ILS participated for the first time in the “Russkoye slovo” (Russian word) Youth Festival in South Korea, and our delegation’s debut was most impressive. The delegation included a group of 6th graders and their homeroom teacher, Raisa Soroka; the “Vdokhnovenie” (Inspiration) fashion theater, led by Tatyana Vetokhina; and members of the “Boyarushka” historical costume studio, led by Olga Lukinets.
Our students were awarded a winners diploma at the festival for their enactment of the poem “Telephone,” written by Korney Chukovsky.
My phone began to chant.
Who’s there?
It is the elephant.
Everyone whose native language is Russian learns these lines as a child, and the audience recalled the words of this famous poem throughout the performance, which was a memorable event for all participants.
“The idea of the ‘Russkoye slovo’ festival is to popularize the Russian language in South Korea,” explains delegation leader Valentina Kovaleva, who teaches Russian language at ILS and serves as the head of the school’s International Center. “We tried to show our colleagues from Korean schools the magnificence and variety of the cultural heritage of Russia that has accumulated over the ages.
The audience was also impressed by the “Fairy Tale Gzhel” collection of our Fashion and Style studio.
“The costumes were very beautiful,” says 8th grader Daria Odnodvorets (section 8M2). “We tried to demonstrate the greatness of Russian folk art to our Korean peers.”
One of the high points of the festival was a master class on the history of Russian costumes, given by Olga Lukinets.
“The Boyarushka studio was created to popularize Russian folk culture among ILS students,” Olga Lukinets explained to her audience. “The children study and create head wear, other elements of Russian costume, as well as dolls with costumes worn in the VII-IX centuries in Russian provinces.”
The audience examined the various parts of the costumes presented, admiring the techniques used to create them.
Pavel Soloviev, who represents the Russian federal agency Rossotrudnichestvo in South Korea, had high praise for our school’s contribution to the festival. In his letter of thanks to ILS, he wrote: “We express our gratitude for your active participation and your contribution to the development of the Russian Word Youth Theatrical Festival, whose mission is to popularize the study of Russian language and culture in Korean schools and strengthen the relationship between Russia and South Korea.”
“The invitation to the festival was a great honor and responsibility, as we were representing our country, Russia” notes ILS Principal Olga Shevchenko. “We were very pleased that our efforts were so well received. Pupils from South Korea study in our school, and they greatly enjoy studying the Russian language and learning about our culture. Thanks to the high professionalism of our Russian language teachers, every year international students graduating from ILS continue their education at Lomonosov Moscow State University.”
