Material and technical and methodical support of the department of Germanic Philology and Translation

Photo: philology students in the language laboratory (Ukrainian-Polish Center of PoltNTU)

Teachers of the department have the opportunity to teach students in classrooms equipped with modern audio, video and computer equipment. New forms of educational work are constantly being sought, aimed at transforming the teaching process into a fruitful collaboration of foreign language teachers with students, graduate students and colleagues from other departments of the University. A networked computer class with standard hardware, equipped with a suitable headset (headphones and microphones), and most importantly – special software Nibelung Dialog – has become real linguistic laboratory. It is the right choice of the program complex that makes it possible to develop the content of the training course, to solve certain educational tasks during the formation of students' foreign language communicative competence in reading, listening, speaking and writing, as well as to manage their individual work. From now on, the role of the teacher, as the main agent of the educational process, is manifested in the fact that through the system of "peeping" and "intervention" he/she can make corrections and evaluate the student's work very quickly, right during the student's task, which can hardly be achieved by other educational means.

Teachers of the department are constantly publishing methodological manuals and guides in the disciplines predetermined by the training program of future translators. Methodological instructions in English and German for graduates and postgraduates are also prepared and published in order to enhance monologue and dialogue speaking skills, to automate the use of grammatical structures and to develop skills of translating literature in specialty. During the preparation of methodological manuals, the teachers of the department are guided by the requirements of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.

A methodological seminar is actively working at the department, which is aimed at discussing current problems of foreign language and translation teaching methods, such as: information technologies in foreign language teaching – the use of computer training programs (e.g. Reward), applications (Word, Power Point), shell-programs (Hot Potatoes, Nibelung Dialogue), the use of Internet services and resources, implementation of distance learning elements; the analysis of foreign language textbooks; modern approaches to testing the level of formation of foreign language communicative competence, structure and content of international tests: IELTS, TOEFL, FCE, CAE; the use of language portfolio – a tool that enables students to keep track of their experience of learning a foreign language and intercultural communication, to set personal learning goals, to carry out self-assessment of language achievements.