Experiments with Global Classroom
They are just like us: Russians want to know more about American culture and Americans want to know more about Russian culture. Internet technologies make it possible to bridge the gap between Russian students and their American counterparts.
In February 2018, Dr. Laura Kline from Wayne State University in Detroit wrote a short message on a Slavic dist list: “I am looking for a small group of English-speaking Russian students in Russia who would be willing to meet with my Russian culture students for about 45 minutes via Skype in April. The group would need to be in the West of the country and willing to meet around 10:30 pm their time.”
My first thought when I read this message was that I would be able to recruit much more than a “small group” of English-speaking Russian students, and by the end of February I had enlisted 16 volunteers. Fast-forward to April, when, a few days before the meeting was to take place, I realized that it was going to be held over Skype. All of my friends told me that Skype calls cannot handle more than 10 participants.
Pavel, Faculty of Computer Science, HSE University, Moscow: In my view such sessions may be useful to understand differences between us (or, as it happens so often, lack of them). I found a question about programming languages deeply surprising, as I did not expect anyone to think that somewhere different technologies would be used. Such sessions are definitely too short to reconcile the differences. Additionally, this session made me think of how things are done in Russia, a very simple question about the 'emerging industries in Russia' proved to be much more difficult than I expected. I suspect, that some American students may have started thinking about how things are done in the US. Overall, I find this experience quite interesting.
April 16, 8:45 pm Moscow time. Laura messages me: we start in 45 minutes. Then it hit me that we would be starting one hour earlier than I expected, because the time had changed in the US, but not in Russia! Forty-five minutes later, 5 Russian undergraduate students were talking to a class of American undergraduates about Russian Culture.
After the class, the Americans reported that they had learned that Russian students think and act like American college students. The Russians want to visit the big cities they have seen in movies. They knew more about us/America than we know about them. They know British/American literature and tend to learn British English. There have a strong interest in traveling and studying different cultures.
Marina, Undergraduate program in Economics, Faculty of Economic Sciences, HSE University, Moscow: I think that such “international bridges” are a great opportunity for both American and Russian students to learn something new about each other’s culture and to dispel some prejudices. Talking about films, artists, hobbies etc, I was convinced once again that we are very similar. All the students were very pleasant and friendly and, personally, I really enjoyed that way of communication. It would be really great if such conversations will take place in future.
Part of the time was devoted to book recommendations, а discussion about whether rap is popular in Russia and who the Russian rappers are, and which foreign countries students visited and how they liked them. Due to time limits, some interesting questions were left out: what the typical day of a Russian student is like, whether Russians pay for school and have elective courses, what Russians know about Detroit, how often Russians use English, what are some Russian stereotypes about America, etc.
Alexander, HSE and University of London Double Degree Programme in Economics, International College of Economics and Finance, HSE University, Moscow: It was a true pleasure to chat with american students of the similar age, with whom we seem to share common interests and values. The talk, which lasted for more than 1,5 hours, provided us with some insights about life in the USA and allowed to exchange opinions on a wide range of topics, including music, cinema, politics. American students expressed the same level of curiosity about life in Russia, as we, Russian students, did about the life in the States. It would be great to have this type of communication more often.
In their reflection about the class, many American students complimented the Russian students’ amazing English, open-mindedness and kindness, and expressed their willingness to talk to the Russian students again.
Daniil, Undergraduate program in Economics, Faculty of Economic Sciences, HSE University, Moscow: It is really useful experience of communication with foreign students. Thanks to this we can not only improve our level of English, but also find out something new about Americans and American system of higher education. For example, I found out that Americans understand British analogs of their words. Thank you for such an opportunity!
Also from the American students’ feedback: If any of the Russian students are looking for penpals, many American students would be willing to participate!