Maria Tarasova and Alina Bibikova, students of the Faculty of History, Languages and Literature of the Institute of Teacher Education at Penza State University, won the educational intensive course organized by the "For Russian!" volunteer movement. The competition was held from October 15 to 17 at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation in Moscow. The students from Penza successfully completed all the tests and will be traveling to Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan for internships this November.

The project aims at studying and promoting the Russian language abroad. Students who participated in the event underwent a competitive selection process that included two rounds.

The intensive course brought together representatives from various cities across the Russian Federation: Moscow, Blagoveshchensk, Yoshkar-Ola, Kaliningrad, Penza, Rostov-on-Don, Tomsk, Cheboksary, and others, as well as participants from Armenia and Tajikistan.

Future volunteers attended workshops where they discussed issues related to literature and contemporary Russian linguistic culture. They participated in training sessions to develop the necessary competences for implementing project initiatives. In special sessions, they learned the fundamentals of teaching Russian as a foreign language. Leading practitioners from the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation and Lomonosov Moscow State University shared invaluable experience with the intensive course participants.

Penza State University was represented by three students: Maria Tarasova, Alina Bibikova, and Daria Falaleeva.

Of the 70 participants in the educational intensive course, 33 became winners and runners-up and received internships abroad. Among them were PSU students Maria Tarasova (winner) and Alina Bibikova (runner-up). In November, Maria will have internship in Kyrgyzstan, and Alina in Tajikistan. The students' mentor is Inessa Rodionova, Doctor of Philology, Associate Professor, and Head of the Department of Russian Language and Methods of Teaching Russian.

Daria Falaleeva received a certificate of participation in the educational intensive course. Her mentor was Lyudmila Guryanova, senior lecturer in the Department of Russian Language and Methods of Teaching Russian.