This summer, ten UCF students and six faculty members participated in a trip to Moscow and Saint Petersburg, Russia, as part of the U.S.-Russia Peer-to-Peer Dialogue Program, a U.S. Department of State grant. Five students were sponsored by the Russian Club at UCF to participate in the summer program and extra workshops and meetings throughout the program.
The principle investigator, Alla Kourova, together with co-investigators Eric Main, Florin Mihai, Rudy McDaniel, Crepeu, Salter, and the students, worked on the project throughout the 2014-2015 academic year. All of the students have a minor in Russian Studies at the University of Central Florida, and some have a certificate in TEFL. The project was based on a model catering to the oral, auditory and dextral abilities of the Russian studies, utilizing the on-going learning of UCF students in the Russian/TEFL program.
The project included a visit to the Grot School for Blind and Visually Impaired students in Saint Petersburg, Russia. UCF faculty and students gave presentations at the Grot School, collaborated with the Russian students, and enjoyed excursions to landmarks representative of Russian cultural heritage in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, such as the Red Square, the Hermitage, Petergof, Catherine the Great’s Palace (home of the famous Amber Room), Peter and Paul Fortress and more.
The sponsored students and Kourova participated in a variety of workshops at Moscow State University. They also visited the Embassy of the United States of America in Moscow for a meeting with the assistant cultural affairs officer, Jennifer D. Washeleski, and her staff for a discussion about the current grant program and future programs, as well as to learn about career opportunities in international affairs at the embassy.
The group visited the Fulbright office and met with the director, Joel Ericson, and his assistant, Marina Bezrukova, to learn about the different Fulbright programs. The students received advice on becoming Fulbright members in Russia, like four other students of Kourova, who this year received Fulbright grants to teach English in Russia and Kazakhstan. The students sponsored by the Russian Club, Irina Pidberejna, Tara Langford, Sara Grif and Andrea Rachel have received their placements in very prestigous universities in Russia.
Alla Kourova and former Russian Club president, Irina Pidberejna, visited Rostov-on-Don, Novocherkassk, Russia, where they participated in the regional conferences and presented in several workshops. They also met with students and teachers in Lyceum #7 in Novocherkassk during “Access,” a summer program for low income families. The ongoing project “Connecting Classrooms” between UCF Russian Language classes and Lyceum #7 is going for 4 years and every year students collaborate on different projects and visit each other. Irina Pidberejna then visited the office of the Ukrainian Down Syndrome Organization in Kiev on behalf of the Russian Club at UCF, which has been supported by the club through annual fundraisers.
Two goals were the centerpiece of this innovative program. The first goal was for the American students to learn about Russian language and culture, as well as TEFL strategies for students with disabilities. The second goal was for Russian students to learn about the English language and U.S. culture. Students collaborated in the exchange of cultural information and communicated in both languages.
The grant is still on-going, and, this November, students from the Grot School will come to UCF to study English, learn about American culture, visit classes, learn about the American education system and enjoy trips to Disney and the beach.
