Using an Interactive Guide to Organize Training in Guided Tour Lessons: A Case Study on 'Maslenitsa Traditions'

Karabanova Ekaterina Nikolaevna ORCID: 0009-0003-1387-0646 Lecturer; Department of Russian Language No.5; Patrice Lumumba Peoples' Friendship University of Russia 115142, Russia, Moscow, Zatonnaya str., 14, building 2, sq. 37 karabanova-en@pfur.ru Other publications by this author

This article was previously published in Russian in the journal Pedagogy and Education, available at this link: https://nbpublish.com/ppmag/contents_2024.html.

Introduction

Information and communication technologies (ICT) are important in modern RCT teaching methods. Their active development opens up new opportunities for teaching and learning, offering innovative approaches and tools for transferring and assimilating educational material ^{[1, p. 126]}. The authors of scientific publications repeatedly emphasize that ICTs serve as the basis for introducing innovative methods in teaching foreign languages, contributing to the integration of methodological potential in developing new practices and approaches ^{[2, p. 82]}.

One of the promising directions of using ICT in the practice of teaching RCT is the creation of an interactive guide as a means of organizing learning within the framework of a guided lesson aimed at developing language skills, activating vocabulary and grammar, stimulating group work in the learning process, as well as the formation of communicative and socio-cultural competence ^{[3, p. 376]}. From here, we will define the scientific problem of the study, which is to substantiate the effectiveness of ICT in developing and conducting a lesson tour on the topic of "carnival traditions" for international students. The working hypothesis is that using ICT can increase students' interest in the subject being studied and provide a deeper understanding of the cultural characteristics of a traditional holiday by including elements of interactivity in the learning process.

The study's scientific novelty is its description of using ICT tools to create an interactive guide as part of a guided tour on the topic of "carnival traditions." The tour aims to develop the communicative, linguistic, and socio-cultural competencies of non-philological international students studying Russian at the B1 level. However, the research's scientific novelty is due to the insufficient use of ICT tools as the main components of creating and conducting a lesson tour.

The object of this research is to introduce ICT into foreign language education. The subject of this research is to change the content of the teaching methodology of RCT by introducing ICT into the learning process.

The study aims to create an interactive guide within the framework of a guided tour lesson, which allows international students to familiarize themselves with Russian culture by studying the celebration of Maslenitsa. Three tasks were completed for this purpose:

1. To identify the methodological potential of ICT as a means of organizing education in groups of international students;

2. To develop a system of exercises as part of an interactive guided tour on the topic "carnival traditions" for international students and create worksheets;

3. To introduce an interactive guide on "Maslenitsa traditions" into the experiential learning process in groups of non-philological international students at the B2 level of the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia. Patrice Lumumba.

The following approaches have become the theoretical and methodological basis of the research:

1. A systematic approach ^[4] considers the process of forming communicative competence as an integrated system within the framework of an interactive lesson tour.

2. The competence approach ^[5] determines the importance of forming competency in the RCT teaching methodology in the framework of an interactive lesson tour.

3. A communicative approach ^[6] that forms the skills and abilities of speaking Russian as part of an interactive lesson tour.

4. A socio-cultural approach ^[7], which allows them to master socio-cultural knowledge about the Russian people's spiritual values and cultural traditions, as well as the rules of oral communication with native speakers of the Russian language, in the framework of an interactive lesson tour.

5. A personal-activity approach ^[8], which allows you to create a personalized learning environment within the framework of an interactive lesson tour.

Methods and materials

The research methods involved studying and retrospectively analyzing scientific and methodological literature on topical issues related to the use of ICT in teaching RCT and modern developments in guided tours. The Russian Language Department No. 5 of the RUDN University Institute of Russian Language conducted experimental training to prove the effectiveness of the interactive guide created, and the results obtained during the research on this issue were analyzed.

The results of the study and their discussion

To solve the first problem, the development of guided lessons in the RCT teaching methodology was analyzed to determine their specifics. Many researchers (Popova K.A., Kocaespirova G.M., Shchukin A.N., etc.) define an excursion lesson as a specific educational form that allows international students to study cultural phenomena in their natural environment. Thus, according to Popova K.A., including a guided tour lesson in the educational process becomes an effective means of maintaining motivation to study the Russian language and culture ^{[9, p. 33]}.

