Hong Xu

The transforming realities of Russian-Chinese cooperation and international relations put an impetus for the growing demands for multidisciplinary specialists who can speak the language of the partner country. According to the current standard, the list of subjects studied by students studying Russian in China’s universities includes subjects that expand the extralinguistic competencies of graduates. The task of improving the effectiveness of foreign language teaching in the context of the rapid transition to distance learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic required updating teaching methods. New realities have accelerated the introduction of various forms of distance learning, which allow to expanding the range of cultural and linguistic knowledge of students at the expense of various extracurricular activities, language clubs, etc., without significant costs. The research analyzes the effectiveness of extracurricular activities on the example of the course «Development of Russian culture in the context of the historical process (from ancient times to the October Revolution)», developed for Russian specialists of the Institute of Foreign Languages of Harbin Polytechnic University. The survey showed that among the acquired results, the most significant for students is the activation of previously acquired regional knowledge, the deepening of knowledge of the world of Russian art, and the growth of general erudition and the level of proficiency in the Russian language. Most respondents also noted that this course motivates them to choose regional and linguistic-cultural topics for their own scientific and educational research. . .