In September, students from the Department of Russian as a Foreign Language at the Institute of International Cooperation, Penza State University, taking the courses 45.03.02 Linguistics, 44.03.01 Pedagogical Education (programme: Russian as a Foreign Language), and 45.04.01 Philology (Master's degree programme: Russian as a Foreign Language), visited the Penza Planetarium.

The students were accompanied by teachers Olga Barabash (25ИЛК1, 25ИФРм1, 24ИФРм1), Roman Shirshakov (group 25ИПУ1), Anna Khabibulina (group 23ИПУ1), and Natalia Zagumennikova (group 23ИЛК1).

Future linguists, Russian language teachers, and philologists from Algeria, India, China, Lebanon, Morocco, Sudan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan were deeply interested in learning about the history of the Penza Planetarium. They learned about the training and spaceflight of the first cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, the changing seasons, and a number of physical phenomena that help explain the laws of the universe. The tour focused on the achievements of modern cosmonautics and the contributions of the Penza region and Penza cosmonaut Aleksandr Samokutyayev to its development. This was a significant discovery for the students: they saw that the city where they now live and study is closely connected to the history of space exploration.

At the end of the excursion, the students watched a film under the planetarium dome dedicated to the first human spaceflight, heard Gagarin's voice, and saw the Earth as he first saw it from space.

"The tour was amazing! I love the stars, and visiting a planetarium was a childhood dream of mine. I thank our university for this opportunity; we learned so many interesting things about space and astronauts," shared Shiban Litissia, a first-year student from Algeria.

A visit to the planetarium was a truly educational and engaging experience for the international students.

"It's crucial to introduce international students to Penza's landmarks and our country's scientific and cultural heritage. This broadens their horizons, develops an objective understanding of Russia, and subsequent joint discussions of what they've seen help them improve their communication skills and proficiency in Russian," noted Olga Barabash, Head of the Department of Russian as a Foreign Language.