Faculty of Sociology student makes the whole world fall in love with Russia

– How did it all begin? How did you make it to ambassadors?

– From November 24 to December 8 a number of events took place in the framework of international program “Russian Language Ambassadors in the world” implemented by Pushkin State Russian Language Institute with the support of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation.

We, program participants, had already gone through remote competitive selection in August, which included more than 1,000 participants, as well as through on-site training and selection at the All-Russian Student Forum in Rostov-on-Don on September 3-5.

In view of the competition results, there were 74 volunteers chosen. They were supposed to properly represent our country, language and culture in the former Soviet republics, such as Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Armenia and Moldova, through teaching Russian language at schools.

We were gathered from all regions of Russia for the common cause. I was very surprised, when I found out that I was the only Altai Krai representative. First of all we, program volunteers, took a training course in teaching Russian as a foreign language that took place in Moscow (Pushkin State Russian Language Institute) and Kaluga Oblast (cultural center Etnomir). We also participated in the meeting of the Cultural Committee of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, where we were received by State Duma Chairman S.E. Naryshkin.

– And then you went to Kyrgyzstan. How, where and with whom did you work?

– Yes, from November 28 to December 6 I participated in an educational expedition to Kyrgyzstan as a Russian language ambassador. The first day began with lecture at B.N. Yeltsin Kyrgyz Russian Slavic University, where we were told about the language situation at schools where we had to work. We split into pairs and went to different regions of Kyrgyzstan to the schools, where children had already been waiting for us.

I was lucky to teach Russian to the 5th grade pupils of the little village of Besh-Kungey. I had already worked with children before in Russia. It is usually an exciting but difficult process. But I didn’t expect to meet such disciplined and curious children.

– Teaching is a very difficult job, isn’t it?

– We were holding classes for 4 days. The children did not want to leave the classroom and it seemed like they were ready to stay at school for days. The delight from our joint work was beyond words. We didn’t have time for sleep: we were developing lesson plans, teaching children, learning dances and songs with them, communication with local people and spending 9-10 hours a day at school. We were tired, of course, but the tiredness was pleasant.

– Did this invaluable work pay off?

– On the 4th day we held the reporting event with the children, where we showed everything that we had a chance to learn and everything we taught to our children. I had never occurred to my mind that it is possible to engage children and prepare a full-value concert with a puppet show, Russian dances and songs.

– What is your impression of the trip?

– The program’s main slogan is “Make the whole world fall in love with Russia”. I think there was a two-way exchange in Kyrgyzstan: not only we managed to make pupils fall in love with Russian language and culture, but also they stole a way to our hearts leaving the warm impression of their country.

I would like to note, that the program does not end here. This was the approbation of the program and I believe that there will be more representatives from Altai Krai (and our University in particular) next year.