Immigrants flock to Russian language camps
Published 18 June, 2008, 17:07
It’s a pleasant yearly ritual in Russia’s capital to send schoolchildren to summer camps for a few weeks, away from the noise and heat of Moscow. For children of immigrants to the country it’s a chance for them to improve their Russian, especially when their parents often don’t speak it that well.
As well as organising summer camps for around 270,000 children this year, the Moscow City government is funding language camps especially for children of immigrants.
The chairwoman of Moscow’s Department of Education, Olga Larionova, believes it is essential to improve the children’s grasp of the Russian language so they can keep up with their classmates in school.
“It’s often the case that the poor academic performance of children of recent immigrants is not because they don’t understand a particular subject, but that they simply don’t fully understand the exercises. That’s why we decided to set up these camps,” said Larionova.
The children’s parents often only have a basic knowledge of Russian, and sometimes none at all. The camps give the children a rare opportunity to completely immerse themselves in the language, which experts say is the quickest path to fluency.
In the camps the children will have daily formal language instruction for at least 90 minutes. They then have the rest of the day to play sports, go on trips and make new friends – all while speaking Russian, of course!
Moscow City is also organising an international summer camp this year. The city will welcome children from thirty countries to learn about the Russian language and its culture.
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