- Հայ
- Рус
- Eng
A delegation of the Pushkin State Russian Language Institute led by Rector Margarita Rusetskaya arrived in Armenia for a two-day visit.
The group’s first visit to Armenian State Pedagogical University was marked by the opening of the Institute’s centre for Russian language training and testing at ASPU.
The centre aims to improve the quality of Russian language teaching in [Armenia] through bilateral cooperation.
ASPU Rector Ruben Mirzakhanyan highlighted the opening of the centre, saying it would promote Russian language teaching in Armenia by adding new quality to it. He thinks that Russian language teaching in Armenian schools and universities needs to be reviewed: teaching methods need to be updated and modernized.
“In Soviet times, Russian was neither a mother tongue nor a foreign language for us. However, today Russia is a foreign language for us and its teaching methods must be compliant with reality,” the rector said stressing the unique role and importance of the Pushkin State Russian Language Institute in this context.
Mr Mirzakhanyan also referred to ASPU’s cooperation with three Russian universities within the framework of the ASPU International Summer School. He hoped to see an increase in the number of partner universities in the near future.
Rector of the Pushkin State Russian Language Institute, Margarita Rusetskaya, thanked the ASPU rector for the warm welcome and stressed that ‘every cooperation focuses on students.’
“The shortest way to spread and promote the Russian language is to boost cooperation with pedagogical universities, which prepare specialists of the Russian language. It will be more effective to achieve desired results with the help of future teachers and restore the role of the Russian language as a language of dialogue between nations and enhance its use in humanitarian, business and other areas of cooperation.
Margarita Rusetskaya added that they are ready to enhance the centre’s activities with their daily work and add the number of Pushkin Institute’s centres operating in 30 countries.
She said they had studied the requirements of the global labor market and found that ‘Russian continues to be in demand; hence the review and development of language teaching will open new opportunities.’
“Armenian State Pedagogical University is a strategic partner for us,” Margarita Rusetskaya said adding that the newly-established cooperation between the two educational institutions would produce tangible and effective results.
Oleg Radchenko, Head of the Centre for Lang Teaching, Testing and Migration Policy Assistance at the Pushkin State Russian Language Institute, presented the Institute’s partner network, new opportunities for professional development and quality improvement and said they want to hear about the problems encountered by Russian language teachers.
The main goals and objectives of the Pushkin Institute partner network (portal) are the spread, teaching and maintenance of the Russian language. In the near future the portal will be translated into Armenian.
The Russian colleague assured everyone that the opening of the Russian language training and testing centre announced the beginning of large-scale work to be done in the future. “Each language is a key to the world,” Oleg Radchenko said.
In the end, the guests donated books and symbolic gifts to the newly-opened centre.
