2018, 23-25 AUGUST - MINSK, BELARUS. ENGLISH LANGUAGE COURSES FOR LIBRARIANS (ESP)

PHOTO

lnss curs engleza minsk 2On...August...23-25 2018, the English courses for librarians English for Specific Purposes (ESP) were organized at the Belarusian State University Fundamental Library in the framework of Erasmus+ project ”Library Network Support Services (LNSS): modernizing libraries in Armenia, Moldova and Belarus through library staff development and reforming library services”.

The training was held by the representatives of the Project partner ”The Pyramid Group” (Germany) - Professor Gerard Cullen and the trainer Valeriya Racheeva.

USARB was represented by Elena Harconita, Director, Aculina Mihaluta, Deputy Director, Igor Afatin, Deputy Director, Valentina Topalo, Chief librarian at the Scientific Library of Alecu Russo Balti State University.

The training covered the following issues:

  • Presentation of the Dissemination and Sustainability Plans in English of each partner from Moldova and Belarus;
  • Presentation of the LNSS Project pages in English language from the partner institutions sites;
  • The Preliminary draft of the LNSS Project Final Conference program;
  • Visiting the National Library of the Republic of Belarus and the Belarusian State University Fundamental Library.

lnss curs engleza minsk 4

According to the program, project team from Balti made two presentations which were highly appreciated by the trainers.

The training was targeted to English speakers ESP A1-A2, the trainer Valeriya Racheeva and (EMI focus) B1 + English speakers, trained by Professor Gerard Cullen.

During the three days, the participants got acquainted with interactive resources in Open Access regarding learning English language (dictionaries, textbooks, videos, etc.) and learned how to develop effective communication skills to improve their knowledge in the field. They learned the Global Trend of English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) in higher education which refers to instruction of university level major courses through the medium of English, a foreign language in the context of the majority of European Union and Partner countries.

lnss curs engleza minsk 3

The training program ended with discussions and proposals on the Final Conference of the LNSS Project, to be held on October 3rd and 5th, 2018 in Chisinau, Republic of Moldova. University librarians have understood how and where to look for hundreds of pages for Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), this being “a dual-focused educational approach in which an additional language is used for the learning and teaching of both content and language”. The term CLIL was coined and officially adopted by the European Network of Administrators, Researchers and Practitioners (EUROCLIC) in 1996 (Marsh, 2002). Even though the origins of CLIL are often linked to French immersion programs in North America for bilingual teaching models, with the Bologna Process initiate in 1999, many European universities have become increasingly interested in internationalization, and for this reason English is used as the language of instruction in non-English speaking countries.

Vladimir Kulazhanka PHD, Director of the host library has interrupted his summer vacation to enjoy the pleasure of handing the participants the certificates from training English Language Courses for Librarians (ESP).

We mention the importance of such training in partner institutions that contribute to the development of the Project, the assimilation of new knowledge, experiences, good practices, the strengthening and establishment of new professional relationships.

Also, in these days the Moldovan university librarians have benefited of visiting two of the largest libraries in Europe: the National Library of the Republic of Belarus and the Fundamental Library of the State University of Belarus.

The National Library of Belarus, founded on 15 September 1922, is one of the largest and most impressive libraries in the world. The library's main architectural component has the shape of a a rhombicuboctahedron, which lights at night. The building contains 23 floors and the height of the building is 73.6 meters. It is open to the public since 2006 and can receive 2 000 readers at the same time and features a 500-seat conference hall. The library hosts more than two million exhibits, art galleries, and the library's roof is located on the 23rd floor. Panoramic viewing platform shows an interesting perspective on the ongoing Minsk urban landscape.

The Belarusian State University Fundamental Library (BSU FL) was founded on October 30, 1921 and is one of the oldest and biggest university libraries in the Republic of Belarus.

By the beginning of 1941 the fund of the university library consisted of 200 thousands of volumes. During Minsk occupation by Hitler time, the fascists destroyed the larger part of books of the university library and a part of valuable literature was removed to Germany.

At present, the Belarusian State University Fundamental Library holds about 2 million volumes; provides services for 26 thousand users, 820 seats in reading rooms and media libraries, 139 full-time employees, 8 home loan departments and 16 specialized reading rooms. Every year, the library acquires over 20 000 copies of new publications, receives 427 titles of national and foreign periodicals, conducts international book exchange with 93 scientific and educational organizations from 24 countries.