DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES OF SOCIAL AND CULTURAL COMPETENCE DUE TO THE RESOURCES OF MULTIMEDIA HISTORICAL PARK “RUSSIA IS MY HISTORY”

Abstract

The main objective of teaching a foreign language is the formation of learners’ communicative competence. Alongside with speech and language components, social and cultural competence which is directed at acquainting with culture and traditions of the language studied as well as the ability to introduce one’s country and its culture in cross-cultural communication is especially relevant. The authors emphasize the necessity to observe social and cultural competence from the point of view of “Russian national wellbeing” and the ability to introduce it on the international arena. “Russia Is My History” – Multimedia Historical Park – whose audiovisual and interactive contents can greatly contribute to integration of subject studies and formation of learners’ social and cultural competence, offers up-to-date opportunities to realize modern learning strategies and educational tasks. Park resources and their counterparts can be employed to activate the acquired knowledge and to introduce new material in an accessible and rather an appealing form. Integration of subject matter and extra-curricular activity will provide for effective educational environment while various techniques and patterns contribute to successful acquisition of topical vocabulary, cultural and historical elements and different ways to express ideas in a foreign language. In addition, the authors demonstrate example tasks for general questioning, group and individual work with the resources of Multimedia Park “Russia Is My History” as well as lessons units in English and German whose goal is to develop learners’ social and cultural competence.