During the period from May 17th to 28th, 2016 a teacher of the Centre of French as a foreign language Carré International at the University of Caen-Basse-Normandie (France) Laurent Senoze visited Voronezh State University.
On May 17th he took part in the meeting with VSU TEMPUS project members Natalia Fenenko, Elena Chaika, Marina Shcherbakova, Valentina Ivanova, Svetlana Bulgakova, and Tatjana Kozyura. The issues of the round table talk covered the implementation of the next phase of the Tempus project, the use of ICT in teaching and learning languages, and also the details of the educational process on the MA programme Language Education.
From May 17th to 24th Laurent Senoze, together with Associate Professor of the Faculty of Romance and Germanic Philology Elena Chaika, held a number of interactive sessions on the modules Language Teaching Methodology and English Language Improvement with the first year Masters students enrolled in the programme Language Education. Together with Professor Natalia Fenenko and Assistant Professor Tatyana Kozyura Dr. L. Senoze held a session with the undergraduate students on French as a second / third language on the theme «Gastronomy as part of the cultural heritage of France.»
On May 18th Laurent Senoze attended an open class of MA student Irina Akamsina with the students of the Faculty of International Relations, Voronezh State University; the class was carried out in the framework of teaching practice. In the after-class discussion L. Senoze emphasised good training, creativity and high motivation of the future teacher of English.
On May 19th Laurent Senoze had a meeting with with Head of the Department of French Philology Prof. Elena Alekseeva, who is also the director of the Regional Centre of the French language, and discussed a number of issues relating to teaching French at Voronezh State University and the possibilities of developing cooperation in the field of teaching the French language.
On May 19th and 26th Dr. Senoze held two sessions with the students of the French department of the faculty on Features and functions of texts, analysis of advertising texts in the context of teaching French as a foreign language and Working with the lexical fields in the context of teaching French as a foreign language. In addition, he made a presentation on the region of Normandie and the University of Caen.
On May 24th, during his visit to Voronezh State University, Mr. Senoze met with the head of the TEMPUS project team of VSU, Vice-Rector for Research and Informatisation Prof. Vasily Popov and Vice-Rector for Economy and International Cooperation Prof. Oleg Belenov. Issues relating to the implementation of the TEMPUS project, the learning process on MA programme Language Education, as well as the prospects for inter-university co-operation in various areas of international activities, including the development of joint projects with the participation of regional business structures, were successfully discussed at the meeting.
On May 26th Laurent Senoze delivered a lecture for teachers of Gymnasium named after I. Nikitin on methods of teaching the French language. He also visited the Language school Intelingua.
In short breaks between numerous activities, the MA students and and their teachers showed their guest from the University of Caen major historical and cultural attractions of Voronezh area: the house-museum of A. Durov, the I. Kramskoy Museum, Kostenki Museum-Reserve, the ship-museum Goto Predistinatsiya and the VSU Museum of History and the Ethnography Museum of the Faculty of Philology. L. Senoze visited a ballet performance at the Opera and Ballet House and the Symphony Orchestra concert of the Voronezh Philharmonic in the Concert Hall of Voronezh State University (University Hall).
The MA students shared their impresiions on Dr. L. Senoze’s visit to VSU.
Anna Berdar: «It was very interesting to be present in the classroom of the teacher Laurent Senoze. We discussed a lot of pedagogical situations from the point of view of the European and Russian approaches. Dr. Senoze talked about his teaching experience, which was very informative. We also had the opportunity to practise the skills of spoken French with the native speaker and learnt a lot about the culture of France.»
Anastasiia Novikova: «I can say that Laurent Senoze is an excellent teacher, and we are very fortunate that we were able to attend his classes, watch how he interacts with the students, and participate ourselves.»
Iuliia Shaposhnikova: «This semester our group was lucky enough to work with several European partners of VSU within the Tempus project, and one of these partners was a teacher of the Centre of French as a Foreign Language at the University of Caen Dr. Laurent Senoze. The classes with Laurent were held in a friendly atmosphere, he quickly managed to establish contact with us, and he built a class in such a way so that everyone could express their views, and then there was an active discussion process. The lesson on the discipline Language Teaching Methodology was especially memorable — we talked about the features of mixed classes, with the students diversed by age, religion, socio-economic status, etc. We not only discussed the intricacies of the solution of this delicate problem, but also compared it with the ongoing situation in France, so we had a look at it «from the inside», which was very interesting. In turn, Dr. Laurent showed a genuine interest in the peculiarities of the Russian culture, not only during the trips we organized for him, but also in the classroom. Thus, the French visiting teacher gave us the opportunity to gain invaluable experience and broaden our views on learning in general, and charged us with the desire for further improvement.»
Mezhov Anton, 3 rd year student: «Meeting with Dr. Laurent Senoze was my first experience, unique in many ways. Firstly, it is a colossal language practice to use French to solve everyday problems, while doing sightseeing and visiting museums and just in a personal communication. Secondly, I first tried my hand as an interpreter, which certainly helped me to understand what I need to work on as a future specialist. And finally, I would like to say that in the process of communication with the teacher from France, I enriched my knowledge not only about the language n, but also my general cultural knowledge (so called «cognitive baggage») as Dr. Senoze is an erudite person with expert knowledge in many fields of science and art.»
