EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES AS A MEANS OF FORMING INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE OF STUDENTS

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to generalize the experience of developing intercultural competence of students at a pedagogical university in extracurricular activities. In this article, the authors present results of implementation of the “Hard to Forget” project and the activities of the student club of the same name. Club members carry out volunteer activities to preserve cultural values, help in collecting factual data about Orenburg residents, participants in the Great Patriotic War and home front workers. As part of the project, first- and second-year students, under the guidance of teachers from the Department of Foreign Languages of the Orenburg State Pedagogical University, annually conduct excursions in foreign languages (English and German) at the exhibition complex “Salute! Victory!”. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the involvement of students from non-linguistic faculties in translation activities in the context of developing intercultural competence of students. An intercultural approach allows us to identify certain cultural nuances in the interpretation of a given historical event, to show the peculiarities of the diverse reflection of historical realities by lexical units of different languages. In addition, an excursion to the museum and exhibition complex has educational potential—students become familiar with the history of the Orenburg region during the Great Patriotic War and learn new information about their fellow countrymen. The authors of the article come to the conclusion that the functioning of patriotic clubs realizes not only the educational, but also the educational potential of extracurricular activities, and develops the need for intercultural communication.