as fast and productive as possible. That is why our main task today is to create such a language environment, which will be as close as possible to the natural one. Conducting training sessions on foreign languages should be supplemented by various scientific and educational events aimed at popularizing the study and improving the level of proficiency, — says Anna Gennadyevna Bogdanova, Director of the Institute of Foreign Language and International Communication -—The first session of the online speaking club gathered a large number of participants and lasted 120 minutes, which indicates a high level of motivation of students from both countries».

It was the first experience of communication with the representatives of Kenya for the students of the TSPU and, as Rima Cholakhyan, a second-year student, noted, the Kenyans were very interested in learning Russian: they asked a lot of questions about Russian culture and the features of learning the Russian language.

During the meeting the participants came to the conclusion that Russians and Kenyans have such an important common feature in their national characters as the ability to overcome problems and keep a positive attitude to life. At the end, everyone shared their impressions and agreed to contunue online speaking club sessions on a regular basis. In feedback, Kenyan trainee Alex Majore Nyaruri emphasized that the session was very interesting and dynamic, and the project is promising.

The club is supervised by Vera Valerievna Golubeva, Deputy Director for Educational Work, Senior Lecturer. Everyone can join it. Detailed information can be found at the e-mail address: golubeva@tspu.edu.ru.