Abstract:

In pedagogy, the concept of co-education has different interpretations. In our opinion, collaborative learning can be understood as such an organization of educational activities in which students of different levels and areas of training in the course of joint purposeful activities form and improve relevant competencies for each of them. The Pushkin State Russian Language Institute has been using the technology of co-education for five years in organizing the work of a conversation club.

This technology is implemented, on the one hand, in the framework of the main educational program of the master's degree "Russian as a foreign language and intercultural communication", on the other - in the framework of an additional general education program for training foreign students to study at Russian universities (the pre-university program).

Participants of the club are:
1) Russian and foreign Master’s Degree students, future teachers of Russian as a foreign language;
2) foreign students of the preparatory faculty.
For Master’s Degree students, a conversation club is a form of educational practice, where they acquire primary skills of professional activity. For students of the preparatory faculty, it is a form of ECA aimed at developing communicative, socio-cultural, and intercultural competencies.

The club format provides for regular thematic meetings to discuss topical issues: features of Russian history and culture, traditions and holidays, behavior of Russians in typical communication situations, including pedagogical and interpersonal, specifics of Russian speech etiquette.

Master’s Degree students under the supervision of a teacher conduct a survey of students to clarify the club's work plan, select relevant topics for discussion, taking into account the needs of speakers of different linguistic cultures, their degree of familiarity with Russian culture, and their experience of living in Russia.

Conversation club classes are held once a week. Each meeting is prepared by Master’s Degree students in the number of 4-5 people, from 15 to 25 students can participate in it. The duration of each event is 2 academic hours. The topic of the meeting is announced in advance, and all participants receive materials that allow them to prepare for the perception of information and participation in the discussion. The level of Russian language proficiency in most foreign students is not high enough (from A2 to B1), which requires Master’s Degree students’ careful preparation.

An important part of the club's work is constant monitoring of the results of meetings and adjustment of further steps. The supervisor helps Master’s Degree students with the task. The curator does not participate in the work of the club itself.

Communication within the conversation club can be switched to remote mode. Since March 2020, the club has been working on the social network site Instagram and on the platform Zoom.us. The online format has allowed to increase the number of club members, expanded the range of topics and diversified its possibilities.

The described technology has demonstrated its effectiveness and relevance for both sides. The final survey shows the participants' satisfaction with the results obtained and the opportunities offered by this approach.

Keywords:

Language education, higher education, collaborative learning, conversation club, Russian as a foreign language.