York students learn Russian as part of University exchange
Posted on 17 October 2012
Olga Klimova and Ksenia Popova, who are studying English as a Foreign Language at Buryat State University in Ulan Ude, will meet staff and students at The Joseph Rowntree School on Thursday, 18 October and teach Russian to two Year 9 classes.
The Siberian students’ week-long visit to York is part of the University’s Shakespeare in Siberia Project, which saw five second-year York students travel to Ulan Ude in Eastern Siberia last year.
As well as spending a day at The Joseph Rowntree School, Olga and Ksenia, both aged 21, will meet students in the University’s Department of Education and take part in seminars. They will also experience a traditional Yorkshire Sunday lunch and a trip to Harewood House.
The York/Siberia exchange programme was set up by Amanda Naylor and Dr Nick McGuinn from York’s Department of Education.
Dr McGuinn said: “Last year five York students from different departments travelled to Ulan Ude and took part in a series of workshops with 15 of their peers from the state university. Together they explored cultural issues arising from three classic texts - Shakespeare’s King Lear, Turgenev’s A Lear of the Steppes and Kalashnikov’s Cruel Century. The workshops culminated in a dramatised performance of excerpts from the three texts performed in Buryat, English and Russian to a packed theatre audience.
“Ulan Ude is in an area with a great diversity of cultures and religions which only opened to the west in 1998. Olga and Ksenia’s visit allows us to build on the links we have already established with this fascinating region.”
As well as teaching Year 9 students Russian, Olga and Ksenia will join GCSE and A level classes at The Joseph Rowntree School to see how the English education system compares to their own.
Teacher Katie Holmes, from The Joseph Rowntree School, said: “This will be a first for our school and we are looking forward to this experience. We have a strong tradition as far as exchanges to France, Germany and America are concerned. We would look forward to welcoming the students from Siberia.”
During seminars with University of York undergraduates, the Siberian students will be looking at classic texts and discussing the universality of the themes of Shakespeare.
The exchange programme is partly funded by the Oxford Russian Association and Olga and Ksenia have already spent a week in Oxford and Stratford as their guests.