Russian 1121: Course Description
Books:
Leed, Nakhimovsky, and Nakhimovsky Beginning Russian, Second revised
edition, Slavica Publishers 1991
Leed, Paperno 5000 Russian Words, Slavica Publishers 1987
Boris Zhitkov What I Saw, Slavica Publishers 1988
Note: These books cover Russian 1121 and Russian 1122
Interactive video (russian.cornell.edu):
Beginning Russian Through Film
is a series of digital movies
on our Web site. It can be used
on the Windows computers in the language lab in Noyes Lodge. You may also be able to use
your own computer (Windows or Macintosh) from your dorm room; see
Technical requirements. Authored by
Slava Paperno and
Viktoria Tsimberov,
editorial assistance by Matthew Huss.
Online Reference:
The Russian Dictionary Tree (http://russian.cornell.edu), a greatly expanded online version of
5000 Russian Words
Beginning Russian Grammar (http://russian.cornell.edu), a conveniently organized
online version of the grammar sections in Beginning Russian by Leed et al.
Vocabulary Review exercises are linked to each week's syllabus online. They may help
you monitor your progress in vocabulary acquisition. They're also helpful for
review before the final exam.
CD-ROM-based software:
Beginning Russian Quizzes in the language lab in Noyes Lodge. We usually also
lend this program on CD-ROMs to those students who prefer using it on their
own Windows computers.
Web Audio Lab in the language lab in Noyes Lodge. It is also available
on CD-ROM from the lab (you'll be asked to pay for the disc) for those students who prefer using it on their
own Windows or Macintosh computers. See WAL for important details.
Tests and papers:
Beginning with the 3rd week, a 4-minute quiz (graded) on Mon and Thu,
a 4-minute dictation (graded) on Tuesday,
and three Review Papers papers over the semester. Print them form this
HTML
or
PDF page.
When two Lessons are assigned for Monday and Thursday, the quizz may be
based on either of them. The dictation is always one of the exercises assigned for memorization.
The final exam consists of over 100 questions (mostly fill-in-the blanks) taken from
the quizzes, from the three Review Papers, and from written homework.
Save all your corrected work so you can use it to study for the final exam.
All quizzes can be practiced as computer exercises, see above.
Three worst quiz results over the semester are discarded when calculating the grade.
Missed quizzes cannot be made up.
All dictations come from homework assigned for memorization.
Grading:
Based on your performance during the semester (active participation in class, linguistic accuracy and, to a large extent,
the quality of the written and other homework, quizzes, and dictations) (75%) and the final exam (25%).
Attendance:
Mandatory and crucial; missing more than four classes without a good reason
may affect your grade. If you do have to miss a class, send an email to your
teacher before the class that you have to miss.
If you have symptoms of a contagious
illness, please be kind to your classmates and don't attend the meeting.
If you feel up to it, do the work that can be done on your computer, and when you
recover be sure to ask your teachers for help catching up. We'll always be happy to help.
The most productive way to catch up with the class is to use WAL to record and
submit all exercises from the missed Lessons.
Russian 1103 may be taken simultaneously with this course for
additional credit.
Homework:
All homework is shown in the syllabus. It should take
60 to 90 minutes each day. Two or three days a week part of the homework must be
done in the language lab or on your own computer; twice a week this involves work with Russian videos
(on the Web; this may also be done on your own computer, Windows or Macintosh),
and once a week you'll work with Russian audio recordings. The audio assignments are
more frequent during the first two weeks of the semester.
There will be two or three written exercises each week that are required but
not graded,
and also three one-page Review Papers over the semester that are not graded.
The types of homework are described below:
Read and analyze
Read the grammar explanations first, then the exercises that are related
to these explanations. Then read the entire lesson, taking note of the
English translations. Make sure you know your way around the dictionary, 5000
Russian Words and consult it whenever you have a question.
Write
Do all written exercises after reading the grammar explanations and
the entire lesson. Write in cursive and leave room for the teacher's comments.
Listen, record, and submit
Do this after the written assignment, if any. There are two types of
work with audio recordings: imitating what you hear and responding to questions or
prompts. Use Web Audio Lab to listen and record.
A lesson takes 12 to 15 minutes to complete. Submit your recordings to our server
where they will be reviewed by your teacher.
This is part of required homework that will prepare you to take full advantage of class time.
Read aloud, practice orally
Do these after making the sound recordings. If you can, do this with a friend:
act out the conversations together. Otherwise, prepare these exercises
by yourself. It is important to pronounce every sentence, even if there
is no one to listen.
Memorize
Make sure that you can repeat the dialog from memory just as it sounds
in the recording.
Interactive Video
Use a computer with a fast network connection, such as one of the Windows PCs
in the language lab in Noyes Lodge. (A Macintosh may also be used,
but the Macs in the language lab do not have the required fonts.)
Connect to our Web site and click an appropriate
link in the Syllabus for Russian 1121. When the opening screen is displayed,
be sure to select "large video" under "What's best for you?". The
"small video" option is for slow Internet connections.
Each week's syllabus has links that lead directly to the week's film assignments,
but you can also connect to our home page, http://russian.cornell.edu
and click Beginning Russian Through Film. Select the assigned film.
Consult the "About this film" section in the film lesson for comments,
explanations, or relevant historical and cultural information.
As you watch the clips, read the dialog transcripts aloud, and consult the
on-screen glosses. Make sure you understand the dialog and the events.
Do not try to memorize the vocabulary, but do try to imitate the actors' speech.
It is a good idea to speak along with the actors in the Role Playing
window.
In most scenes you will see additional tabs next to the Transcript
tab. These may be Role Playing, Exercises,
and Discussion. If the episode consists of more than one scene
the Discussion tab accompanies the part called "Entire episode."
The syllabus indicates which of the tabs you should look at for each episode
and scene. When you click a tab, its text replaces the dialog transcript in the window.
You can use the Print button next to the tabs to print the
text that is currently displayed. You will usually find it useful to bring the
printout to class so you can glance at it as you speak.
When you read the text of Role Playing, Exercises, or Discussion,
look up the words you don't know in the glossary
window, and practice performing the dialog, or doing the grammatical substitutions,
or discussing the scene so you can do the same in class.
If you have trouble using the software, consult the on-screen Help
or ask your teacher for a demonstration. If you have a multimedia computer in your
dorm room or apartment, you can do this work from there.
If the connection is not fast enough, use the "small video" option.
Follow the instructions in Help to install the required font.
Otherwise you may see funny symbols in the glossary window.
When assigned in the Syllabus, write or type an English translation of the video episodes.
Reading What I Saw is not assigned as homework; all reading
will be done in class, but if you have time to look through the next paragraph
or so, you may find that you will get more out of your next class.
Practicing your endings: If you find it useful, practice on the
computers in the language lab: all grammatical rules that are required for successful participation in class can be
practiced as computer exercises (called Beginning Russian Quizzes).
If you have trouble using the software, consult the on-screen Help
or ask your teacher for a demonstration.
Russian
1121
The
Russian Language Program
Russian Language Program
Department of Russian
226 Morrill Hall,
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853-4701, USA
tel. 607/255-8350,
fax 607/255-2044
email russlang@cornell.edu
|
This Web site uses custom RUSSIAN FONTS with accented vowels.
Web site by Slava Paperno
Generous support provided by The Consortium for Language Teaching and Learning
|