1On June 15, in the building №2 of the VSU (room 52) within the Erasmus + Jean Monnet project "European identity through the prism of the European Union policy" (PolidEU), implemented by the French philology department with financial support from the EU, a business simulation game "European Parliament meeting on the problem of the Catalan referendum " was held.

The event was visited by several experts Oleg Belenov, the head of the International Cooperation Service, Elizabeth Brown, attaché of the French embassy for culture, and Elena Alekseeva, PolidEU project manager, head of the department of French philology.

In his welcoming speech Oleg Belenov noted the interesting format of the event and invited the students of the Faculty of Romance and Germanic philology to take part in the UN Models held annually at the Faculty of International Relations of the VSU. Elena Alekseeva stressed the importance of such events, based on the principles of communicative and action approaches to learning a foreign language and of project-based learning for the development of professional competencies of future specialists in the field of linguistics.

This year the simulation game involved third-year students of the French philology department. They represented the EU countries (France, Belgium, the Great Britain). In their speeches, students examined the problem of the Catalan crisis through the prism of movements for regional independence in the EU countries, from the standpoint of European identity, discussed the cultural and economic aspects of the problem. The event was held with a consecutive translation into Russian, performed by students in translation studies at the department of French philology.

All the speakers were awarded with certificates confirming their participation in the event.

Elizabeth Brown addressed the students with the final word. She noted the high level of training of students and gave advice on improving the quality of translation and interpreting. She also explained how regional autonomy issues are being addressed in various EU countries and explained the EU’s role as a mediator in resolving such conflicts.

The French philology department expresses gratitude to all students who took part in the simulation game, for the high quality of preparation:

  1. Terekhova Alina
    (3d year, report in English): "Catalan referendum through the eyes of the Great Britain".

  2. Zherebnaya Ekaterina
    (3d year, interpreting from English into Russian).

  3. Nekhayeva Alexandra
    (3d year, report in French): "Pros and Cons of Catalonia leaving Spain".

  4. Shchekina Lyubov
    (3 year, translation from French into Russian).

  5. Obenyakova Veronica
    (3rd year, report in French): "The problem of regional autonomy: a view from France".

  6. Malakhova Anastasia
    (3 year, translation from French into Russian).