When introducing this form of education into the process of mastering Russian as a foreign language, much attention is paid to the development of socio-cultural competence, which implies students' knowledge of the cultural characteristics of native speakers' speech behavior: their etiquette, stable stereotypical rules, customs, history, as well as ways to use this knowledge in the communication process. A.N. Shchukin notes that the acquisition of socio-cultural competence in RCT classes takes place within the framework of a dialogue of cultures, taking into account differences in perception of the world, which, in turn, contributes to effective intercultural understanding and the formation of a "secondary linguistic personality" ^{[10, p. 139]}.

An urgent problem in the modern teaching methodology of RCT is the choice between an interactive lesson with a methodologist teacher and an excursion with a professional guide. L.V. Panova focuses on the choice of conducting an excursion with a methodologist teacher, arguing that the speech of an experienced guide is characterized by a fast rate of pronunciation and an abundance of complex lexico-grammatical structures. In contrast, the speech of a methodologist teacher is based on the damage to students' language training and their speech capabilities ^{[11, p. 113]}.

One relevant direction in the RCT teaching methodology is the active introduction of ICT into the learning process. This allows for a variety of educational forms and teaching methods, including conducting guided tours, and creates conditions for more effective assimilation of not only educational but also socio-cultural material. In A.M. Yamaletdinova and A.S. Medvedeva’s research, it is noted that introducing ICT into the educational process solves several functions: teaching, developing, educating, cognitive, and motivating ^{[12, p. 1135]}.

The main advantages of ICT in the RCT teaching methodology are interactivity and graphical visualization of educational material. Using static and dynamic graphics not only improves the perception process but also allows for a vivid and accessible explanation of complex linguistic phenomena ^{[13, p. 210]}. Creating educational content using these tools helps increase students' motivation, improve the effectiveness of the educational process, and develop information literacy skills ^{[14, p. 1452]}. Moreover, using ICT helps to develop communicative, linguistic, and socio-cultural competence effectively ^{[15, p. 120]}.

By analyzing modern developments in the field of conducting guided tours ^{[9],[16],[17],[18],[19]}, we came to the conclusion that the inclusion of ICT in the RCT learning process opens up new opportunities that allow us to create guided tours, the purpose of which is to immerse international students in Russian culture. However, the research analysis revealed that video materials and illustrative tools are mainly used in educational excursions, which indicates insufficient use of the potential of ICT. Therefore, our research aims to actively introduce interactive elements into the organization of the chosen form of education by including animation, graphics, interactive presentations, and cartoons in the learning process.

It should be noted that based on the results of the analysis of the above studies, we have revealed that the methodological potential of using ICT in the framework of conducting a lesson tour is as follows:

1. Interactivity of the educational material. ICT allows you to create interactive materials that contribute to the active involvement of students in the learning process, increase their interest, and motivate them to study the Russian language and Russian culture.

2. Graphic visualization. Static and dynamic graphics make it possible to explain complex linguistic phenomena visually and easily. It should be noted that visualization makes the meaning of cultural phenomena (symbols, traditional holidays, architecture, etc.) more accessible to international students studying Russian.

3. Development of linguistic and communicative competence. The introduction of ICT allows you to create interactive exercises on aspects of language and types of speech activity.

4. Development of socio-cultural competence. ICT helps international students familiarize themselves with Russia's cultural and historical features through virtual museum tours, documentaries, static and dynamic presentations, flash maps, etc.

5. Stimulating creativity. A wide variety of ICT tools allows students to create their own projects, such as virtual tours, blogs, or multimedia presentations about Russia. This helps them develop their creative abilities and improve their speech skills.

So, the use of ICT in the framework of a guided tour lesson has a significant number of advantages. The use of ICT not only improves the perception of educational material but also helps to increase the motivation of international students and stimulates their active participation in the learning process. Thanks to the interactivity, visibility, and the possibility of integrating multimedia resources, ICT allows students to immerse themselves more deeply into the authentic environment of Russian culture and create conditions for their active interaction with cultural aspects. All this will enable us to substantiate the hypothesis about the effectiveness of using ICT to create an interactive guided tour on the topic of "carnival traditions," which is aimed at deepening students' knowledge of Russian culture, linguistic diversity, historical roots, and traditions.

