Application deadline: March 31, 2017
Middlebury School of Russian is pleased to announce the 2017 STARTALK Summer Institute “Proficiency-based Pedagogy for Russian” intended for novice teachers of Russian and graduate students with no or limited teaching experiences.
The Institute provides participants with unique opportunities to gain a solid foundation in second language acquisition theory and language proficiency framework, and to transfer this knowledge into classroom practice. Participants will create teaching materials for different levels of instruction, implementing STARTALK-endorsed best teaching practices, and engage in practice-teaching in a safe environment with guidance from experienced language practitioners.
The Institute consists of two parts: a 5-day online session (June 19-23, 2017) and a 12-day on-campus session in Middlebury, VT (July 12-23, 2017); both sessions are mandatory. During the on-line session participants will engage in learning and discussing theoretical approaches to language acquisition and principles of proficiency-based pedagogy, so that the on-campus session can be dedicated to applying this theoretical knowledge to classroom teaching and material development. During the on-campus session, participants will brainstorm, design, and implement curricular units, lessons and activities.
Institute’s participants will experience the unique immersive environment of the Middlebury Russian School. By living in the language, participants themselves will see how a learning community of people who speak Russian with varying levels of fluency can be built and sustained.
Tuition, lodging expenses, meals, textbooks, and classroom materials are covered by the STARTALK grant, and each participant is eligible to receive a travel reimbursement for up to $300. Participants will receive one course unit of graduate credit.
NEW FOR 2017: This year the STARTALK Institute has received an award to offer up to 5 scholarships to cover tuition for the 1-Week Refresher Course (July 2-9). These scholarships are competitive and will be awarded to those admitted STARTALK participants who need to “update” their language skills before starting the on-campus program on July 12. More information about the Refresher Course is available here.
Please note that the application deadline is March 13, 2017. Finalists will be notified by April 1, 2017.
For information and to submit an application, please, visit:
http://www.middlebury.edu/ls/russian/startalkrussian. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact program director, Irina Dubinina, at idubinin@brandeis.edu or lead instructor, Olesya Kisselev, at ovk103@psu.edu