Language Contacts between China and Russia: from Classical Schools to a Virtual Educational Environment

Abstract

The Russian language has been studied in Chinese educational institutions for more than three centuries, gaining more and more popularity. In the context of strengthening cooperation between Russia and China in the socio-economic, cultural and educational spheres, the knowledge of the languages of both countries becomes especially important. Currently, many Chinese schools, universities and language centers offer the study of Russian as a foreign language, and there are hundreds of Russian language teachers working in the country. In recent years, Russian language teaching has become possible in a virtual educational environment, including in a distance format at Russian universities. Digital resources and opportunities for learning foreign languages are widely used in China: more and more students choose the Internet and various virtual services to learn Russian. Chinese students of the Russian language take online lessons from native speakers, use a variety of applications, websites, dictionaries, and translators for the Russian Language translation. One of the main problems when studying Russian by Chinese students is the problem of rapid and successful formation of communicative competence. We believe that the most effective intensifying technologies in working with Chinese students are the activation of internal reserves of the individual, high motivation. They can be achieved using the project method and the gamification of the learning process. In the context of online learning, the most effective means of forming communicative competence by creating a Russian-language virtual environment is the voice assistant “Alice”.