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Elementary Russian (101-1-1)

Topic

Learn Russian with Ease: From Cyrillic to Conversa

Instructors

Elisabeth M Elliott
847/491-8082
Kresge Hall, 3-305, 1880 Campus Dr.
Office Hours: Wednesdays 10am to 12pm and by appointment

Meeting Info

Kresge Centennial Hall 2-331: Tues, Thurs 10:00AM - 11:20AM

Overview of class

Welcome to first-year fun and easy Russian! RUSSIAN 101-1 is the first part in a three-quarter sequence designed to get students using Russian quickly (by week 3) with fun instruction and projects (games, virtual excursions right from our classroom in Russia, cartoons, tv shows, and movies, etc). You'll be using ChatGPT, Online translators (like Google Translate, but also the better Yandex Translate), and Artificial Intelligence ChatBots (like the Russian Alice/Alisa or Алиса) to learn and practice Russian while also thinking about ethical aspects of these technologies. Emphasis is on practical communication so that students start speaking in week 3 and will be able to function in many authentic situations by the end of the quarter! Our main textbook https://mezhdunami.org/ is free and online and one of the most diverse and inclusive Russian language textbooks available today. Students will also use either the DuoLingo or Mango app for Russian (Mango is available for free to any Northwestern student through the Evanston Public Library). There is no final exam instead there is a final project.

Learning Objectives

"To have fun learning Russian through games, virtual excursions in Russia, online asynchronous activities, and self-selected topics for projects and assignments;
To converse and communicate starting already in week 3 with Russian speakers on a variety (family and friends, self, interests, food) of non-technical topics at the beginning/novice level;
To navigate and negotiate the Russian Internet in Russian;
To view things from multiple perspectives: one of the great benefits of learning a foreign language is the opportunity to see the world from the perspective of a foreign culture. You'll learn not to merely see Russia through your own native perspective but begin to understand how Russian speakers see the world;
To learn about the very diverse ethnic make-up of Russia and Russian speakers outside of Russia (China, Israel, US, Canada, Central Asia, other parts of Europe);
To think about the benefits and ethics of using Artificial Intelligence to learn a foreign language."

Class Materials (Required)

https://mezhdunami.org/ free and online
DuoLingo or Mango app (for Russian)