Family and Snow: Somali Students Graduate in Basic Russian

12:58, September 1, 2022

According to them, the training allows them to get acquainted with the country and the university [photo report]

By the end of this week the two-week course "Intercultural Communication in the Modern Russian World" is coming to an end. Twenty students of Ural Federal University from Somalia will master the basics of communication in Russian. The training is conducted by the specialists of the Division of International Educational Programs.

"Despite the long and difficult flight, the students are ready for extra pairs and independent work at home. We tried to do as many practical exercises outside the classroom as possible, so that students immediately understand how to apply certain speech constructions, although I still cannot explain to them what snow is. By the end of the first week, everyone in the group could already talk about their families, and they have big families," says Svetlana Kurbatova, course leader.

During the course, the Somalis immersed themselves in the student life: they lived in the dormitory, bought food at the market, and got to know the city. Many students were interested in the Russian language courses at the Preparatory Department for Foreign Students at UrFU, where students study the language for a longer period of time.

"Such a course is great for getting to know the country and the university. It often happens that students or their parents have doubts when choosing a university, and they have completely different ideas about the place and independent life. During these two weeks we had time to acquaint the students with the procedure of admission, which causes difficulties without knowledge of the language, talked about the customs and peculiarities of behavior in Russia. The students now feel more confident and ready to come on their own," says Ali Mohamed Dahir, coordinator and interpreter.

The news article was translated by UrFU International Marketing Office
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