Photo: Michil YAKOVLEV / from the archive of NEFU Newsroom

“Language Tandem” is a project of NEFU International Club of the federal university. According to Maria Tykynaeva, program head and the student of NEFU Faculty of Philology, participants together with the foreign students study languages, teach Russian in informal circumstances.

“We build communication between local and foreign students. Currently, there are Russian-English, Russian-Chinese, Russian-German, Russian-Korean and Russian-Japanese tandems. The main goal of the tandem is to make students more united, support each other”, said Maria Tykynaeva.

Students work in groups – for example, two Yakut and one foreign students can share knowledge of Chinese and Russian. The courses are held in informal circumstances, as public meetings. “It helps students to feel more confident”, said the program head.

There are eight projects under the leadership of NEFU International Club, such as Chinese and Korean Clubs, Music Club, Buddy Program and project “Older brother, older sister”. The main goal of these projects is to help students in adaptation and cultural exchange.

“Tandem” was one of the first programs for foreign students. We are planning to develop our club, to attract more students for language learning”, said Maria Tykynaeva.