From December 6th through 12th, award ceremonies of issuing certificates confirming the study of intensive English course for professional purposes took place at SUSU. The documents were ceremoniously awarded to employees of SUSU dormitories, Personnel Department and Scientific Library.
The training was carried out within the frameworks of one of Program 5-100 projects. According to the leader of M.3.3.2 project, Elena Doronina, the main goal of such training is achieving maximal internationalization of the university and formation of bilingual environment at the university.
In her welcoming speech, the project leader thanked her colleagues for taking part in the program:
“I am very grateful to you for actively supporting this idea,” said Elena Gennadievna. “By learning English you strengthen the university’s authority among international students and promote attracting international students and specialists from around the world to our university. Today, SUSU is one of the three universities of Program 5-100 in which employees of administrative subdivisions are studying English in order to understand foreigners. We became pioneers in this sphere, and this is our competitive advantage. Bilingual environment is gradually creating at the university, and you contribute to this!”
Summarizing the course’s results, lecturer of the Department of International Relations and Regional Studies, Ksenia Guzhakovskaya, noted that the course includes both knowledge of grammar and phonetics corresponding to elementary level, and professional component.
“We introduce the professional component starting from easy things and going to more complex ones, so that those who have the opportunity to practice it in real situations on the job site could do this based on the material of simple grammar structures,” explained the lecturer. “Besides, during each lesson attendees talk about their experience of communicating with foreigners, and we determine the vocabulary with which we need to complement the program.”
The first ones to get awarded with certificates on vocational training on December 6 were employees of the Personnel Department. According to Chief Officer of the Personnel Department, Olga Semagina, studying English greatly helps in professional communication:
“I am working with educational support staff and research fellows. Some concepts of Russian HR record management are very alien to foreigners. For example, instructions, information about medical insurance, the necessity to undertake medical examination. More than once I had to inform people in English. Special terminology from our course is very useful at work!”
December 8, the certificates were ceremoniously awarded to employees of the SUSU Scientific Library. Ksenia Guzhakovskaya who taught the group especially noted creativity and high level of responsibility among the group of the Library employees.
An employee of the Office for providing differential services to the SUSU Scientific Library users, Natalia Ustyantseva, noted that the training was performed in interactive, game form:
“We mostly communicated in English, completed quizzes, and translated texts. The teacher always arranged timetable of the training according to our free time. Studying was interesting and informative. As a result, we overcame language barrier comparatively easy. Now I can greet a foreign guest and use English to ask what he needs.”
On December 12, the certificates confirming the study of intensive English course for professional purposes were awarded to employees of dormitories.
“Dormitory employees were the first ones to study this course,” notes senior lecturer of the Department of International Relations and Regional Studies, Elena Schelkanova. “It was especially nice working with them as they are a very grateful and responsive audience. Liudmila Nikolaevna Zadorina formed a professional team.
The fact that I managed to take part in teaching this intensive course and contribute to creating bilingual environment at the university makes me very happy. Together with Ksenia Guzhakovskaya, we were the first ones to work based on communicative method with the use of professional component. In English language, there is such concept as ‘challenge’. Now it gets frequently used in Russian as well. So, for me as for a teacher this was a professional challenge. I think it was accepted well and results got achieved.”
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“I studied German in high school and at the university, so it was difficult for me to start mastering a new language, I started from a scratch,” says Head of the campus’s Passport Office, Viktoria Lukyanchikova. “During the intensive course, Elena Evgenyevna taught us how to read, explained us grammar basics. Now we can greet international students in English, approximately understand their questions, explain to them where they need to go and what documents they should bring. Besides, our employees can explain to students behavioral rules in dormitories in English.
Now I can expertly say, it’s very difficult to learn English! Even though we are just in the beginning of the way, I’ve learned a lot during the intensive course and I am proud of myself! I will keep learning grammar and lexis, and I hope to start speaking English soon.”
“If the university staff learned to understand what foreigners want, the goal of our course has been achieved,” summarized Ksenia Guzhakovskaya at the certificate awarding.
At the present time, the project goes on. A group of doctors and employees of the SUSU House of Health joined the study of intensive English course.