ИСТИНА

This presentation reports on the context, principal ideas and practices of integrating Russian culture into an EFL course for Russian schools at levels 2–11 published by Akademkniga/Uchebnik under the academic supervision of Prof. Svetlana G. Ter-Minasova. After many Iron Curtain decades when Russia was completely isolated from the “capitalist countries” including – or rather headed by – the English-speaking world, now that the time of free mass communication has come, the main task and challenge of ELT in Russia is to enable Russian students to tell the world about Russia and Russians in the language of international communication. The course we designed for Russian schoolchildren not only teaches English and the culture of English-speaking countries, but also juxtaposes it with the Russian cultural heritage. This method is implemented through the following techniques: 1) texts in English about cultures of English-speaking countries, 2) texts in English about Russian culture, 3) projects based on students’ personal experience and background knowledge of both their hometown and country. It should be underlined that these texts are presented not only for the sake of developing cultural awareness, but they are also designed for developing language skills. This method is believed to be essential for fostering cultural identity in Russian schoolchildren and could be adopted by teachers from other countries with special adaptations to their cultural perspective.