Learning about the Arctic and the Russian North (Experience of Distance Schools)

Abstract

The article describes the experience of seasonal language and culture schools organized for foreign students at the Northern (Arctic) Federal University. One of the factors that attract participants is the Arctic component in the program content, acquaintance with nature, culture, customs and modern life of the Russian North. The pandemic situation made only a distance format of such schools possible. At the same time, the task of preserving the cultural specificity realized in the activity component was solved. The authors described the main content components of the program of the School of Russian Language and Culture related to the topic of the North and the Arctic: video tours of Solovki, the Museum “Malye Korely”, city tours (videos about Arkhangelsk), texts about Arctic research and travelling to the Arctic, “Northern text” of Russian literature, video lectures and master classes. It is emphasized that the images of the Arctic and the Russian North are the conceptual core of the content of remote seasonal schools. The next distance school of Russian Language and Culture is announced.

Keywords

• language school
• distance learning
• regional content
• arctic
• russian north