When you think of Russia what is the first thing that comes to mind? 

Moscow?

Vodka?

Tchaikovsky?

These were some of the responses students gave in a pre-event questionnaire as part of their preparations for the Widening Russian Horizons day, which took place in the East Midlands recently.

Nine schools in Nottingham participated in the BLC event, which was built around the UK visit of the renowned Hermitage Ensemble – a choir of 6 singers from St Petersburg.  The aim of the day, which was funded by the Linked Up award scheme, was to inspire students to continue with their language learning and convince them that there is more to Russia than Vodka and the Kremlin!

The day started with pupils from Djanogly City Academy, Lees Brook Community Sports College, Scotholme Primary School, Nottingham Girls High School, The Nottingham Emmanuel School, Bulwell Academy, Robert Pattinson School and The Long Eaton School, gathering at Djangoly City Academy for a concert performed entirely in Russian by the Ensemble, who then proceeded to teach the students a popular Russian folk song.

A host of Business Language Champions also ran a series of workshops with the students, to introduce them to doing business in Russia, Russian food, culture and language.  The day concluded when the BLCs and choir decamped to the Bluecoats School in Woollaton to perform a re-run of the morning session with their entire year 9 cohort.

If the feedback is anything to go by, the event was a huge success and it was summed up nicely by BLC David Sly-Jex who had this to say about proceedings:

“There is little doubt that the event was impressive, enjoyable and fun.  Seldom have I seen so many cheerful faces and discussions about Russia and every group that visited my table were fun, were interested and discussed things between them.”

For more information on this event please click here.