Russian volunteers: "Azerbaijan speaks magnificently on literary Russian”

In Azerbaijan, a routine expedition of the international volunteer program ”The Russian Language Ambassadors in the World", initiated in 2015 by the Pushkin State Russian Language Institute in the framework of the implementation of the Program for the Development of Student Associations in the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia, continues. The program's goal is to popularize the Russian language, culture and literature in Russia and abroad, as well as to develop and strengthen inter-university and international partnerships, promote cultural values of tolerance and organize a dialogue of cultures.

The program provides opportunities for internships for undergraduate and graduate students in the format of educational expeditions in Russia and abroad.

Participant of the volunteer program, an associate professor at Kazan Federal University Aigul Salakhova told Vestnik Kavkaza: "I teach Russian to foreigners in Russia. I worked a lot in Germany. This is my first visit to Azerbaijan. But I am an ethnic Tatar, so I feel at home here, understand the Azerbaijani language a little bit. I am pleased that so many bilinguals have gathered in Baku - this is the most correct way to get to know the world and get educated. The partner universities of the Kazan University work here. "

Assessing the level of the Russian language in Azerbaijan, Salakhova said: "I like that people here speak on literary language. Azerbaijanis speak Russian magnificently, bringing the delicate style of Turkic and Azerbaijani to the language. At the same time, those who do not speak Russian, show interest in learning this language. They do not consider it as exotic, alien and distant.

Ambassador of the Russian Language to Azerbaijan Larisa Churkina is also for the first time in Azerbaijan. "I became an ambassador in 2016. Our task is to travel to different countries of the world, as well as to the regions of Russia with an educational mission. We carry the Russian language, Russian culture to the masses, raise the level of language and the level of culture of children who are interested in it. We have already visited many CIS countries, as well as Ecuador, Bahrain, Iran. We are going with our mission to the All-Russian camps - Orlyonok, Ocean, Artek. We visited two universities In Baku - the Institute of Foreign Languages and the Economic University. Students are very interested in the Russian language. I like being in Azerbaijan. Here is a very interesting architecture. Yesterday we went to a restaurant in the Old Town - it was amazing. I like the fact that they add pomegranate to every dish. It is so unusual and very tasty, " Churkina said.

Before being sent to the educational expeditions, volunteers undergo a serious competitive selection and thorough training. Responding to a question about how the volunteers were selected, Larisa Churkina said: “The selection is carried out in two stages. We fill in the questionnaires on the website, attach a poem by a famous author, which we also post in social networks - Vkontakte, Facebook, Youtube.” The organizers from the Pushkin Institute consider our applications and invite about hundred candidates to Orenburg. They are selected among about five thousand applications. We study in Orenburg. Seminars are held there, and we have to present lessons for those who study Russian as a foreign language, as well as for those who have not yet learned the language. Based on these two lessons, we are selected further and then taught. "