The Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences has a long tradition of interaction with foreign students. This academic year, students from Chirchik State University are studying at the faculty on the specialty “Biology and Chemistry”. The work of a tutor and a lecturer in an international group requires special pedagogical skills and qualifications: it is necessary to act as a guide, be helpful to suggest how to act in a difficult or unfamiliar for a foreigner situation, to enthuse participation in joint activities.
Within the framework of international education, various types of creative activities are used to get acquainted with Belarusian national traditions and customs: competitions, project-presentations of their countries, festive evenings dedicated to national holidays, discussions aimed at learning the moral and ethical values of different nations. All this helps to get an idea of national cultures, promotes understanding of the basics of intercultural communication, and develops communicative skills among students.
National traditions are often discussed at curatorial hours. For example, in March a curatorial hour was held on Novruz.
On 8 October 2023, together with tutor Galina Voit, a group of Uzbek students visited the Romanov Museum of Local History and studied all the current expositions. The students learnt about the history of the city of Mogilev and the nature of Belarus.
On 2 April 2024, Uzbek students visited the Ethnographic Museum of Mogilev, learned about the material and spiritual culture of peasants of the Mogilev Podneprovye region, urban life of Mogilev residents of the late XIX – early XX centuries. During the excursion, the students found many similarities in Uzbek and Belarusian cultures: pottery, embroidery, weaving are very popular in their homeland.
On 7 April 2024, a group of Uzbek students from Chirchik University made a walking tour of the city. The students visited the best viewpoints of the city; got acquainted with Mogislav at the city hall; listened to entertaining urban legends from the guide of the museum of the city history; learnt interesting facts from the glorious past and present of the city, including a story about the uniqueness of the Mogislav clock; went into a cosy Mogislav courtyard to see the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and St. Stanislaus and hear the sounds of the organ; walked around the Square of Glory; got acquainted with the model of the ancient settlement. A visit to the drama theatre is planned in the near future.
At the end of the last semester, the event “In the Circle of Friends” within the framework of the study discipline “Innovative Practices in Education” was held in an unusual format under the guidance of Ludmila Volodkova, senior lecturer of the Department of Pedagogy. It turned into a truly international holiday of mutual understanding and friendship of peoples. Students of the Belarusian group and students from Chirchik State University, studying under the joint programme, showed colorful presentations, told about the state structure and state symbols of their countries, about the history of their universities, about sights, national customs and traditions, demonstrated national costumes, sang songs in Uzbek, Russian and Belarusian languages, tasted dishes of national cuisine.