From 17 September to 13 October the educational expedition “Russian Language Ambassadors in the World” took place in Cuba. This is the first visit of the programme volunteers to the Island of Liberty.

The programme’s media partners are the TV BRICS International Media Network and Eurasia Today.

During four weeks the Russian Language Ambassadors held classes at the Faculty of Foreign Languages of the University of Havana and in schools of the Cuban capital under the guidance of the organiser-methodologist, leading teacher of the Pushkin State Institute of Russian Language Elizaveta Golovakha.

“The volunteers and I never ceased to be delighted and surprised by the students’ interest and their high level of Russian language skills. We had a not quite standard task: to work with all the courses. So for each of them we prepared lessons appropriate to the students’ level, we selected materials that not only familiarised them with the culture and literature of Russia, but also helped them to understand the difficulties of the Russian language,” said the expedition leader.

Thanks to the fact that the interactive lessons were held in accordance with the level of language proficiency, the ambassadors were able to improve their own skills in teaching lessons to both non-Russian-speaking schoolchildren and confident Russian-speaking students.

Ambassador Elena Fedisheva shared her impressions: “Cuban students are very responsive, motivated and diligent. Many of them want to learn the language in Russia, they all speak excellent Russian and already know a lot about our country”.

In addition, the volunteers took part in an open lesson dedicated to the centenary of Rasul Gamzatov’s birth. The event was organised by representatives of the Russian House in Havana and the University of Havana. The students spoke about the biography and creativity of the poet, analysed some of his works. The Russian Language Ambassadors, in their turn, read poems about friendship and sang the song “Cranes” with the students and representatives of Rossotrudnichestvo.

In addition to classes with students of the University of Havana, the ambassadors held open Russian language lessons for students of the Pedagogical University of E. H. Varon, who are just beginning the journey of getting acquainted with it and our culture. In total, more than 330 Cuban schoolchildren and students took part in the events.

An integral part of the programme of educational expeditions is cultural exchange between the countries and visits to places of interest. The ambassadors visited the Museum of the Revolution and learnt a lot about the history and culture of Cuba. The excursion was conducted for them by Saili Cruz, a teacher of Russian language at the University of Havana.

The expedition was financed by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation within the framework of the subsidy “In order to implement activities within the framework of international cooperation, including those carried out under the decision of the President of the Russian Federation, the Government of the Russian Federation”.

Photo: “Russian Language Ambassadors in the World”