The International cooperation Department of the IPACS RANEPA prepared a special project “Buddy’s School” or the participants of the IPACS Interclub
From November 28th to January 14th, the International cooperation Department of the IPACS RANEPA conducted the project “Buddy’s School” for IPACS Interclub participants. This is a special cultural and educational course that will help students to interact even better with foreign students on incoming mobility.
“Buddy’s School” is a series of 7 video lessons that cover different topics related to the culture of other countries and interaction with foreign students. At the end of each lesson, students complete homework, which will help them consolidate the knowledge gained during the course.
In the first lesson, future Buddies were able to get to know concepts better, they learned who Buddy is, what he does, they learned what are the advantages of becoming a Buddy. In the second video, the hosts of the Buddy’s School told the students in more detail about the language barrier, the reasons for its occurrence and how to deal with it. The main theme of the third lesson is helping foreign students in various situations, including emergency ones. The fourth lesson is aimed to explain to the future Buddy how to properly conduct an excursion to a student who has come from abroad. In the fifth lesson, the main issue for discussion was verbal and non-verbal communication in different countries. In the next session, the project participants learned about cultural characteristics and how to behave with a student from another country. The idea of the final lesson was Buddy’s philosophy, advice from a student living in France on an academic mobility program.
The students who took part in this project shared their impressions and emotions.
Alekseeva Nika, 1st year student of faculty of International Regional Research in double degree program “Politics and Law. Spain” said “I learned about the Buddy’s School even before its existence and immediately knew that I would enroll there, because it is an amazing opportunity to develop communication in a foreign language, as well as with students from other countries. The school exceeded my expectations, the nuances of which I had not even thought about were told, for example, gesticulation abroad. And I can’t help but say what a pleasure it was for me to do bright and useful homework: the route around Moscow, cultural features, a list of emergency information and useful applications – an unforgettable experience”.
Daria Tyuleneva, 2nd year student of the Faculty of International Regional Research in program “Management of International Projects and Programs” said “Buddy’s school flew by unnoticed behind a series of interesting lessons and assignments. In the process, we managed to learn a lot of new things and learn how to interact with foreign students. Looking forward to being a Buddy for the kids and helping to get to know our Academy!”.
Milena Tavrizyan, 2nd year of the Faculty of Journalism student in the program “Producing and Cultural Policy”, shared “The Buddy’s School project was an interesting experience in my life, which not only taught me how to communicate and support foreign students, but also gave me more knowledge in culture and history of Russia and other countries when doing homework. I look forward to international students for further work”.
We are sure that next year the “Buddy’s School” wards will be able to become excellent mentors for foreign students who come on mobility programs! Ready and looking forward to it!