COURSE OBJECTIVES:

TO ESTABLISH A SOLID FOUNDATION IN THE FUNDAMENTALS OF THE RUSSIAN LANGUAGE THROUGH THE DEVELOPMENT OF BASIC SPEAKING, LISTENING, READING, AND WRITING SKILLS.  TO FOSTER INTEREST IN THE LANGUAGE AND CULTURE OF RUSSIA, AS WELL AS THEIR RELATION TO OTHER STATES WHICH ONCE COMPRISED THE SOVIET UNION.

REQUIRED TEXTS: (AVAILABLE IN THE BOOKSTORE.)

 НАЧАЛО, WHEN IN RUSSIA (BOOK 1), SOPHIA LUBENSKY, GERARD L. ERVIN, DONALD JARVIS

WORKBOOK AND LABORATORY MANUAL FOR НАЧАЛО

COURSE STRUCTURE AND REQUIREMENTS:

CLASS MEETS MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY WITH THE INSTRUCTOR. YOU WILL MEET IN SMALL GROUPS FOR ORAL DRILLS AND CONVERSATION ONCE A WEEK. THIS SIXTH HOUR WILL BE TAUGHT BY DEPARTMENT MAJORS OR NATIVE SPEAKERS.  ATTENDANCE IS MANDATORY AT ALL SIX HOURS.

SINCE PROFICIENCY IS ACQUIRED ONLY THROUGH REGULAR AND ACTIVE CONTACT WITH THE TARGET LANGUAGE, YOU ARE EXPECTED TO ATTEND CLASS ON A DAILY BASIS.  EVEN ON THOSE DAYS WHEN -- HEAVEN FORBID -- YOU ARE NOT PREPARED, COME TO CLASS AND LISTEN.  YOU WILL LEARN QUITE A BIT. EACH  STUDENT IS ALLOWED FOUR UNEXCUSED ABSENCES PER SEMESTER: 3 FROM CLASS, 1 FROM THE ADDITIONAL SECTION.  AN EXCUSED ABSENCE WILL BE GRANTED FOR RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYS AND LEGITIMATE ILLNESSES.  FOR EACH UNEXCUSED ABSENCE OVER THE LIMIT, YOUR FINAL GRADE  WILL BE LOWERED ONE INTEGRAL (E.G. FROM A B+ TO A B FOR 1 EXTRA UNEXCUSED ABSENCE, FROM A B+ TO A B- FOR 2, ETC.).

THIS COURSE ENTAILS REGULAR WORK WITH AUDIO FILES.  YOU CAN ACCESS THESE FILES  THROUGH BLACKBOARD (COURSE INFO) AT HOME OR IN THE LANGUAGE LAB (PETERS 324). YOU CAN, ALTERNATELY, USE  CASSETTE TABS IN THE LANGUAGE LAB OR AT HOME. THERE IS NO CHARGE FOR IN-LAB WORK WITH CASSETTES.  TO PURCHASE TAPES FOR HOME USE, BRING YOUR I.D. AND $2.00 FOR YOUR FIRST TAPE (OR BRING YOUR OWN 90-MINUTE TAPE AND 50 CENTS).  YOU CAN EXPECT TO SPEND ABOUT THREE HOURS A WEEK ON LAB WORK.  LANGUAGE LAB HOURS ARE: MON.-THURS.: 9:00 A.M. - 10:00 P.M., FRI.: 9:00 A.M. - 4:00 P.M., SUN.: 3:00 P.M. - 10:00 P.M..

HANDOUTS WILL BE PROVIDED THROUGHOUT THE SEMESTER.  TO HELP DEFRAY XEROXING COSTS, PLEASE BRING $3.00 (SINGLES ONLY) TO THE RUSSIAN DEPARTMENT (PETERS 222).

HOMEWORK (ORAL OR WRITTEN) IS DUE ON THE DATE ASSIGNED. HOMEWORK MAY BE DONE IN GROUPS OR ALONE (BUT WITHOUT THE HELP OF TUTORS). HOMEWORK WILL BE GRADED AT THE INSTRUCTOR'S DISCRETION.

HOUR EXAMS WILL NORMALLY BE GIVEN AFTER EVERY CHAPTER (ABOUT ONCE EVERY TWO WEEKS). QUIZZES MAY ALSO BE GIVEN, WITH OR WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE.  ONE QUIZ GRADE IS THE EQUIVALENT OF 1/3 OF AN HOUR EXAM. TESTS AND QUIZZES WITHOUT AN HONOR PLEDGE AND SIGNATURE WILL NOT BE GRADED.

 

GOOD STUDY HABITS ARE THE KEY TO EFFECTIVE LANGUAGE LEARNING. IF YOU DO YOUR WORK EVERY DAY AND DON'T FALL BEHIND, YOUR STUDY OF RUSSIAN WILL PROGRESS SMOOTHLY.  IF YOU ARE HAVING TROUBLE WITH A PARTICULAR GRAMMAR POINT OR THE LIKE,  PLEASE ASK ABOUT IT IN CLASS.  I WILL ALSO BE HAPPY TO HELP YOU AFTER CLASS OR DURING OFFICE HOURS. I CANNOT HELP BUT STRES THE IMPORTANCE OF KEEPING UP WITH THE HOMEWORK. AT THE FIRST SIGN OF TROUBLE, RUN, DO NOT WALK, TO PETERS 219. (STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES SHOULD CONTACT ME AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, SO THAT WE CAN WORK OUT APPROPRIATE ARRANGEMENTS.)

YOUR FINAL  GRADE FOR THIS COURSE WILL BE BASED ON:

* THE 10:00 SECTION FINAL EXAM WILL BE HELD AT 2:00 P.M. ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20.
   THE 11:00 SECTION FINAL EXAM WILL BE HELD AT 9:00 A.M. ON TUESDAY, DECEMBER 18.

OFFICE HOURS:

MONDAYS - 2:30 -3:30; TUESDAYS  - 9:00-9:50, THURSDAYS - 11:00-12:00
AND BY APPOINTMENT.

ELECTRONIC SYLLABUS:

AN ELECTONIC VERSION OF THE SYLLABUS IS LOCATED AT THE RUSSIAN COURSE KIOSK (RUSS. 101)  http://www.oberlin.edu/~russian/courses.html. TO SEE THE RUSSIAN, YOU MUST WORK FROM A MACHINE WITH  CYRILLIC FONTS  -- TRY THE ONES IN PETERS 324.  AFTER LOCATING THE SITE, YOU WILL NEED TO GO TO THE VIEW MENU, FIND CHARACTER SET AND CHOOSE THE ENCODING CYRILLIC (K0I8-R).  COURSE MATERIALS ARE ALSO AVAILABLE ONLINE AT THE RUSSIAN 101 COURSE INFO SITE: (CINFO.OBERLIN.EDU).

 FOR INFORMATION ON "RUSSIFYING" YOUR OWN COMPUTER, GO TO THE OCREECAS WEB SITE: http://www.oberlin.edu/~creecas/Ref.html.(SCROLL DOWN TO THE BOTTOM TO FIND THE APPROPRIATE LINK.)
 
 

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SYLLABUS, PART ONE