The book – “Tales about important things” – is the work of two ILS 7th graders, Cho Yezi and Kim Haein, both from South Korea, and their teacher of Russian as a Foreign Language, Yulia Filatova.
“I used the textbook ‘Russian as a Foreign Language. Level A2’ by Elizaveta Khamrayeva and Elza Ivanova in my classes with Jezi and Haein,” Yulia Filatova explains. “To help them better understand the meaning of еру texts we read, as well as to motivate them and make the lessons more varied, I came up with the idea of a project: ‘A journey through Korean fairy tales,’ thanks to which the girls immersed themselves in the world of the Russian language. First, we studied Russian fairy tales on the topics and readings offered by the authors of our textbook: friendship, pride, happiness, faithfulness, love, travel, benefit, animals, sport and study.”
Over the course of one month, the students found and translated into Russian and English Korean tales on the same topics, while also making illustrations for them. Here is how the girls assess their work:
“I have always been interested in the differences between Russian and other languages,” says Jezi. “Translating fairy tales was a new way for me to learn Russian. One of the reasons why it was interesting to translate these tales was that the topics were so varied and each tale had its own moral.”
“At first the work was very difficult,” explains Haein. “But after I’d translated a few stories, I understood that it was very good practice. I am proud that I was able to translate 10 tales. My favorite was one about boastfulness called ‘The hungry wolf and the boastful ostrich.’ It is about a foolish, boastful ostrich whom the wolf wanted to eat. I liked the story because it was both fascinating and funny.”
Overall, the book took nearly six months to prepare, with the work including design, editing, page layout, and discussions with the publisher.
“As soon as Yulia came to me with her idea for the project ‘A journey through Korean fairy tales,’ I understood that it could lead to creation of a book,” explains ILS Principal Olga Shevchenko. “And so it did. Six months later, ‘Tales about important things’ was published. As teachers, it is our job to help students gain new knowledge, express themselves creatively, as well as to inspire them. It was quite by design that the book’s publication was timed to coincide with the visit to our school by Professor Elizaveta Khamrayeva, the author of textbooks on English as a foreign language.”
“When working on a textbook, you could hardly imagine that the methodological recommendations it contains could become the foundation for such a unique project,” notes Elizaveta Khramayeva. “The teacher structured her pupils’ study of Russian on their love of their native culture. What could be better? It is very pleasant to see how a teacher can rethink and strengthen, with her own ideas, the tasks provided by the authors of a textbook.”
