16.03.2016  Future teachers of Technology Education and Informatics prepare for their study in Germany

In February 2016, a project application for the implementation of joint educational program with a double degree in technology education was submitted to the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). This application was the result of hard work of faculty members of Novgorod State University and the University of Hildesheim in coordination of Russian and German curricula for training teachers of Technology Education and Informatics. The distinctive feature of this joint program is that students have to be trained for two terms at a foreign partner university. For this reason, the Department of Education, Technology and Crafts selected a group of students who expressed a desire to take part in the program with a double degree and in addition learn German.

For several years, Tatiana Shirina, a senior lecturer at the Department of Sociology and Bilingual Education, successfully taught German for the future teachers of Technology Education and Informatics. The distinction of her method is student’s immersion in German through taking part in different Workshops. For example, one of such Workshop called “Preparation for Study in Germany” has been held recently in the NovSU School of Continuous Pedagogical Education, in which the first-year and second-year students took part.

This three-day seminar was the third Workshop. Two previous ones were held in May and October last year. The main purpose of the Workshop was to prepare the students for their studying at German University. During those three days of "immersion”, the students got acquainted with German culture, the peculiarities of everyday life, the specifics of transport and educational infrastructure in Germany in an interactive form.

In contrast to previous seminars, this time as trainers and organizers were students of 2nd year, who successfully completed and mastered the content of the Workshop last year. Here is what a second year student Irina Egorova told us about her experience: "In such three-day international seminar I took part for the second time, but this time I was lucky to be a coach and organizer, and it was my first experience in teaching. It’s always entertaining and informative to see "behind the scenes". First of all, it is interesting to watch the process of task performance by the participants, also their reaction, reasoning and emotions. Giving a seminar, in which you have already participated, you look at everything that happens quite differently, the logic of tasks becomes clear now, you understand the need for this workshop more consciously, after just three days you get knowledge that will help in the future not to face with difficulties of living in Germany. I took part in this program with great pleasure! And I want such events to be held more often and with a larger number of students!”

"First of all, I would like to say that the most interesting, exciting and effective exercises were those which combined study, meeting people and having rest. If the students had their lessons only in business environment they would get boring and uninteresting pretty fast. This conclusion I made after the three-day Workshop, which was arranged by Irina Egorova, Eugene Duzhikom and Yury Vasilyev under the guidance of a lecturer Tatiana Shirina. During this short time, we managed to acquire practice-oriented knowledge, without which it would be difficult to live and study in Germany. In addition to new knowledge we got a lot of fun memories and positive emotions”, shared the participant of Workshop, 2nd year student Andrey Shustrov.

During the first two days, the young coachers told the participants of Workshop how German transport system worked, how to plan the day with German punctuality, how to regulate a budget, how to separate rubbish and save water, how to get a visa, bank card and insurance. The third day of the seminar was the reconstruction of the school day at German university - students "visited" a lecture and a seminar, held in German language.

It should be noted that the Workshop was held with the support of (socio-pedagogical assistance organization)! “Wellenbrecher” (Germany), so at the end of three days all the participants, coaches and organizers of this “seminar-immersion” received certificates of this organization in German language.

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