Foreign Students Recite Poems in Russian at ASU

The competition among non-native speaker students is traditionally held by the Faculty of Philology & Journalism of Astrakhan State University. This time, the contest brought together 60 participants.

The annual competition is aimed at forming general culture and linguistic competences in students and, for those who learn Russian as a foreign language, it serves an opportunity to express their love for the Russian language.

The event started with the ceremony of awarding the winners of the interuniversity competition in Russian for non-native speaker students, which had involved 63 representatives of Astrakhan State University, Astrakhan State Technical University and Astrakhan State Medical University. The certificates were handed in by ASU Acting Rector Konstantin Markelov, who congratulated the winners and expressed his gratitude for their respect for the Russian language and the progress made in its learning.

Atadurdy Bayramov, the Consul of the Republic of Turkmenistan, attended the event as the guest of honour. He thanked the organizers for their aspiration for raising the level of foreign students’ knowledge and wished the students luck. The Consul opened the poem competition by reciting Rudyard Kipling’s "If", after which the foreign students went on stage and recited poems of Astrakhan poets and classics.

There were also words of gratitude to the teachers who had prepared the participants for the competition. Indeed, the dramatic reading contest is a perfect means of promoting respect for the language, which is the core of foreign students’ learning during the whole course of their studies.