New Perspectives in Science Education

From November 2009 to April 2013 the National Aerospace University conducted the course of Ukrainian Language for foreigners within the joint project of Ukrainian government and UNHCR “Refugees’ local integration”. A proper set of scientific and methodological documentation was prepared for the course. The students received government-issued certificates on the results of their education. In the course of the project there were three groups of students of the core training and one (since December 2012) of extended training. The author of this research paper taught Ukrainian Language for foreigners during the whole project. The groups consisted of 11-20 students from different countries: Afghanistan, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Georgia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iran, Lebanon, Pakistan, Syria. Among them there were students of different age groups: school pupils, Kharkiv universities students, young people under 35 and people of middle age group and even the elderly. These differences could be seen in the initial level of students’ education. Among them several people did not even have elementary school education, there were also school pupils who graduated from Ukrainian state schools in different districts of Kharkiv and Kharkiv region. The courses were attended by people who had higher education, received at different times in different universities in Ukraine and in other countries. Such age and educational structure of one student group caused difficulties in the process of teaching and knowledge acquirement during the group classes. The refugees’ education results had a positive effect on the possibility of their naturalization in Ukraine and the process of their integration into Ukrainian society.

Keywords: Non-native language, Linguistic education, Language learning.