belarus

Language Learning Community Life in Belarus

 

For those who are interested in language practice through a language learning community, this article describes the life of the three biggest language clubs in Belarus. You can use this expertise to organize your own language learning community in your city or borrow some useful ideas to make an existing one better.

 

What is a local language learning community?

 

It does not matter if you are a beginner or fully fluent, conversation exchange with real people is the best way to progress in any language. What you usually get from a tandem language exchange is not only active vocabulary practice, but also emotional interaction with interesting people (as every person is interesting!) and cool friends. For this purpose, people usually gather in one big language learning community and organize meetings somewhere in the city to practice language together by speaking and doing other activities.

 

French Club in Minsk

 

In order to find out what it is like to be a part of a local language learning community, we’ve talked to Elena Bazanova, the leader of the French Club in Minsk, Belarus. She is a professional linguist and works as a French and English teacher.

 

Elena Bazanova, leader of Minsk French Club Minsk
Elena Bazanova, leader of Minsk French Club
Minsk, Belarus

 

– Hi Elena, could you please briefly describe your language learning community?

Elena: Hi! Our club has been existing for around 3 years already. It was founded by one young man who is passionate about language learning, he was learning French and wanted to create a place where he could practise it. Personally, I started to manage it two years ago. At first, we didn’t have a lot of people, but now our online community has more than 680 members. We have people who come to every meeting, but there are also those who can’t visit the club very often. Our meetings take place in one of Minsk cafes or in the fresh air every Saturday, at 7 p.m. We also invite native speakers (generally, around 10-12 native speakers have already visited our club).

 

Minsk French Club at the picnic in Gorky park
Minsk French Club at the picnic in Gorky park

 

– What are some favorite activities the members do at the meetings?

Elena: We use board games or some activities in which you need to state and discuss your opinion about something. In this case, we choose a topic and discuss it. All opinions are nice. Also, a lot of our members have become really good friends and we discuss our typical day or share news articles and ideas we find interesting.

You don’t want to say: “you have 5-7 mistakes.“ It is really awful. If you want to help – do it carefully.’’

 

– What would you recommend any other language learning community to implement?

Elena: It should be free because the main thing is to help people. It is nice when everyone feels comfortable in sharing his or her ideas. Positive criticism is key and you should be careful about the way you provide feedback. You don’t want to say, “you have 5-7 mistakes.“ It is really awful. If you want to help – do it carefully.

 

Minsk French Club is at the picnic

Minsk French Club at the picnic in Gorky park

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

– Does Minsk French Club welcome new members?

Elena: Of course! The French language is very beautiful and romantic. As a lady, I like when a man speaks French, it makes him so gallant. Besides, I really love this community because it gives me power. I see I can help people: they find new friends, they speak French and they are happy.

So, if you want to be happy – join us!

If you want to improve your level of speaking French, it can be very useful for you. Also, if you want to find out more about another culture or traditions… our club is just the right place. Anyway, it will be very beneficial for you.

 

English Debating Club in Minsk


Nowadays, there are a lot of opportunities for learning foreign languages. It goes without saying, that the best way to improve language skills is by speaking and communicating with a native speaker. Moreover, providing an opportunity for language learners to practise in a relaxed and friendly environment is the key for being successful at teaching a foreign language.

We have interviewed Elena Dantsevich, a psychology teacher who is keen on learning languages and currently leads the English Debating Club in Minsk. She sees her mission as creating a favorable atmosphere in the class and promoting ‘soft’ approaches to teaching.

 

Elena Dantsevich, a leader of the English Debating Club in Minsk
Elena Dantsevich, a leader of the English Debating Club in Minsk

 

– Hi Elena, could you please tell a bit about your language community?

Elena: Our club has already existed for more than 3 years. Personally, I started to manage our club 6 month ago. Now our Internet community has more than 806 members. We have people who come to every meeting, but there are also those who can’t visit the club very often. Whenever we have a native speaker join us, we like to offer them an opportunity to judge our debate.

 

Discussion at the round table during the debates in the English Debating Club in Minsk
Discussion at the round table during the debates

 

– What do you do at the meetings?

