Forming students’ patriotic values with the help of foreign language practice (based on the experience of St. Petersburg State University of Culture)

The article is devoted to the topical issue of patriotic values formation at the University of Culture. It focuses on the analysis of translation practice reports from the Linguistic Department students at St. Petersburg State University of Culture. The translation practice was held at St. Petersburg State Memorial Museum of the Defense and the Siege of Leningrad. The students were to translate from Russian into English parts of the blockade diary written by a fifteen-year-old teenager Igor Nikitin. While working at the translation of the diary and overcoming translation difficulties, the students were able to comprehend the great heroism of the Russian people which was recorded in this document. In their reports and during the round table discussion after the translation practice they provided valuable feedback. The students underlined that while translating the diary they achieved deeper understanding of the tragic events in the history of our country, which helped them to perceive the hardships endured by the young generation of that time, and to feel deep gratitude for the Victory in the Great Patriotic War. The analysis of the students’ translation practice reports made it possible to develop indicators assessing students’ patriotic competence. The proposed form of patriotic education should become new and relevant work with students of linguistic specialties at foreign language departments in different Russian universities.