If you
are still thinking which language to choose to study, Russian offers many
exciting opportunities. See our PowerPoint
Presentation for more details, or look at this page by American
Council for Teachers of Russian, or watch
this Middlebury College video. Watch Yelena Schwartz reading her
poetry to find out what the sound of the Russian language is like.
In the
Residential College Russian language
courses emphasis is placed on communicative competence. It's not how much you
know about the language, it is how much you can do with it! We teach our
students to function with relative ease and confidence in every possible
situation. We strive to develop even proficiency in all 5
language skills: speaking, listening, reading, writing and culture.
Beyond fluency, we also work on grammar and accuracy. All our classes are
semi-immersion: we teach and learn in Russian from day 1, and our instructors
are all native speakers of Russian with academic degrees in teaching Russian
language, literature or culture.
Our courses move very fast,
and in just 3 semesters you can complete two and a half years of Russian (20
credits), making it possible to go to Russia in your third (not fourth) year at
the University, and giving you plenty of time to double major in Russian
and another subject of your choice (which, by the way, would look very nice on
your resume). Or you can easily complete a Russian minor by
just taking 9 additional credit hours (2-3
courses in Russian literature or culture). In either case, the
Intensive Russian program in the Residential College fast-tracks you by allowing
you to fulfill your major and minor prerequisites in just 2-3 terms instead of
5-6.
If you continue our courses to the end of our sequence, you will
handle the language in such a way that you can actually use it in speaking and
writing with a fair amount of ease, correctness and fluency. You will be able to
keep your skills in the language at the same level or better, on your own, if
you keep speaking and/or reading it. If you do not use it afterwards, not even
by reading, your skills will obviously deteriorate, but you should be able to
revive them rather quickly at any time you choose to pick up active use of the
language again.
Our classes are small, with plenty of interaction,
individualized instruction and outside help making learning Russian a lot easier
and more fun. Beyond the classroom, we offer many exciting opportunities to
practice your budding language skills, such as: Russian tables, Russian Teas,
conversational partnerships, play productions in Russian, and a Russian
community service program (planned to be launched in WT'09).
Students who complete our program are perfectly qualified for study
abroad in their Junior Year. There is a wide choice of exchange programs
(one-semester, year-long, spring/summer, and internships) available to those who
have taken at least three years of college-level Russian. Each year many of our
students study in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yaroslavl and other cities of the
former Soviet Union. In fact our students are so well prepared for study abroad
programs that we always get high evaluations of their language skills from such
programs. Many of our students choose to study Russian intensively, because they
can complete their language requirement in just two semesters, or have enough
time to double major in Russian or REES and something else. Also, due to the
on-going changes in Russian society and increased business opportunities, many
of our graduates go to Russia for internships and work for American companies.
A great number of our students also go on to take upper-level courses in
LSA or in the Slavic Department after
they complete the Readings course. Many RC students major in Russian and REES (Russian and
East European Studies) in LS&A.
