“I Am Thankful to SUSU for the Opportunity to Speak Russian,” – Students from Freiburg on the SUSU Summer School

South Ural State University, in partnership with the Society of Mutual Aid for Students of the City of Freiburg, is holding its twelfth summer school.

Director of the Institute of Linguistics and International Communications Elena Yaroslavova speaks to us about the exchange program between South Ural State University and Freiberg Mining Academy.

“Every year, the International Mobility Office of the Institute of Linguistics and International Communications and the Society of Mutual Aid for Students of the City of Freiburg organize a summer school. First of all this is an exchange program. A group of 20 of our students have already been to Freiburg this summer, where they worked with native speakers, studied German culture, and were able to visit neighboring cities of Germany and the Czech Republic, and they were even able to take a trip to the mountains of Saxon Switzerland. In turn, 13 students from Freiburg came to visit us at South Ural State University. In addition to the fact that they are studying Russian here, they have already seen the beauty of Taganay, walked in Bazhov Park in Zlatoust, and saw a real meteorite in our Museum of Local History. Soon they will visit the opera and a Traktor hockey match, take a trip to Yekaterinburg, and much more.”

Associate Professor of the Department of Russian as a Foreign Language Yuliya Kazakova tells us about how classes are held for German students.

“Students from Germany are very active at classes; they are disciplined and responsible. They are very interested not just in Russian but also in our city and university. For our Department, this program gives a great experience in communicating with European students. Our group is made up of students of various levels of language skill. There are some who came to us without knowing a single letter, and there are some who have been speaking Russian for more than 10 years already. So we have various methods. We try to make every lesson interesting and informative.”

A student of Freiberg Mining Academy Max Mueller tells us what he thinks about SUSU and Russia.

“I came to SUSU to study Russian. I think that Russia is a very interesting country, and Chelyabinsk is a very pretty city. It is my first time ever in Russia, but I have been studying Russian for three years. I study mining in Germany, so in the future, I’d like to work as an engineer in the mining industry. I haven’t thought about where I will work specifically – in Germany or in Russia, but Russian will be useful to me either way. I am thankful to SUSU for having the opportunity to speak Russian and study it with teachers.”

A student of Freiberg Mining Academy Josephine Mengel has been studying Russian for a long time. She shares her feelings from arriving in Russia and from studying Russian at SUSU.

“I came to SUSU to learn Russian. I studied Russian at school for around 7 years, and after that I decided to continue studying it at a higher level. I really like studying here – I like the group I study with and the professors who are teaching us Russian. Yuliya Viktorovna is a very good and kind teacher, she is able to explain things clearly, and most importantly – teach. When it comes to the country, Russia is very beautiful! There are very good and kind people here. The language itself is very interesting, but not so easy. It is still difficult for me to remember the cases, and grammar is difficult.”

The 13 students from Germany complete their lessons on September 19th. By then, they will manage to not only strengthen their knowledge of Russian, but also visit a large number of cultural and historical places in Chelyabinsk and the Chelyabinsk Region.

Marina Kovyazina; photo: Oleg Igoshin
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