To solve the second problem, educational and methodological literature was analyzed ^{[20],[21],[22]}, which allowed us to determine the structure of an interactive lesson/guided tour on the topic of "carnival traditions." It was revealed that there are three main stages in the organization of an excursion: preparatory, main, and final ^{[23, p. 602]}. The first stage prepares students to perceive the material by introducing lexical and grammatical material and necessary terms and working with the educational text. As part of implementing ICT, the preparatory stage can be presented in interactive worksheets, which include a set of tasks that differ in their visibility. This way of presenting the material will ensure international students are ready to immerse themselves in an authentic environment. The main stage is an interactive guided tour, during which you get to know the objects and phenomena related to the lesson's topic. Note that many researchers (Belikhina E.N., Sokolova T.M., Koroleva I.A.) pay attention to conducting an excursion lesson in which students act not as participants but as organizers, which undoubtedly increases their motivation for the learning process ^{[24, p. 8]}. The final stage involves discussing the interactive guided tour and summarizing the results. As part of implementing ICT, the final stage can be organized as a game, quiz, crossword puzzle, or test.

The structure of the guided tour lesson consists of a number of stages:

1. Lexical and grammatical training includes working with different types of speech activity.

1.1. Conducting lexical and grammatical work (working with text, pre-text, and post-text exercises)

1.2. Updating knowledge, expanding lexical and grammatical work (working with text, pre-text, post-text exercises)

1.3. Discussion of the upcoming excursion (choice of location)

2. The event (interactive tour).

2.1. Working with the guide sheet

3. Discussion and control of knowledge

3.1. Discussion of the tour

3.2. Completing the crossword puzzle

3.3. Writing an essay

3.4. Test execution

4. An additional application consisting of authentic material on a given topic.

The initial stage (lexical and grammatical preparation) involves classroom work, during which students learn about the traditional Russian holiday of Maslenitsa. This stage is included in the developed technology to prepare international students for an interactive tour. At this stage, there is work with language material and different types of speech activity: work with a system of pre-text, pre-text, and post-text exercises, work with text, and discuss the material covered.

International students are invited to watch Russian videos (Look, Maslenitsa, Smeshariki: Maslenitsa, Prince Vladimir, and others) to immerse themselves in the natural language environment.

The inclusion of the initial lexico-grammatical stage is the basis of an interactive lesson, as it is here that the language difficulties that students may encounter in subsequent stages are removed. The purpose of the teacher at the preparatory stage is to interest students, explain the importance of the Russian Maslenitsa holiday, show the full flavor of Russian traditions and beliefs, and point out the historical value of cultural heritage. It is worth noting the importance of visibility, which implies the principle of activity, in which international students will be motivated to study Russian culture further and attend excursions.

At the initial stage of the technology development, the teacher provides a choice of an interactive excursion vector. Among the popular areas of celebration of the main spring celebration in Russia are the following: "Maslenitsa in Tsaritsyno," "Maslenitsa at VDNKH," and "Celebration of Maslenitsa in the Ethno-world."

The first lesson

Pre-text exercises:

Task 1. Connect words with pictures (winter, spring, pancakes, sun, holiday, buffoon, samovar, scarecrow, balalaika) (Fig 1, 2).

Methodological recommendations: This exercise aims to discover new knowledge by working with lexical material. At this stage, the teacher introduces new material and prepares students for further work with the text on the topic of "Maslenitsa."

Task 2. Read the text about the Russian holiday "Maslenitsa" (Fig. 3).

"Maslenitsa"

Maslenitsa is a special and wonderful Russian holiday! This holiday lasts for a whole week, from Monday to Sunday. Traditionally, during this week, Russian people say goodbye to the cold winter and welcome a warm, sunny, gentle spring. It is customary to cook pancakes during this holiday week. Many Russian people eat pancakes with jam, honey, or condensed milk. It's delicious! Pancakes are often eaten with butter. That's why the name of the holiday is "Maslenitsa"! In ancient times, it was believed that the pancake symbolized the sun. It's just as bright, yellow, and round!

Methodological recommendations: The compiled text contains regional information that will introduce international students to the culture of the Russian people. Reading the text will prepare students for the guided tour.

