Employees of Tatarstan's ministries complete their English language training

The large-scale project organised by the republic's Ministry of Youth Affairs, Sports and Tourism and the FISU International Education Centre (FISU IEC), which provided free English language training to employees of the republic's ministries and their subsidiaries, as well as the hotel staff in the city of Kazan reached completion on 20 June.

More than 10,000 employees from 6 ministries and their subsidiaries ranging from doctors, conductors, managers, chamber maids, drivers, art workers, to police at the Ministry of the Interior have been trained in the basics of the English language.

The programme was designed by experts of FISU IEC together with tutors from the StarEnglish 2.0. project. The training was provided for employees of those enterprises who will be working with foreign participants in the Games and foreign visitors to Tatarstan's capital during the 27th Summer Universiade.

All students enrolled in the educational programme have received training in the skills required for a dialogue with foreigners and acquired a basic knowledge of colloquial English, as well as received special thematic Russian-English phrase books.

On 20 June the final meeting with participants of the project took place in the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Tatarstan. The Deputy Minister of Youth Affairs, Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Tatarstan, Sergey Ivanov, has expressed his gratitude to the project trainees, and presented letters of thanks to those team leaders who, during the project, coordinated the work of tutors and employees of the ministries, subsidiaries and hotels.

The project providing training in the basics of colloquial English commenced on 1 April 2013 and during two and a half months has covered more than 200 groups who were trained not only in Kazan, but also beyond its boundaries (Zelenodolsk, Nizhnekamsk, Almetyevsk, Naberezhnye Chelny). "Many thanks to all our instructors and organisers who spent several weeks with us and trained us. We have become friends and grown wiser owing to your infinite patience and assiduous work," said tutor Olga Prokofyeva in her thank-you speech.

It's noteworthy that all those involved in the English language training project are happy with the scale and results of the work. "The English language training for employees of Tatarstan's health care workers has left a good impression. The young tutors who asked the audience what tasks the group would have liked to carry out during the Games, and depending on the answers chose the most vital topics and emphasised those problems which the given employees might encounter. The project was really very necessary and important for doctors and medical workers," has noted the spokeperson of the Ministry of Health Care of Tatarstan, Alsu Tagirova.