VIRTUAL MADRID FOCUS ON PEDAGOGY

Abstract

Extracurricular activities in foreign language teaching in HE are often unrecognised and viewed as informal work that comes under the initiative of language teachers and takes place in the background. However, they have a significant impact on students’ language acquisition and understanding of culture, as well as multiple skills and motivation. I have organised various extracurricular activities with our students and the conclusion I have come to through my experience is that performances are especially valuable for the students’ learning. These activities help the students to improve their language skills and acquire a deeper cultural understanding as well as improve their results in language and culture modules. Although there is no formal assessment, strict self-assessment and constructive comments from the peers and the teacher are important. Positive reaction and feedback from the audience and comments on YouTube from all over the world give an enormous sense of achievement and boost self-confidence and intrinsic motivation. The students gain confidence in using Russian and speaking for the audience. They develop many useful soft skills important for life and work, which I will talk about. Extracurricular activities contribute positively to student satisfaction and should become an important part of the language learning experience.