Distant Learning. Is it possible to learn the Russian Language online?

15:10, February 17, 2021

The II Semester has started at UrFU. Students of Preparatory Department will continue learning Russian online. Read more about Distant learning process:

It has already been the 3rd Semester since Preparatory Department of UrFU teaches foreign students online. 

Because of Pandemic international students couldn`t come to Russia to study the Russian language: this could have led to postponing further education and admission process to Russian universities. 

Distant learning started in March 2020: students of the 2019-2020 academic year had to finish their studies and pass exams online. In May 2020 Preparatory Department of UrFU started to develop an online course for the next academic year.

Preparatory Department uses Moodle platform for distant learning: teachers are the authors of all courses and record lectures on handwriting, phonetics and grammar for foreign learners. The course is very informative and convenient to use, because students can always go back and revise the material. 

As usual, there are many aspects that managers and teachers should take into an account: students` level, purpose of learning, national and language aspects. On the top of that Distant learning brought new challenges such as technical issues, time difference and how to keep students involved and interested.

“Communication with other students and a teacher is very important in language learning process. Normally, in the beginning teachers` work is built on personal interaction, especially when student cannot express themselves verbally yet but they are immersed in this language environment and can cooperate with other students. 

Studying online is organized differently. Big advantage is that you can study and teach from any part of the world and don`t have to spend time on commuting to classes. However, there is more workload for teachers. It is necessary to build up good relations with every student via messaging, check homework and explain personally to everyone what they should work on. Besides, for better understanding and language immersion it is important to prepare extra materials and make additional presentations. 

All efforts of a teacher are paid off when you see a personal growth of each student. This positive dynamics motivates the staff of Preparatory Department to go extra mile to prepare for classes. Of course we want students to come here to experience Russian winter, taste national food and learn more about our mentality. I think they will definitely come and will be able to speak Russian from their first days." - said Julia Nekrasova, a senior teacher of Preparatory Department.

There have been 500 graduated students at preparatory Department since the beginning of Distant learning: 250 graduated with A2, 100 with B1 and 50 with B2 level. 

Some students wrote and recorded their first testimonials about Distant learning in Russian (you may read and watch them above). 

We would like to remind that Preparatory Department started the 1,5 year Foundation course  and it is possible to apply until March, 1. Also you can apply for Foundation Year which starts in September 2021 and for Russian as a Foreign Language course for one or two semesters.

All questions regards admission process can be addressed to our Manager Mikhail m.e.kopyrin@urfu.ru, more information about course and study process can be addressed to rfl@urfu.ru.