International conferences and seminars are regularly held at Polotsk State University. The scientific and practical seminar “The Level Concept of Knowledge of Russian as a Foreign Language in the Higher Education System of Different Countries” was scheduled for March 20 of 2020.
The submitted applications defined two main areas for panel discussions: "Theoretical Aspects of Teaching Russian as a Foreign Language" and "Practical Aspects of Teaching Russian as a Foreign Language."
Due to the temporary ban on holding mass events, guests from other universities couldn’t come. But this sad fact didn’t hinder holding the seminar – it was reorganized into a skype conference. Among the advantages of an online format was that more foreign partners of Polotsk State University decided to join this online event. As a result, the discussion went beyond Russian and Belarusian higher education.
A teleconference “Foreign Experience in Teaching Russian as a Foreign Language” started the seminar. During the teleconference, our colleagues from Navoi State Pedagogical Institute (Uzbekistan) and D'Annunzio University (Italy) shared their experience in Russian studies development. Uzbek lecturers told about the organisation of teaching Russian as a foreign language in their country. In their turn, Italian colleagues demonstrated their instructional materials for teaching Russian to Italian students and described the stages of materials creating. Besides, our Italian colleagues thanked us for the opportunity to take part in the seminar and stressed the importance of collaboration in terms of a coronavirus pandemic.
A symbolic opening of the Russian language classroom at Polotsk College was held during the event. There is a stationary exhibition of methodological innovations, textbooks and manuals on Russian as a foreign language. A short time ago, a publication with the stamp of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus was added to the exhibition. The authors of the publication are Elena Lazareva and Alyona Molchanova, lecturers of the Department of Slavonic Philology.
A discussion “Active Methods of Teaching Russian as a Foreign Language” was held in the final part of the seminar. The experience gained during the February workshop on active methods of teaching was of use for the dialogue.
The Department of Slavonic Philology of PSU would like to express gratitude to all the colleagues that joined the seminar. Special thanks to Igor Shcherbitsky for excellent technical support.
Svetlana Lyasovich, Head of the Department of Slavonic Philology