Criteria for selecting multimedia materials from mass media in Spanish for training and practical use of professional language (language pair: Spanish – Russian)

The article deals with the professional sub-language used by international relations specialists, political scientists, economists, lawyers, and hospitality and tourism professionals as a means of professional communication. According to the Russian State Library, there are approximately 500 research papers on the subject-matter. This demonstrates the relevance of studying such a linguistic phenomenon, that forms the professional discourse of the relevant activity field and industry, and represents a sub-language system with its own characteristics and features. The author reveals a competence-based approach in training and education of future specialists. Its goals are: to provide the trainee’s with high-quality tutoring for their successful professional and social activities equal to the world level standards, and stimulate the alumni’s continuous professional growth, as well. This approach involves developing students' ability to act appropriately and effectively in various professional situations, and it is familiarizing them with real-life scenarios and algorithms for responding to potential professional challenges. The article presents various criteria for classifying and selecting vast multimedia format materials in Spanish and sets of various exercises aimed at developing students' competence and their professional skills that will enable them to: use Spanish fluently as a tool for obtaining required data related to their professional activities; analyze information; continuously deepen and systematically accumulate knowledge of vocabulary and terminology; pay tribute to the national traditions and keep in mind the standards, rules and norms of behavior of the Spanish-speaking countries.