RU 110:  Introductory Russian                                                                                      Dr. James Roney

                                                                                                                                            Humanities 204

                                                                                                                                            Office Hours:

                                                                                                                                            MWF: 10-11:00

                                                                                                                                            TR:  10:30-11

                                                                                                                                            by appt.

 

 

Welcome to the study of Russian!  The purpose of this course and of the two other courses in the initial Russian language sequence at Juniata is to acquaint you with the fundamentals of Russian grammar, to enable you to read short texts in Russian and to give you the ability to function in the everyday situations which you are likely to encounter in Russia or anywhere there is a group of people speaking Russian.  At the end of this sequence you will be ready to travel and study in Russia and to undertake a more serious study of the Russian language and of Russian literature, culture, society, political behavior, business, art, religion or science.    

 

The requirements and elements of the course are designed to allow you to make consistent, regular progress in the four skills of speaking, reading, writing and listening.  The trick to learning a foreign language is to WORK EVERY DAY.  You will suffer needless pain and frustration if you try to work in fits and starts.  You should attend every class, complete every written assignment, attend the language lab several times a week and seek out other Russian students, both beginning and more advanced, in order to form informal study groups.  I also recommend that you attend the extra practice sessions arranged for first year students.  These will give you an opportunity to review and practice some skills which may have gone rusty.  You should feel free to contact me at any time with any questions which you may have.  

 

   Textbooks

Lubensky, Ervin, Jarvis. Nachalo.  Book 1  Second Edition

 

Smorodinskaya, Lubensky, ...  Workbook and Laboratory Manual to

Accompany      Nachalo. When in Russia... Book 1  Second edition

 

This is the first year for the new edition of the textbook.  It will include supporting materials, including tapea and or a CD-ROM and a videocassette.  I will arrange for you to use them as they become available during the semester.   You should also be able to do computer work in Cyrillic, including work on the internet. 

 

  Class Participation and Homework

 

You are expected to attend and participate in every class.  Come to every class with two or three new words or expressions which you plan to use that day.  The classes are designed to cover a lot of material and many activities in as brief a time as possible.  It will take you several hours of work at home to cover what we can cover together in an hour.  There will be short written homework assignments due at each class meeting.  If you ever miss a class, be sure to contact another student to get the assignment.   Be sure to read all of the reading assignments carefully and to come to class ready to do things.  If you come to class well-prepared, then we can spend our time having fun with the language by playing games and doing skits.  I will not repeat the grammar explanations in your textbook in class.  Life is too short to waste on needless repetition.

 

 

Language Tapes

 

I cannot overemphasize the importance of the tapes and/or CD-ROM which accompany your book.  They give you an opportunity to listen to Russian at your own pace and to hear the dialogues and stories from the textbook.  LISTEN AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE!  Short, frequent listenings are the best.

 

 

 

  Unit Quizzes

 

There will be a quiz consisting of both an oral and a written part after every lesson.  There may also be short, unannounced quizzes which will count as a part of our participation grade.  When calculating your final grade, I will drop the lowest quiz grade.

 

Exams

 

There will be a final exam.  There will be a review session before the exam.   You will be tested on what we have done in class, on the readings and dialogues which you have read at home and heard in the lab and on the homework assignments.  The exam will have both a written and an oral section and will include one open-ended take home question as well as the in-class part.

 

 

Your final grade will be calculated in the following manner:

 

Class Participation and Homework                                                                               20%

Unit Quizzes                                                                                                                      50%

Final Exam                                                                                                                         30%    

 

Please be certain to reacquaint yourselves with the College’s policies on course withdrawals and Academic Integrity. .

 

Best of luck in the course!  I hope that we will all get to know one another well this semester.  Don't forget to come see me if you have any questions.