The British publishing house Routledge published a book for teachers of Russian as a foreign language, created with the participation of an expert from St Petersburg University

The chapter Teaching Russian in Brazil: Learner-Centered Task Design and TORFL Connection is dedicated to the application of the method of target tasks in the Brazilian audience, their development taking into account the interests and needs of students and preparation for testing in Russian as a foreign language, was written by a team of authors from Brazil and Russia. It included teachers and organizers of the Brazilian TORFL sessions organized by the St Petersburg University Language Testing Centre: Anna Smirnova-Enriquez (Sao Paulo, Clube Priviet; Pontifical Catholic University), Volya Ermolaeva-Franco (Salvador/Sao Paulo, Clube Eslavo) and Julia Mikheeva (Brazil/Yu Idiomas).

You can order the book on the publisher’s website.

‘Of course, it was a great surprise for us that such a large and prestigious publishing house expressed interest in this topic. Previously, our colleagues published articles in journals indexed in Scopus and Web of Science, but we have achieved this level of success for the first time,’ said Dmitry Ptyushkin, director of the Language Testing Centre at St Petersburg University. — The world is changing rapidly, during the pandemic, the agenda of philological conferences and meetings has changed a lot. In most cases, it was reduced to a discussion of current problems and the exchange of experience in online mode, and the scientific component almost completely dropped out of it. It can be understood, but even in the most difficult conditions, we must continue scientific research. The published book raises the bar for the available materials and brings us back to the scientific approach to teaching Russian as a foreign language and the arrangement of testing.’

Dmitry Ptyushkin added that reaching such a serious level characterizes the growing interest in state testing. This is also proved by another figure: in 2015 there were only eight testing centres of St Petersburg University in the world, now there are more than 100 of them. The University receives more than just grants from the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation, but also more applications for the organization of testing activities: at present, St Petersburg University concludes agreements with organizations from Cameroon and Mauritius.

In the monograph, the St Petersburg University expert, together with his Brazilian colleagues, shares his experience in organizing test sessions, describing in detail their specifics and the approaches used, and also explains why in this country, at first glance, unexpectedly, but in fact quite naturally, an interest in learning the Russian language arose.

«A person who is interested in history knows that in Brazil there is a trace of Russian history. The first emigrants from Russia appeared there in the 19th century, and after the Second World War the community became even more numerous. But if you haven’t read about it, then Brazil seems like just a distant country,» Dmitry Ptyushkin explained.

The work of St Petersburg University on the development of state testing in Brazil began several years ago , during which time St Petersburg University has come a long way. Today, testing is carried out in more than ten schools of the Russian language, and over 100 people take exams every year, who, in addition, participate in thematic conferences and seminars. According to the director of the Language Testing Centre, Brazilian students are very active and strive to constantly acquire new knowledge, and testing becomes not just a motivating factor for them: many perceive this activity as scientific. Most of the Russian language learning centres in Brazil are dispersed throughout the country due to its vast territories, so online education in this area was introduced here long before the start of the pandemic. Thus, it has become one of the most well-prepared platforms for organizing St Petersburg University exams in a remote format. St Petersburg University is one of the few universities that has its own testing platform. The system was developed jointly with the Centre of E-Learning Development of St Petersburg University and allows anyone to take an exam without leaving home and receive a certificate confirming knowledge of the Russian language.