Elena: Our “English Debating club” has a political debate format. It means that we discuss topics in the following way: members are divided into two teams – affirmative and negative. Each team chooses advocates and two speakers. Then the leader of the club gives 3 minutes for each advocate and 2 minutes for each speaker. The next step – teams discuss counterarguments and choose speakers number 3 and 4. Then these speakers tell us their main points during their allotted 2 minutes. In the end, advocates of each team underline the key points of their team. Then the leader or a judge (if any has been chosen before) announces the verdict: the main points of the topic and the winner of the debate. Usually, we discuss such topics as: ‘Volunteer opportunities are the best way to find yourself’ ‘Imagination is more important than knowledge’; ‘Gender education should be taught in schools’, etc.

 

– What would you recommend other language clubs to implement?

Elena: First of all, to believe in what you are doing. It is completely truthful that self-development requires a lot of effort. The second point is to store up positive emotions. I believe, that the leader of a language club should motivate each and every participant and give everyone an opportunity not only to win but to be successful. For example, at the last meeting of the academic year, we choose our best participants according to the work during the year. We have nominations like ‘FOUNDATION OF BACKGROUND’, ‘CONFIDENCE’, and ‘LOGICAL ARGUMENTS’.

 

Minsk English Debating Club awards
Minsk English Debating Club awards

 

– Why is your community worth joining?

Elena: Structured debating on interesting and informative topics gives us a valuable opportunity to learn to discuss issues in a non personal way while we work to improve our English language skills and public speaking ability. We play the debating games together with respect to each other, with gusto and merriment. The most positive side is that there are no formal teachers, but only friends and colleagues. Participants themselves feel confident while at the same time they are not afraid to make a mistake. All the members are motivated; the motto in their life is:

‘Stay hungry while you are learning, try to learn more and help your friends, be open-minded and acceptant to the new ideas’.

Our club helps members develop such personal qualities as explaining, inventing, improvising, illustrating, facilitating, coordinating, and delegating. Our meetings take place at the Pushkin Library in Minsk (Belarus), every second Friday at 18 pm. Join our community now! English native speakers are more than welcome!

We also organize more informal meetings. For example, a barbecue.

 

Minsk English Debating Club at a barbecue
Minsk English Debating Club is having a barbecue

 

To summarize, the English Debating Club plays a valuable role in each and every English language student’s experience. It gives the participants and moderators much freedom rooted in the community and a chance to have fun.

 

English Public Speaking Club in Minsk

 

Public speaking is a highly important skill in many professions. But it is rarely acquired naturally, usually one has to practise a lot to become a good speaker. Especially, when speaking in a foreign language. That is why it is great to be a member of a local community where you can train this skill.

We have asked a representative of the English Public Speaking Club in Minsk Alesia Teplyakova to tell what interesting is going on there. 

 

– Hi Alesia, what is the background of the community you are in?

Alesia: Minsk Public Speaking Club “SpeakUp” is an informal part of a worldwide toastmasters movement. There are about 16,000 toastmasters clubs in 142 countries! It’s a great language learning community with priceless experience in public speaking.

SpeakUp Club is the first club in Minsk where you can practice public speaking skills in English. The idea of the club came to Minsk from Kiev. In Ukraine, there are plenty of such kind of clubs in English, Ukrainian and Russian languages.

The community exists more than 3 years. There are more than 1,700 members in VK community, and we are also present on FB and YouTube.

 

English Public Speech Club 'SpeakUp', Minsk
English Public Speaking Club ‘SpeakUp’, Minsk

 

– What is the main goal and for whom is this club?

Alesia: The main goal of the club is to provide a place where people can improve their public speaking and leadership skills. There are no leaders in the club, only active members. People fulfill different roles every meeting: toastmaster, speakers, evaluators, grammarian, timer etc.

It is not the topic of your speech which is important, but the way you deliver your speech.

It doesn’t matter what topic you choose, it matters what skill you train during your speech: to deliver a speech in a structured way, to determine your general and specific purposes, to train word choice and arrangement, body language, vocal variety, etc.

SpeakUp Club is for you if you want to:

  • develop your administrative ability and leadership skills;
  • become confident and effective speaker;
  • be fluent in English;
  • improve both your social life and career.

Are ready for determined effort and methodical work? Join us!

 

Welcome to Minsk English Public Speech Club
Welcome to SpeakUp!

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