Mikhail Koryshev: "The power and beauty of the Russian language and literature unite us with the whole world"
For the third time, St Petersburg University has hosted the large-scale scientific event "Days of Russian as a foreign language". Round tables, discussions, and master classes were held over the course of eight days. For the first time, the event included a hackathon — a methodological workshop dedicated to the complexities of texts in teaching the Russian language.
At the opening ceremony, Mikhail Koryshev, Dean of the Faculty of Philology at St Petersburg University, delivered a welcoming speech. ‘It is no coincidence that the event "Days of Russian as a foreign language" at St Petersburg University is held at a time when our country is facing challenges of an extraordinary scale. The issues that we will highlight at the conference will help us understand what learning Russian as a foreign language can offer in a rapidly changing world’, Mikhail Koryshev is convinced.
Professor Tatiana Popova, Head of the Department of Russian as a Foreign Language and Methods of Its Teaching at St Petersburg University, emphasised the importance and relevance of the event.
The purpose of our event is to draw attention to the current issues in research and the methodology of teaching Russian as a foreign language. That is why this year we have chosen three topics for discussion: the digitalisation of learning, the challenges of multicultural education, and the issues surrounding bilingualism.
Professor Tatiana Popova, Head of the Department of Russian as a Foreign Language and Methods of Its Teaching at St Petersburg University
The event featured a round table discussion titled "Digitalisation in Russian as a foreign language: gamification, digital resources for studying language and culture". The round table was attended by several distinguished scholars: Irina Lysakova, Professor at Herzen University; Tatiana Vladimirova, Associate Professor at the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University); and Maria Lebedeva, Head of the Laboratory of Cognitive and Linguistic Research at Pushkin State Russian Language Institute. During the meeting, Maria Lebedeva remarked that the organisers of the conference successfully maintained a balance between traditional aspects of education, addressing themes of classical didactics and techniques developed by our predecessors, and the innovative approaches currently being explored to establish new principles of practice.
About a hundred Russian speakers from St Petersburg University participated in the event "Days of Russian as a Foreign Language". This group included representatives from Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Tajikistan. Russian philologists from various universities, research centres, and educational organisations were present, representing cities such as St Petersburg, Moscow, Yelabuga, Ivanovo, Kazan, Nalchik, Simferopol, Surgut, Rostov-on-Don, and Yaroslavl.