On the 12th of April 2021 we celebrate the 60th year of the first human flight into open space. Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin was the first man in the world to fly into space, having opened the way to the stars for humanity. A cultural event dedicated to his flight was held at the Department of Russian Language and called “The 12th of April – The Day of Cosmonautics”. International students of the Preparatory Department and first-year students of the Faculty of Medicine from Afghanistan, Ghana, Egypt, Congo, Mauritania, Palestine, Syria, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan learned information about this important event that marked the beginning of human space age.
The assistants of the Department of Russian Language N.A. Budanova and assistant E.Y. Borodina told about the most significant stages in the development of world cosmonautics, introduced the history of the creation of aircraft as well. The students learned the names of the discoverers of space, scientists and designers who took part in the creation of spacecraft. The students were greatly interested in the footage of the historical chronicle, that showed the launch of the Vostok-1 spacecraft with the first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin on board, the flight of the first woman cosmonaut V.V. Tereshkova, the first spacewalk of A.A. Leonova, walking on the Moon of American astronauts. During the lesson, it was noted that the milestones of space exploration had become a part of the common history of mankind, and this date itself truly unites many nations in a common desire to use space for peaceful purposes. The lesson ended with the test tasks that allowed to check the knowledge that had been gained during the lesson.
Cultural event “The 12th of April – The D
ay of Cosmonautics” facilitated to the building of general cultural competencies of international students, their social and cultural adaptation and improvement of the level of Russian language proficiency.
