VITEBSK, 16 August (BelTA) – Staff of Vitebsk State University (VSU) is working on a Russian language textbook for refugees, head of the VSU Department of the Russian Language for Foreigners Sergei Yakovlev said as he met with Jean-Yves Bouchardy, Representative of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the Republic of Belarus, BelTA has learned.
The textbook will be published in May 2019.
Vitebsk State University has been running the Russian language courses for refugees as part of a cooperation project with the UNHCR for six years already. Financial assistance was provided to purchase 12 computers. However, some issues remained unresolved, in particular, no study plan was adopted.
“This year we worked on the first stage of the study plan that corresponds to the first year of study. As far as I know, the second stage is being developed by our colleagues from Minsk. The study plan was approved at all the levels and was endorsed in June. There are no Belarusian textbooks for foreigners, we used Russian textbooks sometimes; however, they do not suit us as the assignments suggested by these textbooks are based on the Russian reality. So we decided to come up with our own textbook for refugees,” Sergei Yakovlev said.
A Russian language group usually comprises about 10 people. The group included citizens of Iraq, Iran, Syria, Cuba, the United Sates and other countries. A new group will be enrolled in the autumn.
