Students of American universities have deepened their knowledge of Russian language at YSU

The goal of the program is to develop the participants' knowledge of the Russian language through intensive and varied courses.

At the start of the program, 25 students from Harvard, Stanford, Yale, North Carolina, Indiana, California and other universities were divided into 4 groups according to the level of language proficiency. Within the framework of a specially designed curriculum, 4 days a week and 6 hours a day, the participants studied Russian language grammar, phonetics, Russian literature, Russian language-geology, history, etc. Within the framework of the program, the dean of YSU Faculty of Russian Philology, M.Sc., associate professor Pavel Balayan and other representatives of the teaching staff of the faculty lectured.

In a conversation with us, Stanford University student Grant Tiroff emphasized that YSU is one of the few universities in the list of post-Soviet countries where this comprehensive program is implemented.

"The essence of the program was clear from the name and general description, but after coming I was positively surprised by the nature and content of the courses, the textbooks and literature used for teaching, which aim to develop knowledge of the Russian language while imparting knowledge about Russian culture, literature, history, etc., he noted. Grant added: "I have noticed that I have improved my language skills in this short period of time, which speaks of the effectiveness of the program."

Grant emphasized that one of the keys to the success of the program was also the teaching staff, whose representatives' friendly and warm attitude and compassion impressed him. According to him, the lecturers treated them not only as students, but also as guests and did their best to leave a good impression of Armenia.

The excursions organized for the participants of the program every Friday, as well as visits to museums and other cultural places, contributed to the increase in the knowledge of Armenia.

In a conversation with us, Georgetown University student Jeremy Cohen emphasized that, unlike the United States, Armenia is a small country, and thanks to this, they had the opportunity to discover it from different sides, being in Garni, Geghard, Etchmiadzin, Zvartnots, Dilijan, Gyumri, visiting historical and cultural places. and enjoying the nature of Armenia at the same time, which Jeremy says you can't do in the US.

"I have also been to other post-Soviet countries, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, and I had a certain idea about post-Soviet countries, but I discovered Armenia in its own way right here," Jeremy said and added. "One of the important features of the project is that we lived with a host family in Yerevan, which gave us the opportunity to get acquainted with the Armenian lifestyle, customs and the Armenian language."

According to Jeremy, Armenian is a very beautiful and at the same time very difficult language, but he considers it important to learn it.

"Eight weeks was not a long time, but as a guest I wanted to show my respect for the culture and language of a country with such a "strong" history by trying to learn and speak Armenian on a daily basis," he emphasized. 

Jeremy said that Yerevan is a wonderful city to live in and spend a pleasant time with friends, but he also liked Gyumri very much, where he visited with his host family, getting to know first-hand the life of the locals and different corners of the city. Although Jeremy has been to many places in Armenia, he hasn't managed to be in Sevan, Syunik and elsewhere, so this is an opportunity to return again and make new discoveries.

It should be noted that at the end of the program the participants were given a certificate and an incentive award. This summer program is implemented at YSU for the 2nd time, and at the initiative of "American Councils in Armenia" organization, it is planned to implement more long-term programs at YSU.