Foreign Students of ASU Recite Russian Classics

The Chair of Russian as a Foreign Language of Astrakhan State University has arranged a competition of reciters of Russian literary classics for our foreign students. 50 contestants were to demonstrate their scene performance skills. With the Victory Day coming nearer, the event organizers provided the appropriate holiday atmosphere; the musical accompaniment contributed to it much.

Verses by Russian classical poets were recited on the scene. Excited, expressive, and sincere recitation of poems by our foreign students smoothed some drawbacks in their performances. A responsible attitude to the competition, a large number of rehearsals under their professors’ supervision, and the young people’s sincere wish to recite a poem as good as possible led to a splendid result – all the performances were highly appreciated by jurors headed by Prof. Liudmila Kasyanova, Dean of our Department of Philology & Journalism.

The jury determined the main winner and the two runners-up. There was already a special prize. The prizewinners’ recitations were appreciated for their grammatical clarity, absence of an accent, excellent scene performance skills, the art of role-playing, and genuine sincerity.

The competition of expressive reading is undoubtedly a good means to make students love literature in general. For foreign students studying Russian, it is a real means to have them love and respect the Russian word, which ought to be the very essence of their education in a particular sphere.