Between 14 and 20 January, the Faculty of Romance and Germanic Philology welcomed professor Sue Garton, Head of the Department of Master's Degree Programmes in Linguistics of Aston University, laureate of the National Teaching Fellowship Award, and the Honorary Doctor of Voronezh State University. This was the third visit of professor Garton to VSU, and this time it was supported by an Erasmus+ grant. The programme of the visit was very extensive.
On 16 January, professor Garton had a meeting with the rector, Dmitry Endovitsky, gave an open lecture for students and teachers of foreign languages, and a master class.
For three days Sue Garton attended open lessons by the 1st and 2nd year students of the master’s degree programme "Teaching Foreign Languages with the Help of Online Technologies”. The students – Ekaterina Klimenchenko, Olga Volnova, Elizaveta Toroptseva, Elizaveta Romanova, Kseniya Dryukova, and Anna-Mary Rushanyan – teach English at various Voronezh schools, thus utilizing their skills and knowledge. Sue Garton discussed the lessons and the results with the students and praised their competence.
On 18 January, professor Garton had a meeting with the dean of the Faculty of Romance and Germanic Philology, Olga Boriskina. They discussed the possibility of further partnership between VSU and Aston University and the development of academic mobility programmes. After the meeting, professor Garton and Associate professor Elena Chaika had a series of classes with the students of extramural programmes on “Methodology of Training Linguists” and “English in Professional Communication”. The classes took place at the computer laboratory of the faculty and were based on the material of the Moodle platform. The classes were interactive and creative, and all the participants considered them very useful both from the point of view of professional training and intercultural communication.
There was also an entertainment programme. Accompanied by master’s degree students, Sue Garton went on a city tour and visited the D.M. Venevitinov museum in Novozhivotinnoye. Professor Garton was also very much impressed by the performance of the folk music group “Voronezhskiye devchata” and a trip to the hippodrome. She said she would never forget the impression of the New Year in Russia and the trip to the countryside.
