This half-block course is aimed for those students who want to improve their Russian communication skills and are planning to study, work, or travel in Russia. Using the Communicative Approach, the class will aim at Intermediate or higher level of fluency (ACTFL scale) in speaking, listening, and reading comprehension. Through viewings and discussions of popular Russian films and texts on cultural studies (The Russian Context; The Russian’s World), the class will explore the salient differences between Russians’ and Americans’ cultural and historical background knowledge and assumptions. The students will learn and practice the Russian norms of conduct, such as proper ways of greeting, negotiating levels of formality, and the etiquette of telephone and written communications, as well as appropriate language and protocol for expressing gratitude and lodging a complaint. By the end of the course, students will have broadened their understanding of Russian grammar, vocabulary, and norms of conduct; they will have learned more ways of accurately expressing and conducting themselves in a broad range of situations. (Not offered 2024-25).

.5 unit

No offerings are currently scheduled.