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Advanced Russian in Conversations (302-2-1)

Topic

Russian Rendezvous: Exploring Russia's Rich Cultur

Instructors

Natalia Malinina
847/467-6478
1880 Campus Dr. (Kresge) Office 3225
Office Hours: Tuesdays 10:00-11:30 and by appointment

Meeting Info

University Library 3370: Mon, Wed, Fri 11:00AM - 11:50AM

Overview of class

Russian 302-2 is the second part in a three-quarter sequence intended for students who have attained intermediate-level proficiency in Russian. It is taught in Russian and designed to lead students to more advanced levels focusing on communication, cultural understanding, connections of Russian language with other disciplines, and comparisons of Russian and American language and culture. Emphasis will be placed on developing discussion and conversational skills. The course includes advanced topics in grammar, discussion of one of the most popular Russian movies (Hipsters), watched during the quarter, and readings from Russian newspapers and classical Russian poets. A professional guide will take us on virtual tours to Moscow and Saint-Petersburg!"

Learning Objectives

"At the end of this quarter, students will:
• Develop their lexical competence by learning new vocabulary, Russian proverbs, sayings, and idiomatic expressions related to the studied topics.
• Maintain a conversation on the studied topics (e.g., people's appearance and body image issues; Moscow and Saint-Petersburg as major Russian cities; art forms and contemporary art).
• Describe their own and other people's clothing styles, as well as talk about their favorite art forms using extensive vocabulary, appropriate constructions, and cases);
• Compare Russian and American urban life and discuss major cities problems confronting USA and Russia today.
• Read, listen, and comprehend literary texts in Russian (A. Akhmatova, A. Blok, B.Pasternak's poems).
• Describe Russian paintings (e.g. "Girl with Peaches" by Valentin Serov).
• Use the Russian Internet and multimedia sources as an instrument to conduct research in Russian or to prepare for in-class discussions."

Class Materials (Required)

"PANORAMA: Intermediate Russian Language and Culture, Student Bundle: Book + Electronic Workbook Access Card Bilingual, Student Edition / Benjamin Rifkin, Evgeny Dengub, and Susanna Nazarova, Georgetown University Press, 2017| ISBN 9781626164178 (paperback)
A high-quality Russian-English dictionary (containing at least 50,000 entries) is strongly recommended: A. I. Smirnitskii, Russian-English Dictionary (Russko-angliiskii slovar'); The Oxford Russian Dictionary; etc."

Class Attributes

Advanced Expression