Abstract:

The paper reviews the ways how various cultures encounter in a class and at MGIMO University. As known, Russian Federation is the biggest multinational country in the world. Moscow University of International Affairs (MGIMO), which is located in the capital of Russia, has students from all over the country that currently recognizes 39 different ethnic groups. Moreover, MGIMO has been educating foreign students since 1946; the statistic is that around 5 000 people hold MGIMO bachelor's diploma, 500 have taken part in international exchange, and 200 hold a PhD degree. Therefore, the research purpose was to determine the relationships between the students of various cultures, their attitudes, and possibly some hidden problems. The author has developed an anonymous survey with 20 questions to find out the real situation and interviewed some students in person. Moreover, t being MGIMO's alumni, the author added some cases from the past experience. So, the paper includes the results of MGIMO students social status research made 20 years ago. However, the main conclusion of the current research is based on polls of students of various nationalities, ethnos, and interviews with alumnus both foreign and Russian. The paper's main result is that MGIMO's management, a system of national fraternities, and the development of bilateral and multilateral contacts play an important and very positive role in a multicultural students community. The author also presents some tactics of working in a multicultural language class (a small group of approximately 10 students), which they have developed.

Keywords:

Cultural diversity, minorties, international students, teaching English, USSR, work in pairs, in person education, online education.