English with natives: IEM students discussed Christmas traditions with international professors
Two Christmas meetings with international professors were held for 1st and 3rd year IEM students. During online English classes, students had an opportunity to talk about Christmas traditions with native speakers.
1st year students met with Will Nash, Academic Director, University of Sheffield English Language Teaching Centre (UK). This meeting marked the beginning of a small string of informal conversations. 3rd year students, on the other hand, met with several professors. They were Terry Callaghan, Professor of the University of Sheffield, Professor Emeritus of TSU, Research Professor of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, experimentalist in arctic ecology, biology, and a public figure; Colin Pulham, Head of the School of Chemistry, University of Edinburgh; and Niklas Labba, Academic Director of the Centre for Sámi Studies, University of Tromsø, Norway.
“These indeed are unique classes and a unique opportunity for students not only to speak with natives, but also to directly converse with famous scientists, highly educated professors,” notes Tamara Budlova, organizer of the meetings, Senior Lecturer at Department of English Philology, Faculty of Foreign Languages, TSU. “We spoke about the commonalities in traditions shared by our countries, about the importance of preserving those traditions, about commercialization of Christmas and its negative consequences. The students saw that the European and Russian Christmas traditions are very similar despite the fact that we live in such different cultures and environments. Saving those traditions means saving, among other things, peace, humanity, kindness.
Olga Shaduiko, director of the TSU Center for International Cooperation, was also very helpful in organizing the meeting.
Informal conversations turned out to be important not only for students, but also for the professors themselves. Universal themes of parent-children relations and preservation of culture are important regardless of generation or age.
“Informal conversation is sometimes even more important than scientific conferences,” highlights Mrs. Budlova, “because there are no formalities, everyone gets to express their actual views and beliefs. I wish more foreigners had similar communication experiences, perhaps, then they would treat Russia differently! By the way, both Will and Colin noted that our students have excellent English skills, so much so that they could even be TSU ambassadors to the UK.”
All participants unanimously decided that such meetings should become a tradition.
Alina Zhumagulova, 3rd year student:
“The meeting was a unique opportunity for international communication with various people from all over the world. It was a great and valuable experience to take part in an enlightening Christmas meeting with guests of such renown! We learned about various New Year and Christmas celebration traditions, heard funny stories from the guests, and got inspired for the coming year! The impressions and experiences were unreal! I hope that I will be able to take part in many such events in the future!”
Alena Nagaitseva, 3rd year student:
“In the days leading up to New Year holidays, when time pressure makes us work like robots, you want to dive into a calm and friendly atmosphere, like being among old friends. This is exactly the kind of atmosphere that was created by our English language lecturer at the online meeting with distinguished professors from Europe.
Discussing the interesting Christmas traditions of England, Scotland, and Norway, hearing about the guests’ fond childhood memories, talking about business and strategies for the festive season, which is a topic close to us, made this meeting an eventful and warm experience. We, students, also shared some Russian traditions: compiled a list of best New Year movies, talked about holiday dishes and wish fulfillment rituals, of which our guests took note.
It was nice to communicate outside of the bounds of the lecturer-student hierarchy. The professors are very interesting and wonderful people to talk to. To us, they were ordinary people with memories, funny stories, and different English accents.
Excellent language practice and first-hand learning are very fulfilling things, and an informal environment allows to make them as enjoyable and useful as possible. Special thanks to Mrs. Budlova, who came forward with this idea and guided our conversation throughout the entire meeting. Her optimism and good spirits were always encouraging and made the video call as comfortable for us as it could be. I’ll be very glad if there are more of such enlightening, warm and sincere meetings!"
1st year students met with Will Nash, Academic Director, University of Sheffield English Language Teaching Centre (UK). This meeting marked the beginning of a small string of informal conversations. 3rd year students, on the other hand, met with several professors. They were Terry Callaghan, Professor of the University of Sheffield, Professor Emeritus of TSU, Research Professor of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, experimentalist in arctic ecology, biology, and a public figure; Colin Pulham, Head of the School of Chemistry, University of Edinburgh; and Niklas Labba, Academic Director of the Centre for Sámi Studies, University of Tromsø, Norway.
“These indeed are unique classes and a unique opportunity for students not only to speak with natives, but also to directly converse with famous scientists, highly educated professors,” notes Tamara Budlova, organizer of the meetings, Senior Lecturer at Department of English Philology, Faculty of Foreign Languages, TSU. “We spoke about the commonalities in traditions shared by our countries, about the importance of preserving those traditions, about commercialization of Christmas and its negative consequences. The students saw that the European and Russian Christmas traditions are very similar despite the fact that we live in such different cultures and environments. Saving those traditions means saving, among other things, peace, humanity, kindness.
Olga Shaduiko, director of the TSU Center for International Cooperation, was also very helpful in organizing the meeting.
Informal conversations turned out to be important not only for students, but also for the professors themselves. Universal themes of parent-children relations and preservation of culture are important regardless of generation or age.
“Informal conversation is sometimes even more important than scientific conferences,” highlights Mrs. Budlova, “because there are no formalities, everyone gets to express their actual views and beliefs. I wish more foreigners had similar communication experiences, perhaps, then they would treat Russia differently! By the way, both Will and Colin noted that our students have excellent English skills, so much so that they could even be TSU ambassadors to the UK.”
All participants unanimously decided that such meetings should become a tradition.
Alina Zhumagulova, 3rd year student:
“The meeting was a unique opportunity for international communication with various people from all over the world. It was a great and valuable experience to take part in an enlightening Christmas meeting with guests of such renown! We learned about various New Year and Christmas celebration traditions, heard funny stories from the guests, and got inspired for the coming year! The impressions and experiences were unreal! I hope that I will be able to take part in many such events in the future!”
Alena Nagaitseva, 3rd year student:
“In the days leading up to New Year holidays, when time pressure makes us work like robots, you want to dive into a calm and friendly atmosphere, like being among old friends. This is exactly the kind of atmosphere that was created by our English language lecturer at the online meeting with distinguished professors from Europe.
Discussing the interesting Christmas traditions of England, Scotland, and Norway, hearing about the guests’ fond childhood memories, talking about business and strategies for the festive season, which is a topic close to us, made this meeting an eventful and warm experience. We, students, also shared some Russian traditions: compiled a list of best New Year movies, talked about holiday dishes and wish fulfillment rituals, of which our guests took note.
It was nice to communicate outside of the bounds of the lecturer-student hierarchy. The professors are very interesting and wonderful people to talk to. To us, they were ordinary people with memories, funny stories, and different English accents.
Excellent language practice and first-hand learning are very fulfilling things, and an informal environment allows to make them as enjoyable and useful as possible. Special thanks to Mrs. Budlova, who came forward with this idea and guided our conversation throughout the entire meeting. Her optimism and good spirits were always encouraging and made the video call as comfortable for us as it could be. I’ll be very glad if there are more of such enlightening, warm and sincere meetings!"