In the framework of the work on the module 10 of the PolidEU project, from June 19 to 21, the department of French Philology of the VSU held the II Scientific and Practical Seminar for Teachers of the French Language "Taking into account students’ identity during a foreign language lesson and fostering intercultural competence". The innovation of this year was the expansion of the geography of the participants: 19 teachers from secondary schools and gymnasiums of Voronezh and Voronezh region (Liski, Khrenovoye village, Vorobyevka village, Divnogorye village, Mitrofanovka village, Kalach town ) took part in the seminar.
At the opening of the seminar, the head of the International Cooperation service Oleg Belenov and the dean of the faculty of Romance and Germanic philology Olga Boriskina addressed the participants with a greeting word. They stressed the important role of teachers in the formation of students’ identity and wished the participants successful work.
The seminar was opened by the head of the PolidEU project, Professor Elena Alekseeva. She spoke in detail about the Erasmus + program and Jean Monet Action in particular and presented the results of the PolidEU project for two years of its implementation. She spoke about the structure of the Jean Monet training module, within the framework of which the seminar was held.
Both Russian and European experts were present as mediators at the seminar. The seminar was held in the form of lectures and project work of the participants. Member of the working group of the project PolidEU, associate professor of the French philology department Svetlana Bulgakova highlighted the role of identity in the EU linguistic policy in the context of multiculturalism and analysed the mechanisms developed by the EU for the formation of intercultural competence. Associate professors of the department of French philology Tatiana Kozyura and Alla Scherbakova presented approaches to the definition of intercultural competence and its components, tools for assessing the level of the formation of intercultural competence, the typology of exercises aimed at its formation.
The theme of fostering intercultural competence was continued in a videoconference format by Ms. Natalie Fabry, Director of the Master’s Program in Tourism Management at the University of Paris-Est-Marne-la-Vallee (Paris, France), with whom the VSU has been implementing a double degree program for ten years. She spoke about innovative assessment technology used within the competence-based approach - the electronic portfolio - and the possibilities of using it at the level of higher and secondary education.
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One of the problems for discussion was the study of the possibilities of involving secondary schools in the sphere of international cooperation. Director of the gymnasium named after I.S. Nikitin with an in-depth study of the French language, Zhanna Kaverina, and the gymnasium teacher Natalia Kutuzova talked about the experience of including the gymnasium in the context of international activity and discussed the prospects for networking with representatives of other schools in the city and the region. In this regard, Svetlana Bulgakova presented the participants of the seminar an Internet platform on the basis of which it is possible to implement international telecommunication projects involving secondary schools. In the continuation of the topic, Alla Akulshina, the member of the work group of the PolidEU project, the director of the Center for International Projects and Programs of VSU, spoke about the opportunities for cooperation between secondary schools and VSU within the framework of international projects of the Erasmus + program.
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The participants of the seminar applied their new skills knowledge in the form of project assignments: they conducted a comparative analysis of tasks aimed at developing intercultural competence in Russian and French course books and then began to develop their own exercises, based on the authentic video documents suggested by the seminar moderators.
Another report was presented by Nicolas Brejon, employee of the Regional Center for Franco-Russian Cooperation, the master’s student of the University of Lille 3. He shared his experience of integration in a new country and answered questions from listeners.
In conclusion, all the teachers were awarded certificates of the seminar participants. The work group of the PolidEU project thanks all the teachers for their active participation in the project.
