Nearly 60 teachers of Russian language from Germany gathered at “New Educational Technologies in Teaching Russian as a Foreign Language” Seminar. The event was organized by the International Association of Teacher of Russian Language and Literature (MAPRYAL) and Greifswald University of Ernst Moritz Arndt supported by the Russkiy Mir Foundation.
The Seminar was held at the Alfried Krupp Scientific Centre in Greifswald. Speakers of the opening ceremony on November 10 were prorector for research and international cooperation of Greifswald University, Professor Micha Werner, secretary general of International Association of Teachers of Russian Language and Literature Natalia Brunova, dean of philology department of Szczecin University (Poland) professor Eva Komarovska.
MAPRYAL’s secretary general in her speech mentioned the special role of Germany in spreading and scientific describing of the Russian language in Europe. The role of German Russianists is notable in teaching Russian as a foreign language, which is confirmed by the history of MAPRYAL itself: among the winners of the main MAPRYAL’s award – a Pushkin’s medal – there are 21 Germans, including Erwin Wedel, Wolfgang Gladrov, Elena Konig and other scientists. N. Brunova also said that the venue of the seminar was also chosen for a good reason - Greifswald University is the second oldest university in the Baltic Sea region and the seventh oldest in Germany.
A speech of doctor of sciences, vice-president of Modern Foreign Languages Union from Galle Reiner Berthelmann “Historical Relevance and Practical Use of Dictionaries in Teaching and Studying Russian Language” was also heard at the official opening. Professor Berthelmann presented a retrospective of textbooks and dictionaries that followed Russian-German relations, analyzed articles from German-Russian dictionary by Edmund Daum and Werner Schenk. A performance by students of Greifswald University’s Slavistics Institute, who presented a few sketches from Anton Chekhov’s, Aleksandr Vampilov’s and Leonid Filatov’s works became a vivid emotional moment of the ceremony.
On November 11, the scientific program of the seminar was continued. Member of IARLT general committee, Greifswald University professor Harry Walter, characterized the state of the Russian language in Germany in his speech. There is a large Russian-speaking diaspora, living in the country (almost 4 million people) and serious empirical database about teaching the Russian language in a bilingual environment and methods of teaching were designed especially for them. Negative tendencies also emerge in Russian language functioning, for instance a department of Russian language was closed at the Magdeburg University. But the Russian language is still popular in Germany, which is confirmed by the interest to study materials published by German publishing houses Cornelsen, Klett and others. “They are complex study materials with additional exercises that include ready additional systematic information, which is hard to find and systemize for a teacher him or herself”, - underlined Harry Walter.
Active discussion was held during the round-table discussion “Russian Language in the Mirror of Language Processes”. Professor of Slavic philology of Philology Department of the Saint Petersburg University, professor of Greifswald University's Institute of Slavistics Valeriy Mokiyenko analysed the modern state of the Russian language: “ It will not survive fundamental changes: we have few regional words, we do not almost use jargon in everyday speech. But the strict approach to the language norm has changed, which is evident even from politicians’ speech, in particular, in stress usage”, said V. Mokiyenko.
At the same time professor of the Trier University Aleksander Birich underlined the specific influence of the substandard, lowered lexis on the world languages – even a conservative dictionary and a set of German grammar rules “Duden” was filled with a part about youth language. “Russian is subject to influence of argot and jargon. The reason for such an influence is an attempt to resist language standardization, which has been present recently”. According to professor Birich, Russian will “digest” all the loan words, some of these words will stay and some will leave, like the Russian of early 2000s, which had alternative orthography and shocked the public. “Many things we are going mad about, will disappear themselves”, - underlined Birich.
Participants of the discussion admitted that the speech standard is lowering, we are sometimes beginning to speak about substandard norm. Attempts to set a speech standard for a specific sphere are being undertaken. Thus, a lexical minimum for professional C1 level, which apart from everything else includes 260 units of substandard words, is being prepared for publishing, mentioned professor of the Moscow State University, director of the Head Centre for Foreigners Testing of the Moscow State University Larisa Dunayeva.
Speeches about modern youth language (V. Mokiyenko), using texts of modern Russian literature in teaching Russian (A. Korotyshev, head of MAPRYAL Secretariat), comparative studies of German phraseology with Russian background and Russian phraseology with German background (Harry Walter) also aroused much interest. L. Dunayeva told the participants about network culture and education projects in teaching Russian in Russia and abroad and professor of mass communication department of the Russian University of People’s Friendship Galina Trofimova told about modern technologies of media education for teaching Russian as a foreign language.
Discussions in the framework of round-table discussions “Russian Language in Germany in Bilingual Language Environment”, “Innovations at Russian Language Lessons”, “Modern Russian Literature at School and University”, “New Lexis and Phraseology in the Foreign Language Studies System”.
Alongside with comments from teachers and other professionals, language “users”, who use it regularly in their professional activities, also performed at the seminar. Official representative of the Federal State of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in Russia, lawyer, managing partner of Beiten Burkhardt Company in Moscow Falk Tischendorf made a report “What Russian Language Means for us?” Underlining the direct interrelation of Russian language skills and business success, mister Tischendorf said that there is no better language, than the language of your partner.
According to a tradition, an exhibition of new study books was held in the framework of the seminar. MAPRYAL representatives took textbooks and study materials, published by “Zlatoust” publishing house to Greifswald. In turn, German colleagues presented Russian language textbooks by Klett and Cornelsen publishing houses to the seminar participants and students’ collections of phraseology published by the Greifswald University publishing house.
