Abstract:

The level of cooperation between universities and secondary schools in the field of language education is relatively low in Slovakia. In recent years, we have seen an increased interest in teaching the Russian language in Slovakia, which is proven by the existence of already nine Russian-Slovak sections of bilingual and Slavic grammar schools. It is quite a high number given the Slovak conditions. Bilingual and Slavic grammar schools have their traditions and specifics in our country, but textbooks in Russian for Russian-Slovak sections, in which teaching would take place according to Slovak study plans and which would reflect the curriculum of the Ministry of Education of the Slovak Republic, are absent. Russian textbooks written according to Russian standards and Russian study plans do not correspond to Slovak ones in many respects. This fact makes it difficult for teachers to prepare for teaching individual disciplines and complicates the teaching process itself. The urgency of this problem and the current need to have high quality teaching materials in Russian led colleagues from these nine institutions to turn to the Department of Russian Studies (University Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava) with a request to help them. In an effort to comply with their request, we therefore decided to submit a grant project KEGA no. 021UCM-4/2020 entitled Creation of textbooks for Russian-Slovak sections of bilingual and Slavic grammar schools, which is aimed at improving the quality of preparation of students of Russian-Slovak sections of bilingual and Slavic grammar schools in the subjects of geography, history and civics. This project was approved by the Ministry of Education and so the first cooperation of this kind between a university and a secondary school in Slovakia began. The preparation of new textbooks requires an appropriate theoretical base, taking into account the specifics of Slovak students, as well as improving methodological procedures in the light of current scientific paradigms. These are mainly anthropocentric approach, meta-subject matter, intercultural communication, linguistic-cultural competence and personality approach, which presupposes in students not only the formation of linguistic, communicative, intercultural, sociolinguistic and other competencies, but also the education of creative personalities who are able to solve problems, analyze, compare and use the acquired theoretical and practical knowledge. The exact and unified concept and structure of each textbook will be subject to this principle: Russian-Slovak dictionary, sections That's interesting! Remember!, explanation of study material, questions on each topic, homework, sections at the end of each block Check yourself, Worksheets etc. The aim of this paper is to present the innovative cooperation of universities and bilingual and Slavic grammar schools in Slovakia through the creation of twelve textbooks on the subjects of geography, history and civics (psychology, law, economics and economy, philosophy and sociology), to point out methodological procedures and innovations in their compilation, implementation of these study materials into the educational process and, last but not least, their evaluation from the point of view of grammar school teachers and students. We also consider the fact that one university teacher and one teacher of a bilingual / Slavic grammar school will be a co-author of each textbook as innovative and beneficial.

Keywords:

Cooperation, universities, bilingual and Slavic grammar schools, textbooks.