‘I came for a certificate, and I leave with a suitcase of knowledge and skills’, – this is how the participant described the programme of methodological events “Organisation of course teaching of Russian as a foreign language abroad”, which ended on 28 November 2024. During 5 weeks more than 1500 teachers from 110 countries were trained in the programme, which was developed by the Training Centre ‘World of Russian Textbooks’ with the assistance of the publishing house ‘Zlatoust’ and was implemented with the support of the Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, Compatriots Living Abroad and International Humanitarian Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo). 816 teachers from 98 countries successfully completed the training.

During a month of intensive training, leading experts – founders of successful language schools, authors of popular textbooks on RCT, specialists in bilingualism and ontolinguistics – worked with the programme participants. The programme included self-study of online lectures, regular participation in live discussions, meetings with experts at master classes and open lessons, as well as step-by-step knowledge control at the end of each module. Participants went through the modules not in parallel, but sequentially, and access to each new topic was granted only after passing a test on the previous one. As Olga Lavrova, head of the Russian Language and Culture Centre ‘Parus’ in Alicante (Spain) and one of the project participants, noted, such training was like a computer game, when each new level is reached only after overcoming the old one, and this additionally motivated to pass the whole course until the end, and at the same time practically showed the role of gamification in learning.

The programme created an amazing atmosphere of audience involvement in the learning process: hundreds of participants left comments and questions after each lecture. During the online discussions, they were equally lively in their own presentations and even more interested in exchanging opinions on the presentations of other colleagues. Despite the remoteness of the communication, the programme certainly brought together Russians living in different regions of the world, gave them an opportunity to learn about each other and lay the foundations for future professional communication.

How the participants themselves assess the content and effectiveness of the programme can be seen from the answers to the questions of a short written interview.

• Anastasia Ward, founder and teacher of the Place School (Australia): ‘The programme contains the most relevant and up-to-date materials on teaching Russian both abroad and in Russia. The course is structured in such a way that online peer meetings in real time covered the globe! The modules include presentations and speeches from colleagues of different generations and perspectives, and each participant will find useful information that can be applied in classes with students of different ages and levels.’
• Roni Alexander Morales Rivas Lecturer at the University of San Carlos and Calusac Language School (Guatemala): ‘All the modules were very good and interesting, as were the comments and opinions of the other teachers. I really enjoyed the conferences, masterclasses, open lessons and debates.’
• Galina Price, teacher of RCT and Russian as a Family (USA): ‘Absolutely loved the programme. While listening to the lectures, many insights emerged, which I immediately incorporated into my classes. I would like to note the composition and high professionalism of the guest speakers, the ability to present information in an accessible way, the development of quality presentations, and from the discussion leaders – the desire to share knowledge, readiness to answer any questions of the listeners’.
• Vouahangi Nirina Rahalisua, Master’s student and teacher at the University of Antananarivo (Madagascar): ‘The programme is very interesting and useful for me because it enriches my knowledge of Russian. Thanks to the lessons, I got new knowledge about Russian language’.

• Galina Price, teacher of RCT and Russian as a family language (USA):‘I was very happy to become a listener of this programme and I plan to participate in similar events in the future.Many thanks to the organisers, teachers and technical staff!’
• Vouahangi Nirina Rahalisua, Master’s student and lecturer at the University of Antananarivo (Madagascar): ‘Thank you very much for the interesting lectures.I would like our programme to continue some more!’
• Anastasia Ward, founder and teacher of Place School (Australia):‘The organisers have a high reputation in the professional environment, it is a kind of ‘quality mark’ in the world of RCT and a guarantee that methodological events are held with maximum benefit. You want to come back to the materials again and again.For any teacher, methodologist or school head it is an invaluable storehouse of ideas, experience and inspiration.Thank you for the opportunity to participate in the event!’
• Roni Alexander Morales Rivas, teacher at the University of San Carlos and Calusac Language School (Guatemala): ‘I am very grateful for all the materials we were taught and for their experience in teaching Russian.I would like to participate again in the other activities you have planned.’
• Ekaterina Doronina, teacher at the Russian language school ‘Alphabet’ (Hungary):‘Thank you very much, dear lecturers – you have all become like relatives already, as if we met in person, face-to-face for a whole month in the classroom!…It is very valuable that each lecture was conducted by a practitioner with extensive experience in the profession, so all recommendations and advice were absolutely timely and relevant.This is the very situation when ‘I came for a certificate, and I leave with a suitcase of knowledge and skills. Bravo!’

Upon completion of all the tests, the participants of the programme received electronic certificates, as well as a subscription to the Russian language study guide in electronic form on the Zlatoust platform as a gift!

The large-scale geographical coverage of countries and the number of programme participants, the huge interest of the trainees in the learning process and the desire to actively participate in all stages of the course speaks of the undoubted success of the past courses and the need to continue these programmes to enrich theoretical and practical knowledge of our foreign colleagues, to expand professional communication in the field of teaching Russian as a foreign language.