YuSU students help international students in adaptation

Fourth-year students from the YuSU Higher School of Humanities, Yulia Kuznetsova and Nikita Rashektayev, are implementing the "Language Barrier" project as part of the federal "Service-Learning" program. The students are organizing events aimed at developing intercultural communicative competence. The project's main goal is to help international and Russian students better understand each other's cultures. Students from various countries, including Russia, Ghana, Zambia, India, Morocco, and others, are participating in the project.

"The first event took place on November 3rd and was timed to coincide with National Unity Day. We prepared an interactive program: a mini-lecture about countries, a linguistic and cultural quiz called "Guess the Country Based on a Little-Known Fact," a "True or False" game about countries, and non-verbal communication exercises. All this helped create an atmosphere of friendship and interest in each other's cultures. The next event is planned for Students' Day," the authors explained.

As Yulia and Nikita note, the idea for the project arose naturally, in response to the increasing number of international students at the university: "We noticed that, despite a shared desire to communicate, students often encountered language and cultural barriers. Therefore, we wanted to create a space where they could feel comfortable, practice Russian and English, and introduce others to their culture."

The project's development began with studying the theoretical foundations of intercultural communication and analyzing successful practices for international student adaptation. The students combined educational and cultural aspects, and therefore chose the Museum of Nature and Man as the venue.

"Difficulties arose during the communication process: it was necessary to take into account different levels of Russian language proficiency and select a format that would be understandable and interesting for all participants. We also developed scenarios for games and tasks so that they would not only be entertaining but also facilitate genuine intercultural interaction," the project team commented.

It is worth noting that the project's academic supervisor is Tatyana Somikova, Associate Professor of Higher Education. Alexander Portnykh, head of the Social Design Laboratory, is assisting with the project's implementation. On the museum's side, the students are supervised by Natalia Sainakova, Deputy Director for Development.

The project is directly related to the senior students' final thesis topic, "Developing Students' Intercultural Communicative Competence through Socio-Cultural Events (Based on a Museum-Based Community Project)." "Implementing the project is not only a practical part of the research but also an opportunity to test our ideas in practice," the students added.