Some aspects of Russian-Arab collaboration in IOPS female educational institutions

Abstract

Having carefully studied archival materials the author of the article gives insight into collaboration of Russian and Arab teachers in IOPS schools and seminary for girls. Thorough research of those principals is vitally important for successful implementation of Russia humanitarian projects in the Middle East. At the very start of its educational activities IOPS faced serious problems in recruiting both Russian and Arab pedagogical staff. Russian female teachers did not speak Arabic and were not aware of local or Middle East realities. They had no interpreters by their side so they had to resort to the language of gestures. To organize the learning process Arab graduates from local schools were recruited to assist Russian female teachers. Both Russian and Arab teachers spoke French. In addition to communicative problems professional collaboration was seriously affected due to low level of Arab teachers training. They could hardly master tutorial methods. The situation radically changed when The Women's Teachers Boarding School in Bait Jala started training staff for IOPS primary schools for girls. Bait Jala graduates were local girls who spoke Russian and were aware of training methods applied in IOPS schools. They worked under Russian management in Bait Jala Boarding School as well as in two-class IOPS schools. Graduates from Bait Jala turned to be the connecting link between Russian teachers and their Arab colleagues and pupils assisting the latter to integrate into IOPS training structure. Similar pattern of Russian-Arab professional collaboration was adopted in most IOPS two-class schools for girls which resulted in achieving good training results and settling communicative problems.