Abstract:

The paper studies the challenges of creating and implementing the English language training volunteer program for a number of international mega sporting events, such as ‘First World University Ski Orienteering Championship – 2016’(Tula, Russian Federation, 2016), ‘Cadet European Judo Cup’ (Tula, Russian Federation, 2017, 2018) and others. This study is also aimed at analyzing and comparing the structure of the non-native English-speaking student volunteers’ English skills necessary for international sporting events and the English-speaking competences recommended by the Federal State Standards of Higher Education which the students acquire and develop while studying English at a non-linguistic university.

As a result of this analysis, the English language training volunteer program for international sporting events was organized and implemented on the basis of the ‘actions-and-measures plan’ directed towards the gradual developing of the linguo-translational aspect of Tula State University students’ volunteer activity. The authors accentuate the essence and the specifics of the English language training volunteer program, describe its initial phase, disclose the content and the subject-matter of the English language training volunteer program for the international sporting events from the perspective of the competency approach in education, and describe the procedure and the results of their experimental work to check and prove the effectiveness of the abovementioned program.

The method applied in this study is mostly qualitative in nature, with the qualitative method (expert reviews) being used in cases when volunteers’ speaking abilities and progress need to be checked and assessed. Data were collected by interviewing and testing.

Keywords:

English language training volunteer program, complex foreign language student volunteer training, lingvo-translational aspect of volunteer activity, competency.