Students from the Department of French Philology at the Faculty of Romance and Germanic Philology won prizes in the All-Russian phonetic contest “Je parle français” organised by St. Petersburg State Institute of Cinema and Television. Elina Abramova, Alexandra Shekurova, Ekaterina Shchukina (1st year), Elizaveta Tarasova (3rd year) took 2nd place and Darya Timashova, and Valeria Mikhaleva (2nd year) took 3rd place in different nominations of the contest.
The contestants were invited to demonstrate their phonetic skills and artistic abilities in two nominations: “Reciting a poem or a prose excerpt” and “Performing a song in French”. The evaluation criteria included phonetically correct speech, intonation, and expressiveness (artistry: gestures, mimic, emotional intensity) and the performance arrangement (props, multimedia). The jury highly appreciated the artistry, creativity, and excellent sounding of the French language presented by students from VSU.
“For students from the Faculty of Romance and Germanic Philology who study French as the first foreign language, the phonetic contest “Je parle français” is a professional skills contest. When we sang the song “La Seine” in French, we used and demonstrated our knowledge, skills, and abilities in the field of phonetics of the French language. I really enjoyed participating in the contest as it was also a great opportunity to demonstrate your creative abilities. I love music, so this contest was a source for many positive emotions,” said Alexandra Shekurova.
“We, first year students from the French department, began to study this incredibly beautiful language at VSU in September 2021. In the first semester, we had an introductory corrective course, that is why this phonetic contest was just on time. It allowed us to conclude the results of the course and to demonstrate the knowledge that we had acquired. Marina Agasandova, our teacher of French, helped us to prepare for the contest. She gave us advice and corrected our pronunciation and intonation. As far as I am concerned, I was happy to have the opportunity to demonstrate my knowledge in French and to demonstrate it in a special way. I love singing, so this phonetic contest is a wonderful event for me in all respects,” said Ekaterina Shchukina.
“When preparing for the phonetic contest, we studied the works of French singers and French poets. This has increased our knowledge of French culture. This contest seems to be very useful and important for us as it motivates us to study the French language and culture and at the same time it makes our student life more interesting and diverse. To my mind, such contests are very important for students studying French as their future speciality. This was a new experience for me since it was the first time that I had used the knowledge and skills that I had gained in the phonetics classes in my singing. Singing in French was a difficult but interesting challenge, and I enjoyed participating in such an event a lot,” said Elina Abramova.
“Students from our department regularly participate in professional competitions and are quite successful in them. I was pleasing to know that among the winners were first and second year students. This proves that they are interested in their profession. Such contests motivate them to continue mastering their profession and open many opportunities for them in the future,” said Elena Alexeyeva, Head of the Department of French Philology of the Faculty at Romance and Germanic Philology.
