Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Today, 91% of all labor migrants in Russia come from the CIS. At the same time, 83% of them are represented by workers from the countries of Central Asia. Every year more and more qualified personnel and applicants move to Russia from these states, among which there is Uzbekistan, in order to get a quality higher education. Therefore, in these countries, there is a growing demand for teachers who are able to teach the “great and mighty” and introduce Russian culture. Noticing this need, Russian universities are developing modern methods of teaching the Russian language, which can be successfully applied even in the most remote schools of the CIS countries.

From 20 to 28 September 2022, more than 250 students of Uzbekistan attended free master classes as part of the project “Multinational Samara Land: Traditions by Word of Mouth, or the Spiritual Heritage of Fairy Tales”. Through interactive content developed on the basis of national fairy tales, foreigners improved their knowledge of Russian, got acquainted with the traditions of the peoples of Russia, joined its basic spiritual values, deepened their knowledge of modern Russian sociocultural reality, including ethnic diversity. The organizer was the Samara State Technical University (SamSTU) with the support of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation.

Master-classes for students of the senior and junior classes studying Russian, students of language and pedagogical specialties, teachers of Russian studies were held by employees of the Department of Pedagogy, Intercultural Communication and Russian as a Foreign Language of SamSTU. Particular attention was paid to modern methods of teaching the Russian language to children and adolescents. In a number of schools, the materials of the project were tested, within the framework of which practical classes on Russian as a foreign language were held with students in a playful way using fairy tales, and teachers received methodological recommendations on the use of the developed materials.

The organizers also paid attention to young personnel. So, for students and teachers of the Tashkent State Pedagogical University named after. Nizami and Samarkand State Pedagogical University organized events on the methodology of teaching the Russian language to young children based on the fairy tales of the peoples of Russia. The meeting participants exchanged views on the ways of presenting language material, discussed speech exercises and the possibilities of a fairy tale as a material for getting to know the culture of different peoples. In addition, as part of the events, foreigners learned about the benefits of education in Russia, the universities of the Samara region, the conditions and benefits for entering universities.

“As part of the events, we not only introduced foreigners to multinational Russia and its universities, but also provided our colleagues in Russian studies with modern tools for teaching the Russian language based on fairy tales. We are glad that the participants highly appreciated the teaching and educational potential of the materials presented, shared their teaching experience, voiced their wishes for the development of the project and its better adaptation for students in rural schools, where the situation with teaching Russian remains rather difficult. The overall assessment of the project testifies to the high significance of the activities aimed at promoting the Russian language and culture, as well as the high pedagogical skills of our teachers. Ahead of us are new countries and new ideas for the implementation of this interesting and relevant project,” says the head of the department “Pedagogy, intercultural communication and Russian as a foreign language”, head of the project Yulia Lopukhova.

The meetings were held in 11 educational institutions of the CIS. More than 500 residents of the Commonwealth countries took part in 30 master classes. At the end of the meetings, Russian experts and teachers of schools and universities of Uzbekistan discussed the possibilities of joint work on new programs in the field of promoting the Russian language. Detailed information about the project, implemented for the first time in partnership with the Samara ethnocultural complex "Peoples' Friendship Park", is posted on the portal of the Samara Polytechnic University.