Category: Professional Development

A new episode of Foreign Language Teaching Podcast is out!

This time Natalie McCauley interviews Richard Robin, professor of Russian at George Washington university and the author of textbook Golosa.
They discuss a number of topics related to language teaching, learning and testing, such as:

• strategies to cultivate learner autonomy,
• when plagiarism and cheating can be good for language learning,
• five-minute declension quizzes and the reasons Professor Robin believes in learner-centered homework, not learner- centered classroom;
• using ACTFL guidelines and OPIs for teaching and testing;
• effective test-taking strategies and what one needs to do to achieve Superior or Distinguished level of proficiency and many others.

You can listen to the interview on its TeachRussian.org page or on your favorite podcast platform (iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify).

Deadline to Apply: March 25, 2019

Proficiency-Based Pedagogy for Russian: STARTALK Institute for Teachers In Middlebury Russian School

Online Session: June 24 – July 3, 2019 (required)
Residential Session on Middlebury Campus: July 7 – 21, 2019 (required)

The applications for the STARTALK Summer program at Middlebury College Davis School of Russian are due March 25!

The Institute is a fantastic place for teachers of Russian – novice and experiences alike – to explore the principles of second language acquisition and proficiency-based instruction amidst the blue mountains of Vermont.

The Institute includes 10 days of online classes and a residential session on campus, both required. Continue reading “Prof. Devt: STARTALK Institute for Russian Teachers (Middlebury)”

Thursday, April 4, 2019 | 11:15 AM

CREEES is proud to present a video conference for students and alumni to meet two of our alumni serving in US Embassies abroad — Lance Erickson (Astana) and Brian Selman (Warsaw) — to hear their stories and get their advice on the path to a diplomatic career. Continue reading “Prof. Devt: Careers in Diplomacy—UT CREEES Alumni Serving in the US State Department (video conference)”

Deadline for Applications: May 3, 2019

The University of Wisconsin-Madison has announced a 2019 ACFL Proficiency and Performance Summer Institute on their campus. The institute will include a dedicated 4-day ACTFL OPI Assessment Workshop in Russian.

The dates of the OPI-Russian workshop are June 3-6.

Participants in the workshop will be introduced to the ACTFL rating scale, the structure of the OPI, and techniques for administering and rating the OPI. Participants will observe and conduct practice interviews across all proficiency levels, Novice through Superior. Participation in this workshop is the first step toward becoming an ACTFL-certified OPI Tester with Full Certification. Continue reading “Prof. Devt: ACFL Summer Institute (UW Madison)”

Webinar is Sunday, March 17, 2019

Какие основные трудности испытывают иностранные студенты при овладении русской фонетикой и интонацией? Как объяснять и отрабатывать звуки русского языка и интонационные модели?

Вебинар ведет: Архипецкая Мария Вячеславовна, к.ф.н., старший преподаватель кафедры русского языка как иностранного и методики его преподавания Санкт-Петербургского государственного университета (Россия), координатор курса фонетики летней программы Русской школы в Миддлбери колледже с 2012 года. Работает в СПбГУ более 20 лет (с 1995 года), преподает русский язык на американской программе CIEE, а также на программах со студентами из Великобритании, Канады и Японии.

Вебинар (участие и видеозапись) доступны бесплатно всем подписчикам сайта TeachRussian c годовой или месячной подпиской.
Для всех остальных стоимость участия – $8.99.
Желающим высылается сертификат участника.
Зарегистрируйтесь сегодня!

Register by March 5, 2019

Oral History Projects in the Russian-Language Curriculum

In this webinar, Benjamin Rifkin and Colleen Lucey discuss how oral history projects can be used in the Russian language curriculum to the benefit of students, departments, and community partners. They will discuss what oral history projects are, how to organize and implement them, and discuss how such activities provide students with meaningful communicative interactions with native speakers. The presenters will share the example of an oral history project conducted at The College of New Jersey as evidence of the positive impact such initiatives can have on student motivation for the study of Russian.  Continue reading “Prof. Devt: ACTR Webinar on Oral History in Russian Lang. Curriculum”