The Firebird Russian Language and Culture Club held its first meetings for international students. This academic year, the club works in five areas, two of which are new. Another feature of the open season is a season ticket for participants. Tomsk Polytechnic University will give holders who attended ten or more meetings a gift.
Firebird Club is a creative association of international students and employees of the Division of Russian Language of the TPU School of Core Engineering Education. The club has been an open platform for discussing topical issues and interesting topics of the Russian language, literature, history, and culture for more than ten years. The club’s members are students from different universities. More than 400 people attended the Firebird meetings last year.
"The club consolidates international students not only from TPU but also from other Tomsk universities. This suggests that the project is in demand. The goal of the Firebird club is to acquaint international students with Tomsk and Russian traditions, help them integrate into the linguistic and cultural environment, and make new friends,"
Marina Bokhonnaya, a project coordinator and associate professor at the TPU School of Core Engineering Education, the Division of Russian Language, says.
Starting from the autumn semester, the Firebird club has been inviting students to meetings in the gaming club, the excursion club, and the cinema club. At the first lessons, the participants played the Voobrazharyi board game, in which they needed to quickly remember Russian words on various topics and letters. Also, students got acquainted with the weaving craft. They watched and discussed the romantic short film “Not Mine”.
Since this academic year, two new directions have appeared. In the sports club, students will learn the rules of popular team games, participate in relay races, sports competitions, and fun starts. Meetings of Russian cuisine lovers are devoted to acquaintance with Russian products and the secrets of cooking various dishes as well as the study of metaphors and phraseological units associated with them.
"At the debut event of the sports club, TPU students held a Frisbee master class for international students. The topic of the meeting at the Russian Cuisine Club was Russian bakery products. The participants got acquainted with the names, history, and main characteristics of such products as cheesecake, buns, gingerbread, pretzels, calatch, and pies and also tasted them. The first events have shown that both clubs are popular. Students from China, Mongolia, South Korea, Ghana, and other countries became their participants," says Marina Bokhonnaya.
Firebird Club is open to everyone; no pre-registration is required to participate in the events. The schedule of meetings can be found on the club page.