Students from the Department of French Philology at the Faculty of Romance and German Philology held a cultural and educational conference “A Journey around the Voronezh Region” dedicated to the cultural and historical heritage of the region. The conference was held within the framework of the Year of Folk Art and Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Peoples of Russia.
Undergraduate and postgraduate students from the Department of French Philology presented their projects about the Voronezh Region in French while students from the translation department interpreted the presentations into Russian. Participating in the conference allowed students to get acquainted with such aspects of the Voronezh Region as its history, Orthodox monasteries, the main geographical objects (rivers, chalk mountains, woodlands), cuisine, folk costumes, music and poems, and dialects. Among the participants of the event were also representatives of the Museum of Ethnography of the Faculty of Philology, who presented the authentic costumes of the Voronezh Region, and the folk music group Terem, which performed old Voronezh songs.
Presentations and their versions interpreted into French were uploaded to the website of the Regional French Centre. They were also shared with colleagues from partner universities that teach French with the purpose of popularising the Voronezh Region.
On the one hand, participating in the conference boosted the students’ knowledge of the unique cultural and historical potential of the Voronezh Region. On the other hand, it enhanced their professional language and translation competencies and contributed to the development of their creative and organisational skills, as well as interaction and teamwork skills. The objectives of the event included: popularisation of folk art; maintaining cultural traditions, historical and cultural monuments in the Voronezh Region; fostering among students respect for cultural sights in their native land, the sense of pride for their homeland; and developing the students’ skills with regard to promotion of the culture of the Voronezh Region abroad in French.
