5th Pedagogical Festival “Education 2000”

International Exhibition and conference “Education and Investments – 2000”

British Day in Sochi, UK Party

British Education is your first class ticket for life' - This is the motto of the English Language Centre in Sochi, supported by the British Council. On the 29th of September the Centre celebrated its 2nd anniversary. Its foundation opened up the unique possibility to take the Cambridge Exams in this small resort town on the Black Sea Coast. Two years on, ELC members have the chance to use a resource centre, as well as information centre services.
The centre provides an extensive collection of modern materials for loan, and assists in improving the quality of English Language teaching by exposing teachers and students to language resources they are unlikely to access in other ways. It is also possible to book the English Language Centre premises for private professional development workshops. ELC members and visitors can use the CD-ROM and video collections, and access the Internet free of charge. Each year the Pedagogical Festival, which has now become something of a landmark event in the city, takes place in Sochi. This year, on 22nd-24th August, the International Exhibition 'Education and Investments-2000' was held as part of the Festival. Accompanying the exhibition were education seminars, workshops, presentations, consultations, meetings and negotiations aiming at attracting international partners in education, demonstrating new opportunities for students, teachers and parents by promoting various systems of education.

The organizers of the Festival and the exhibition were:

The Russian Ministry of Education, The Russian Academy of Education, Sochi City Administration, Krasnodar Region and Sochi Education Departments.

Participating in the Festival and the Exhibition were:

Citizens and guests of Sochi (academics, directors and specialists from educational establishments of the Russian Federation, teachers, parents, students, etc)

Participants in the International Festival were:

The British Council, Australian Embassy, UNESCO, Finland Educational Establishment. Russian and local mass media highlighted both events. As part of the Festival 'Education and Investments-2000' The British Council organized a range of events, dedicated to UK educational and cultural life.On 22nd August, the opening ceremony of the exhibition and conference 'Education and Investments -2000' and the Press Conference were held in the hotel 'Zchemchuzchina'.

23rd August was 'British Day' in Sochi. Elena Lenskaya represented British Council management in welcoming the participants. A series of competitions was run during the breaks and between presentations on the central podium. A separate hall was equipped with facilities to show non-stop information slots about British education and culture. The following seminars were held over this period: 'The British Council as an international organisation and The British Council in Russia', 'Education UK opportunities', 'Education UK scholarships', 'Cambridge Exams and Certificates', 'Ecology workshop', 'The Future of English'. The culmination of events was marked by the UK Party (Night disco), organized by the British Council and Radio 'Maximum' DJs. Today we can see the results of the Festival. The number of ELC members has increased incredibly! Every day we have around 40-50 new members (compared with the previous statistic of around 40 persons per month only). Both citizens and guests of Sochi are dressed in UK shirts, distributed at the UK party. Those who participated in the seminars have expressed their gratitude to the organizers and left enthusiastic feedback. The British Day in Sochi, as part of the international exhibition 'Education and investments-2000' has proved to be a great promotion, not only for the English Language Centre in Sochi, but for UK education as well.

6th Pedagogical Festival - 2001