On 16 January, an Honorary Doctor of VSU, professor Sue Garton from Aston University (Birmingham, the UK) visited Voronezh State University. First, she had a meeting with Dmitry Endovitsky.
“We are very proud of our joint project – a master’s degree programme "Teaching Foreign Languages with the Help of Online Technologies”. The success of this projects gives VSU an opportunity to represent Russia at the Council of Europe in the field of higher education. It is a great honour that you feel connencted to our university and come to Voronezh to meet our students and teachers. It is very important for us to get feedback from our partners in the EU and Great Britain”, – said the rector.
He also talked about the latest news in the university and invited the honoured guest to take part in the celebrations of VSU’s centenary on 15 September. Today VSU is running 34 international Tempus and Erasmus+ projects. In fact, it has the largest portfolio of European projects and programmes in Russia.
Professor Garton thanked VSU and praised the quality of training of the master’s degree students. Prior to the meeting with the rector, she watched their performance as teachers, and was very satisfied. Sue Garton is positive that the project is very successful and expressed eagerness for further cooperation.
As part of her visit, professor Garton gave an open lecture “Please take thousands of salutations to your lotus feet: the threat and the promise of English as a global language”. The lecture was attended by teachers of foreign languages from Voronezh universities, schools, and private language schools. Professor Garton talked about the role of English language and the requirements of being an English teacher. One of her goals was to break the stereotype that the best teacher of English is a native speaker.
She also held a master class for teachers of foreign languages dedicated to the topic “Content and language integrated learning: the answer to all our problems?”.
