Marina Petrova

Introduction. This paper is aimed at analyzing the songs of the British group “The Beatles”, and the songs of the Russian artist, poet and singer V. Vysotsky for the purpose of their soft skills representation. The relevance of the work is determined by the general, keen interest to the formation and development of social competences as the foundation of improving successful interpersonal relations in the 21st century. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that for the first time the study of soft skills was carried out on the basis of the creative work of the prominent representatives of the Russian and British musical culture of the past century.Methodology and sources. Due to the fact that the musical creativity of "The Beatles" and V. Vysotsky was considered primarily from the standpoint of linguistic material, the research methodology was based on the principles of linguistic text analysis, such as methods of component, cognitive and discourse analysis. In addition, the paper analyzes the works of domestic and foreign scientists devoted to the basic principles of the formation and development of soft skills of a person today.Results and discussion. The article demonstrates a new, non-standard approach when working with the mastery and training of soft skills. The development of creative abilities directly depends on the emotional response that the material evokes. Music compositions have a more intense impact on a person, because they combine two components: lyrics and tune. Therefore, the analysis of songs can serve as an additional source of improving creative thinking. Comparison of soft skills representation in Russian and English songs did not reveal any clear distinctive national features of the skills under consideration, which once again proves their universality.Conclusion. The study of artistic images and metaphors presented in the lyrics of both Russian and English singers can form the basis of a new methodological approach aimed at developing non-standard, creative thinking, which can be applied at various levels of the educational process.

Introduction. The aim of the research was to study didactic, linguistic and socio-cultural approaches in the process of organizing extra-classes activities in a foreign language at a non-linguistic university by the example of the creativity competition dedicated to the International Mother Language Day. The relevance of the work springs from the increasing importance of encouraging respect and tolerance to the language and cultural diversity existing in the world today. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that the effectiveness and urgency of the proposed form of extracurricular work was proven.Methodology and data sources. The authors have researched the works on ethnopedagogics and the internationalization of the learning process at a university by Kondratyeva T. N., Starodubtseva O. G., Stefanenko T. G and others. From the viewpoint of linguodidactics and sociology of culture, the works submitted by the students for the creative competition “International Mother Language Day” were analyzed. The competition was held at St. Petersburg State Chemical and Pharmaceutical University in February 2021.Results and discussion. The research has shown the role of the competition in the process of the development of the students’ socio-cultural competencies. The creative works presented for the competition demonstrated the students’ great interest in their native language, the desire to share the wealth and diversity of the national language and culture, and to creatively present the beauty, history and peculiarities of the language. It was asserted that solving the practical tasks of the competition resulted in building up such soft skills as teamwork and presentation skills. The authors plan to organize the creative competition “International Mother Language Day” annually and to attract participants from the other universities of Russia, as well as from the countries of near and far abroad.Conclusion. It was concluded that presentation of the national language contributed to an increase in motivation of learning a foreign language, and the use of digital technologies and social networks made it possible to show the importance of fostering positive interethnic relations by means that are relevant to the younger generation.