Post-text exercises:

Task 3. Answer the questions.

1. Tell me, what do you like to eat pancakes with? (honey, jam, caviar, strawberries, chocolate, butter, sour cream, fish)

Methodological recommendations: The exercise aims to work out the topic "T.P. in the meaning of compatibility." Students put the words in the correct form.

2. Tell me, what do you know about Maslenitsa?

Methodological recommendations: The exercise is communicative; students explain what they have learned about the holiday.

Homework assignment:

Task 1. Look at:

1. Cartoon "Look at you, Maslenitsa"

2. Cartoon "Smeshariki: Maslenitsa"

3. A brief history of Maslenitsa

4. Cartoon "Prince Vladimir"

Methodological recommendations: Students watch the videos independently by scanning the QR code in the workbook.

The second lesson

Pre-text exercises:

Task 1. Make up words from letters according to pictures (winter, pancakes, jam, scarecrow, sun, holiday, samovar, spring, butter, Maslenitsa) (Fig. 4)

Methodological recommendations: The exercise is included in the system of lessons on the topic "Maslenitsa" and is aimed at updating the knowledge that students acquired in the previous lesson. The workbook contains pictures for students to assemble words from the suggested letters.

Task 2. Read new words (bonfire, round dance, traditions, festivities, accordion, sledge, and days of the week) (Fig. 5)

Methodological recommendations: The exercise includes new vocabulary that prepares students to read the text.

Task 3. Read the text.

"Carnival Week"

Maslenitsa is an enjoyable Russian holiday! The Carnival week is very busy. On Tuesday, people go outside and play various fun games. On Wednesday, it is customary to visit family and friends and eat pancakes. On Thursday, you can go for walks and ice skating or sledding. And Sunday is the most important day! On this day, a straw effigy or a straw "woman" is burned, which symbolizes winter. Russian people spend time with their loved ones on this day, ask them to forgive them for all the bad things, and congratulate them on a merry Carnival!

Post-text exercises

Task 4. True or false? (Fig.6)

- The carnival lasts a week;
- An effigy of Maslenitsa is burned on Thursday;
- Carnival begins on Monday;
- They eat pancakes during Shrovetide;
- You need to spend Shrovetide with your loved ones;
- Sledding is not allowed during Shrovetide;
- Maslenitsa is a sad holiday.

Methodological recommendations: The exercise is aimed at consolidating the knowledge gained. Students read the sentences and divide them into two columns: “true” and “false."

Homework assignment:

Task 1. Look on the Internet for the festivities that will take place in Moscow, and name them:

1). The place you want to visit;

2). Date of the event;

3). Ticket price;

4). What souvenirs can be bought?

Methodological recommendations: This exercise aims to practice the search type of reading. Students should find information on a given topic and write it in a workbook (Fig. 7).

The third lesson

Task 1. Tell us what information you found online (event, place, date, price, souvenirs).

Task 2. Let's discuss popular excursions in Moscow (fig. 8).

Conducting an excursion is the next stage of the developed exercise system. It is worth noting that the implementation of the second stage includes the creation of a fairly large number of funds. These tools include creating a travel guide (itinerary), collecting theoretical material, and creating quizzes, checklists, infographics, and discussion questions. The advantage of the chosen method lies in the expansion of the linguistic competence of international students ^{[25, p. 191]}, as well as in the diversity of the learning process. Full immersion in the natural language environment is achieved by visualizing the regional history material that students get to know during the preparation of the tour.

2. Holding the event

Section "Route" ("Maslenitsa at VDNKh")

Methodological recommendations: The teacher says that on February 26, the Slovo Center for Slavic Writing will host a lecture/concert, "Maslenitsa Songs and Rituals." Students will learn about the origins of folk song poetry. At the concert, they will listen to traditional musical compositions. A master class on pancake making will be held. They will sing Maslenitsa ritual songs from different regions of Russia. They will learn about verbal creativity and the role of singing in the life of the Russian people (Fig. 9).

