Abstract:

In most schools of the Republic of Tatarstan, which is situated in the Volga Region of the Russian Federation, German is regarded as the second popular foreign language with English being the first. Its popularity can be explained by historical factors: close economic and cultural contacts.
Tatarstan and Germany are partners in the fields of trade, economy, technology and humanities and many others. These factors can explain the popularity of the German language at the current stage.

Association of German language teachers has been functioning in the Republic of Tatarstan since the 1990s. Now it is called Interregional association of German language teachers of the Russian Federation. The aim of this organization is to support interest in teaching German as well as to provide methodological assistance in teaching.

In Tatarstan school groups travel to Germany and other German-speaking countries, or welcome foreign guests themselves. Students have a chance to receive the German language diploma of the second level (DSD B2/C1), which enables them to enter German universities.

In Tatarstan an interest for the German language studies grows, for there is a huge number of scholarships, which allows applicants to take courses in different specialties. There is an agreement between German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the Ministry of Education and Science, which states that provided the interview and other conditions are passed, there is a possibility to take courses in Master’s degree programmes in Germany.

The Goethe’s examination centre and a branch of German Academic Exchange Service are also located in the republic.

There are joint educational programmes in the universities of the republic. A new German-Russian university, German-Russian Institute of Advanced Technologies (GRTIAT) was established in Kazan in September, 2014. Master’s degree programme with a module segment “The study of foreign languages in informational space: innovative approaches and technologies” can be considered another example of successful partnership.

The series “Deutsch lehren lernen” unite the current world experience in teaching and concerns philosophy and methods of teaching. This series introduces the required approaches to the process of teaching foreign languages, as well as to the tasks and exercises which help us form our skills and competence according to the European foreign language fluency standard.

These online segments unite Master’s degree programme of the North Arctic Federal University, Novosibirsk State University, Volgograd State University and Omsk Teacher Training University. Kazan Federal University comes up as the head university for this programme.

Goethe’s German cultural centre in Moscow is a partner of this programme, it provides literature on the series “Deutsch lehren lernen” (6 volumes), an online-resource for remote communication, the preparation of online-courses, the development of the preparatory course for online-communication in German.

The education on different sections of the segment will be implemented online, with every university-partner being responsible for a particular section of the segment.

Keywords:

German Language, joint educational programmes, The Goethe’s examination centre, "Deutsch lehren lernen", Russian Federation.