April 22 this year entered the company history as the English Day! Organized by the Corporate University the holiday let all the company employees disregarding their English level plunge into the language environment and be the part of the international company.

To contribute to success and development of the global company, to help realization of its strategy we have to speak the same language with our colleagues and customers across the world.

Creating a supporting language environment is one of the most important objectives of the company strategic project “100 New Generation Executives to Lead the Strategy Realization”.

The game format helped to dismantle language barriers! (English Speaking Club in Business Center “Krylatsky Hills”

Different thematic “language stations” were operating in the company offices that day both in Moscow and Ulyanovsk. The company personnel was involved in writing poems, doing quizzes, visiting the music and cinema halls, studying aviation English, etc.

There were also activities which let the company people from most remote offices participate in the English Day – the essay contest “Mastering the English Language. My story of success!” and a crossword puzzle in the English language. The language celebration was crowned with another meeting in the English Speaking Club (in the company offices in Moscow and Ulyanovsk).

The employees were happy to join the exciting quiz (one of the “stations” in Ulyanovsk)

Now, meet the winners:

Top-5, gained the highest number of points at the thematic “language stations” in Ulyanovsk:

1. Alexander Noskov, supplier relationship manager, VDA;
2. Alexander Kostyukov, navigator An-124-100, VDA;
3. Natalia Lukonina, expenses planning specialist, VDA;
4. Svetlana Marysheva, supplier relationship specialist, VDA;
5. Alexander Schipakin, labour organization specialist.

Top-5, gained the highest number of points at the thematic “language stations” in the company office in “Krylatsky Hills”:

Studying aviation English (One of the stations in Business center “Aeroplaza”)

1. Dmitry Ponomarev, reporting specialist, VDM;
2. Tatiana Korznikova, leading specialist in budgeting, VDM;
3. Polina Kushnir, assessment specialist, ABC;
4. Sergey Aksyutenko, leading financial analyst, ABC;
5. Andrey Grachev, chief IT architect, VDM.

Top-5, gained the highest number of points at the thematic “language stations” in the company office in “Aeroplaza”:

1. Elena Kareva, leading contract and claims specialist ABC;
2. Vladimir Storchevoy, first officer B-747-400, ABC;
3. Sergey Nedrov, specialist on communications, VDTM;
4. Andrey Zakharov, procurement specialist, VDTM;
5. Ivanna Zhitnyak, chief information support specialist, ABC.

Awarding the winners

The winners of the essay contest “Mastering the English Language. My story of success!”:

1. Maxim Komonov, public relations specialist, NIC;
2. Alexander Kostyukov, navigator An-124-100, VDA;
3. Inna Troshina, head of the procurement department, VDA subsidiary in Moscow.

Click to read the essays.

“It was fantastic!”

The winners of the crossword puzzle in the English language:

1. Marina Ashirova, secretary-reviewer, NIC;
2. Anastasiya Chupryna, leading specialist on management accounting methodology, VDM;
3. Oliver Zhu, specialist on aircraft and cargo service, ABC subsidiary, Shanghai.

All the contest winners will be awarded the presents – board games and books in the English language!

We would like to thank everybody who joined the English Day – went through the stations, wrote the essay, solved the crossword, or just spoke English to their colleagues.

We are also grateful to our assistants who were happy to help us. We wouldn’t have managed it without you!

We asked the participants to share their opinion of the language festival. Here are some of their impressions:

Alexander Noskov, supplier relationship manager, VDA:
– I was happy to take part in the event. It was interesting to check my knowledge of the language and of other popular areas! I would like to note specifically live dialogues with teachers and other participants. This friendly language environment can support and help anybody to overcome language barriers.
I was also glad to see how excited my colleagues were to do the quest. It’s a good sign – we are usually better at something we like. So, if we are interested in learning languages, mastering them is not far off.
If you would like to be a full member of the successful Volga-Dnepr family, if you want to be efficient in communicating with your colleagues, customers and providers, you should be proficient in the English language (as an international communication standard) or start learning it. Fortunately, the company provides a lot of opportunities to do that!
Such language festivals – the English hours/days/weeks – should be held more often in the company, possibly on regular basis. This will help to actively involve people in speaking English, dissipate their fears, let them feel more comfortable and fluent!

Elena Kareva, leading contract and claims specialist, ABC:
– ABC builds bridges across the world to connect continents. And it’s impossible if you speak different languages with your partners. So, it’s important for the employees to speak foreign languages. It’s the first time I participated in such event. I liked the way it was organized. The tasks were adapted for participants of different levels, and were meant not just for knowledge elicitation, but rather gave an opportunity to learn something: some learned the names of aircraft parts, others got recommendation on business etiquette. And in the end we did a funny quiz, sort of yoga for brains. I’m sure all the participants enjoyed the day!

Tatiana Korznikova, leading specialist in budgeting, VDM:
– I enjoyed it all! Especially I remember the contest on writing poems, the music contest and the quiz. It was funny and useful. I was positively charged for all the day. No doubt, English is very important for the company. It’s great when we can talk the same language with our colleagues across the world. It helps eliminate communication obstacles, solve the tasks together more consciously and quickly!

Dmitry Ponomarev, reporting specialist, VDM:
– I really liked the atmosphere: everybody was positively charged and can talk to teachers on different topics. I really benefit from the events organized by our Corporate University, also from the language newsletters. Supporting and maintaining the level of knowledge is absolutely necessary. As my language tasks at work are limited by professional terminology, the English club, for example, gives me an opportunity to improve my speaking skills.

All the participants agreed that such language festivals should be held in the company as often as possible. Follow the news – the next English Day will be organized this autumn!

Download the photo report here.