Between 11 and 25 November, the Faculty of Philology housed the event “Let’s yabber” aimed at introducing international students to Russian folk culture and Voronezh sub-dialects. Daria Galtseva, the Head of the project, had adapted the course on dialects for students from Turkmenistan. She held 10 lessons which allowed the students to become familiar with the layout of a Russian hut and outbuildings and the elements of the Russian national costume and to learn the dialectic words for foods and household items. The students expanded their knowledge about traditional Russian festivals and compared Russian and Turkmen wedding rites.
A separate course was dedicated to literary texts. International students improved their skills in analysing dialectic words used in works by Mikhail Sholokhov and Sergey Yesenin. They also learnt to use dialectic dictionaries.
The project concluded with an exciting lecture which was held at the Ethnographic Museum of VSU and was given by Elena Griboyedova, the Head of the museum. Students from Turkmenistan had a chance to see real peasants’ household items, learnt the names for them, and attempted to put a cauldron into the stove with the help of an oven fork. They also tried on a Russian folk headwear.
The methodological experience accumulated within the project will be summarised in a text book for international students “Russian dialect vocabulary as a reflection of Russian culture”. The project is funded by a grant from the Pushkin State Russian Language Institute with the support of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation.
