The International Faculty updated the forms of industrial practice for foreign students studying "Linguistics". Chinese students of the fourth year were offered to try themselves in the role of tour guides in real conditions of Irkutsk museums. In collaboration with the museum staff and their internship supervisor, the students prepared texts of excursions in Russian and Chinese.

"Of course, our aspiring tour guides were very nervous. It was their first excursion in their lives, when they had to tell about the museums' exhibits themselves," says Anna Litovkina, Dean of the BSU International Faculty.

Two days, April 3 and 5, the Chinese students gave tours in the regional Art Museum and the Museum of Regional Studies. In the Nature Department of the Museum of Regional Studies, they gave "Gold Nearby" excursion. The students succeeded with the difficult material. They had to remember physics, chemistry, and history to tell interestingly about the rare and valuable metal. Besides, the excursions had to be conducted in Russian and Chinese languages, so that the third-year students could better understand the topic. The fourth-year students told the third-year students about the special properties of gold, its role in world history and culture, methods of mining and use, about gold deposits and development in the Irkutsk region. According to the students, they gained invaluable experience that will help them in their future work after graduation.

Conducting a tour at the Art Museum is no less difficult. One had to learn special vocabulary, understand art history information, and memorize paintings and artists. The excursion was prepared for Chinese students of the preparatory department who started studying Russian a few months ago, so the practicum students had an important task - to adapt texts for the excursion, to make them understandable.

"We provided the Chinese students, who are junior students, with information in both Russian and Chinese. We wanted to help them better understand the works of painting, even though it made us very nervous because we had no similar experience. The excursion allowed us to learn a lot of new words, to learn how to talk about the paintings, and to learn Russian better," the students said.

This practice became possible thanks to the staff and management of the Art Museum and the Nature Department of the Museum of Regional Studies, with whom there is an agreement on further cooperation.