The Project of "Meet Irkutsk" Student Tour Guide Courses - Winner of the "Rosmolodezh. Grants" Contest
INRTU Center for International Services together with the School of Linguistics and Intercultural Communication won the All-Russia contest of youth projects among private individuals, organized by the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh). The total amount of financial support was about 355 thousand rubles. For the "Rosmolodezh. Grants" contest, INRTU employees applied for the project in the nomination "#Ты_не_один" ("#You_not_alone").
The project involves the development of an educational program and the launch of courses to train Russian student tour guides who will be able to accompany groups of first-time international students around the campus and the city. The guides will be able to talk about cultural customs, behavior patterns, give advice in various everyday situations, etc.
The presentation of the program "Meet Irkutsk Student Tour Guide Courses" was held in February at INRTU's Tochka Kipeniya (co-working space) for the INRTU students interested in the program. The event was attended by 22 students.
The educational program was developed by the teachers of the Department of Foreign Languages №1 - Associate Professor Alexandra Kereshun and Senior Lecturer Natalia Shalamai. They introduced the students to the excursion routes on the university campus and in Irkutsk, which they will have to master. The teachers also told about the forms and methods of excursions, about the equipment that will be included in the program of the course.
Ekaterina Lazukova, the project manager - specialist of the Center for International Services, told the participants of the meeting about the countries from which students come to study at INRTU, what difficulties they face, what help they need at the first time of their stay in new socio-cultural conditions.
"The project will help to optimize and accelerate the adaptation process of international students, to form the potential of social adaptation opportunities in our university," said Ekaterina Lazukova.
The project mentor - Deputy Director for International Affairs of the School of Linguistics and Intercultural Communication Elena Makarova as a result of the survey of students on the topic "Why did you decide to take training under this program" notes:
"Most students expressed interest in the opportunity to improve their English and intercultural communication skills for free. At the same time, many cited the desire to learn more about the university and the city, to make new acquaintances, to do good, necessary and useful deeds".
Registration for the course is now closed. The course will last from February to June 2024.