Expected tasks during the tour:

1. Tell me which words you already know and which you only learned today. How do you understand them?

2. Which song did you like the most? What is it about?

3. What have you learned about Maslenitsa?

4. What ritual songs are sung in your country?

The triad of any educational process closes with the last stage, which includes discussing, summing up, and controlling the studied material on the chosen topic. The developed technology implies a front-end conversation with several prepared questions (What have you learned? What did you remember about the tour? What traditions were unusual for you? What songs did you like? What holidays are there in your country? and so on). International students are encouraged to write an essay on a given topic as a reinforcement of the material and a test of their knowledge. Here, you can consider both a separate vector and a full-scale description of the Russian holiday.

Summing up the results

1. Discussion in the audience (fig. 10):

What have you learned about Maslenitsa?

What do you remember most?

Did you enjoy the tour?

Homework:

Task 1. Solve the crossword puzzle (Fig. 11).

Task 2. Write an essay on the topic "One wonderful holiday, I ate pancakes at VDNH."

Creating a quiz or a crossword puzzle on the topic of "Maslenitsa" will also help consolidate the theoretical material you have passed. Composing a crossword puzzle using ICT in a developed guided tour lesson will not only allow you to "memorize the material" but will create conditions for activating the principle of consciousness, in which students will analyze and synthesize the material they have learned.

This category also includes creating interactive test worksheets. In our opinion, this type of knowledge control will unify all the work done and increase the efficiency of the developed technology.

Knowledge control allows teachers to understand how students have learned the information. It also summarizes how effective and diverse the interactive tour was. One advantage of the modern approach to this technique is creating a QR code with which students can independently verify their knowledge, thereby reducing the time the teacher spends verifying it (Fig. 12).

1). On what day of the week is an effigy burned?
- on Monday
- on Saturday
- on Sunday

2). How many days does Maslenitsa last?
- 1
- 3
- 7

3). What do people do on the second day of Carnival?
- they burn an effigy
- play fun games
- they apologize to their loved ones

4). What else can you call a "scarecrow"?
- buffoon
- the woman
- the scarecrow

5). What did people believe in ancient times?
- pancakes symbolize the sun
- pancakes represent a circle
- pancakes symbolize life

6). On what day of the week can I skate and sledge?
- on Tuesday
- on Thursday
- on Sunday

7). What is the symbol of Maslenitsa?
- pancakes
- oil
- jam

8). Which best describes Maslenitsa?
- pancakes, festivities, round dance, ditties, spring, scarecrow
- nature, recreation, food, music, dancing
- home, loved ones, holiday

Another advantage of the developed interactive tutorial is the additional "Application" section. Russian folklore includes authentic material on the theme of "Maslenitsa," including the heritage of Russian poetry and prose, works of folklore, and Russian folk songs. This section will help students plunge into Russia's history and feel the spirit of the past ^{[26, p. 132]}.

Application

The workbook includes an "Appendix" section to help students consolidate all the material they have learned on this topic. Students will become acquainted with Russian works about the celebration of Maslenitsa. Students will be able to read proverbs and sayings and listen to music. Attention is also paid to repeating the case forms of nouns on the topic of "cooking pancakes." At the end of this section, control and measuring materials are provided, with the help of which the teacher will be able to determine the level of assimilation of the material by the students.

1. Maslenitsa in the works of Russian writers (fig. 13)

A.N. Ostrovsky "The Snow Maiden"

"Honest Butter Girl!
Have fun meeting you, welcoming you,
It's difficult and tedious to escort from the yard.
How can we turn you around?
Come back, Butter Girl, come back!
Honest Butter Girl!
Come back for at least three days!
You won't be back for three days,
Come back to us for a day!
For a day, for a little hour!
Honest Butter Girl!"

A.S. Pushkin "Eugene Onegin"

"They kept a peaceful life
The habits of the dear old:
They have a fat pancake
There were Russian pancakes."

I.A. Bunin "Clean Monday"

"... Yegorov's inn in Okhotny Ryad was full of shaggy, thickly dressed cabmen cutting stacks of pancakes filled to excess with butter and sour cream; it was steamy, like in a sauna. In the upper rooms, which were also very warm, with low ceilings, Old Testament merchants washed down fiery pancakes with grainy caviar and frozen champagne."

