GOOD NEWS

At the end of August, “English for Academics” Book 1 was released for sale in bookstores all over the world. This was a long journey for British Council, Russia and we hope that this will mean that the coursebook has a long life.

Background

British Council, Russia has been working in the sphere of Internationalisation of Higher Education for several years. Our regular consultations with stakeholders confirmed that Russian universities often consider English as one of the key barriers for internationalisation. To explore the issue further in 2012 the British Council launched a baseline study in the area of English in higher education. The research led by UK and Russian experts – Richard West and Elena Frumina set the scene for English language provision and suggested some recommendations for improvement and further work and one of them in particular, was the need for an “English for Academics” coursebook.

The survey of teachers’ needs that was conducted before the start of the project also outlined that these issues are not unique to Russia and are relevant for many other countries. Hence, the decision was taken to ensure that the content of the book was applicable internationally.

“English for Academics” teaches features and skills in advanced English that academics are likely to use in their work; but what’s special about it is that it also teaches some valuable content that academics need to know in order to make best use of this language.

Penny Ur, ELT expert

Aim

The “English for Academics” coursebook was specially developed for university academics, research and administrative staff to develop the skills needed to participate effectively in international educational dialogue.

Heroes

We wanted the project to be implemented in a truly cooperative way, taking advantage of multiple expertise sources. With this in mind, we tendered out the contract for a UK consultant who needed to have previous experience not only in materials writing but in leading a team of authors. We are extremely proud that Rod Bolitho, Academic Director at the Norwich Institute for Language Education (NILE) applied and won this contract. We then enrolled 12 authors from all over Russia by means of open competition, who had some experience in materials writing and in teaching English in different sectors, including to academics.

We then announced a tender for a publisher to partner on the project and that’s how Cambridge University Press got on board. The unfailing reputation and expertise of the UK publishing house ensured that the book meets high international standards.

In February 2013, the British Council piloted the course materials. More than 60 universities in Russia, Israel, Ka-

Rod Bolitho presenting the coursebook during the Launch Event on August 28, Moscow

zakhstan, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Belarus participated in the piloting. As a result, over 450 questionnaires were collected, providing detailed feedback that allowed the authors to revise and improve the materials. The results confirmed that there is a huge demand for such a book among teachers and university staff, who want to use English in their work.

The book helps to broaden one’s knowledge of English and it also contains important academic information.

Piloting participant

Next Steps

On 28 August, the British Council held an event to celebrate the publication of Book 1. The presentation of the coursebook was a complete success and demonstrated once again the need for such a coursebook in the academic environment. For the next couple of months, together with Cambridge University Press we will be working on promoting “English for Academics” across the country and beyond. Meanwhile, Rod Bolitho together with the authors will continue to work on finalising the materials of Book 2, which will be published in spring 2015.

We are keeping our fingers crossed and believe that all the hard work put into this project will resonate in the academic world and will help universities to enter the international arena confidently and proudly.

I’d like to thank you for the book. The book is lovely and I wish I had this book 12 years ago when I was training professors of law and management, taking them to a true C1 level. But it’s such a pleasant surprise that at long last we have just what we need to address the needs of teachers of specialised disciplines rather than build something out of the existing CAE, so this is something that we have all been waiting for. Thank you!

Participant of the Launch Event, 28 August, Moscow

For more information please contact Maria Popova (maria.popova@britishcouncil.ru)

English

56

December 2014

GOOD NEWS

ENGLISH ESSAY COMPETITION FOR

SCHOOL AND UNIVERSITY STUDENTS:

“Unity in Diversity: Russia and the English-

Speaking World – 2014-2015”

The Kremlin Museums and Educational Company RELOD have announced the topics for the yearly English essay competition for school and university students: “Unity in Diversity: Russia and The English-Speaking World – 2014-2015”. This season the competition is timed with the “Charles Rennie Mackintosh: Manifest of the New Style” exhibition and is dedicated to the work of the great Scottish architect, designer and artist and the development of modern style in Europe and Russia.

The competition offers an opportunity for youth to express themselves creatively, to improve their English, learn more of the history and culture of the English-speaking countries and develop general educational activities and their skills in writing essays and synopses.

8th to 11th grade students and 1st to 3rd year university students are invited to participate. Both individual students and school teams will be able to participate in the competition (when an essay is written by a team of students from the same educational institution). Essays in English on the following topics will be accepted into the competition:

1.The Culture of the Modern Period in European Countries.

2.The Manifest of the “New Style”. The work of C.R. Mackintosh.

3.C.R. Mackintosh and the Russian Viewer. One Hundred Years Later.

4.The World of Russian Modernity.

5.The Modern Style in My Home City.

6.European Art and the Birth of Russian Modernity.

About the Competition

The Educational Company RELOD working in cooperation with Oxford University Press has been organizing international foreign language competitions for school and university students and teachers for 8 years as part of the OxBridge international program for integrating the main and additional English language education at educational institutions.

As of 2012 the Moscow Kremlin Museums act as a partner of the OxBridge program being in charge of the educational and cultural component of the English language essay competitions in order to encourage students to study the history, culture and economy of English-speaking countries. Competitions are held in

the form of research projects involving the completion of creative and quasi-creative assignments in line with the subject matter of the exhibitions held by the Kremlin Museums.

On the British side, the competition is sponsored by the cousin of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II His Royal Highness Prince Michael of Kent.

Teachers at the best schools in Moscow and Russia are on the panel of judges at the competition.

All the participants are given certificates, prizes and gifts by the competition’s sponsors and partners. The main prize is an opportunity to study at one of the best language schools in Moscow. The rules of the competition are available at www.relod.ru

For further details please contact

the press service of the Moscow Kremlin Museums: Elena Kostyukova

press@kremlin.museum.ru Tel.: +7 (495) 695-41-87

the press service of RELOD Company: Shigapova Maria maria.shigapova@relod.ru

Tel.: +7 (495) 956-37-19, ext. 113, 115

The Speech of Prince Michael of Kent to the participants of the contest “Unity in Diversity. Russia and the English-Speaking World”

This contest focuses on the common ground the two countries have in many areas, for example, education, where high school students, teachers and parents, are united by common interests.

It is a commendable desire to make learning more interesting for all involved in it, and to support research in intercultural interaction and integration between the two countries: Russia and Great Britain.

The contest “Unity in diversity. Russia and the English-Speaking world “is a bridge between the two countries, cultures, and peoples. This competition promotes the development of closer relations between Russia and Britain, strengthening cultural links between us. The competition is held for the 9th time and highlights the important task for the two countries: to learn from the lessons the past and the present times present for us, how the life of every citizen and entire nations are affected by the decisions we make, and how to build an economy that can withstand any crisis and cope with any challenge in the modern world.

I am proud of the contest participants. I was greatly impressed with the results of the competitions in the previous years, and I hope the interest in learning English will never die away.

I wish all the participants success and hope that your findings of similarities and differences in history, culture and economy of the two countries will be truly amazing, and your essays be of real cultural and historic interest.

I congratulate you on your participation in the contest “Unity in Diversity. Russia and the English-Speaking World “and wish you great achievements in your further explorations and studies!