2. Maslenitsa in Russian proverbs and sayings

"It's Shrovetide coming, damn it, it's carrying honey"
"Pancakes, pancakes, pancakes, like the wheels of spring"
"It's not greasy without a pancake"
"Rollercoaster rides, pancake rolls"
"We are seeing off Shrovetide, we are waiting for the light, the sun"
"We had fun on Maslenaya Street, and we had a pancake."

to lie around" "We're seeing off Shrovetide, we're waiting for the light, we're waiting for the sun" "We had fun on Shrovetide, and we were treated to a pancake."

3. Maslenitsa in folk songs

Folklore ensemble: "And we're on Shrovetide," "Like on Shrovetide week," "Goodbye, Shrovetide"

In addition, students are invited to consolidate the grammatical material by completing the "cooking pancakes" checklist. This type of work diversifies the study of the sentence-case system and helps students to get acquainted with festive treats on Shrovetide (Fig. 14).

Therefore, the interactive guide consists of three lessons, each solving several problems: lexical and grammatical preparation based on text centrism, conducting guided tours, and consolidating the material covered. This system allows for the most effective understanding of Russia, its culture, linguistic diversity, historical roots, and traditions.

The Russian Language Department No. 5 of the Institute of the Russian Language of the Peoples' Friendship University in Russia conducted experimental training to test the effectiveness of the developed interactive guide. Patrice Lumumba in class on the discipline of "common knowledge." Twenty students studying the "medical business" specialty participated in the pilot training. The results of the experimental training showed the positive impact of using the developed interactive guide in the process of learning Russian. In particular, the students demonstrated significant improvement in memorizing lexical and grammatical material and working with the text. Thanks to the interactive way of presenting the material, students could effectively learn new vocabulary and include it in active speech practice by composing stories on the topic of "Maslenitsa in Moscow."

In addition, the students showed interest in studying the material. They learned a lot about the history and traditions of Maslenitsa celebrations, which helped deepen their knowledge of Russian culture.

In conclusion, it should be noted that the construction of a guided lesson using interactivity vectors significantly impacts the development of communicative, linguistic, and socio-cultural competencies for international students studying Russian. The interactive elements of the lesson not only became an incentive for students to actively participate in the learning process but also created conditions for deeper immersion in the linguistic and cultural environment of the Russian world.

Conclusions

1. As the analysis of scientific and methodological literature has shown, the actualization of the introduction of ICT in the educational process is an important step toward improving the teaching methods of RCT. Using ICT in the teaching methodology of RCT enhances the quality of learning. It provides international students access to multimedia resources, interactive tasks, and tools that contribute to a better understanding of educational material. However, in practice, the possibilities of ICT are often not fully used, limiting their methodological potential within the framework of language education organization.

Recommendations: For more effective learning, integrated ICT must be implemented, with an emphasis on adapting it to modern educational challenges. Digital resources must be developed that are adapted to the language proficiency levels and communication needs of international students studying Russian. Relevant resources created thanks to ICT's capabilities include worksheets that include educational texts and interactive exercises, educational videos, and online platforms to develop international students’ communicative and linguistic competencies.

2. The present study concluded that introducing an interactive guided tour lesson as a means of organizing learning in the teaching methodology of RCT contributes to a more effective assimilation of linguistic and cultural information. Including interactive worksheets, videos, illustrations, crosswords, QR codes, and interactive routes in the structure of the lesson tour allows students to comprehensively explore aspects of the language and prepare for a deeper immersion in Russian culture. Based on the results of experiential learning, an important conclusion is that conducting interactive forms of work allows students to actively study the material, which facilitates understanding of linguistic and cultural aspects related to Russian culture and increases motivation to learn through active participation in the process.

Application

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Fig. 11

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Fig. 13

Fig. 14

Recommendations: To introduce an interactive guide to the learning process, it is necessary to develop special methodological techniques that will help integrate digital resources and technologies into the structure of training sessions. To do this, it is necessary, firstly, to determine the objectives of the guided tour lesson; secondly, to determine the system of preparatory tasks to remove lexico-grammatical difficulties; and thirdly, to develop digital products that will form the basis of the interactive guided tour. An important factor is the adaptation of theoretical and practical material to the level of language proficiency and the needs of international students.

Using interactive resources in the educational process creates prerequisites for more successful language skill acquisition, builds intercultural awareness, and develops communication skills. Thus, introducing technologies and interactive teaching methods becomes integral to the RCT teaching process.