Instructor: Dr. Jonathan Z. Ludwig
Office: 323 Rayzor Hall
Office hours: Monday, 1:00-2:00; Tuesday, 3:00-4:00; and by appointment
Office phone: 713-348-3479
E-mail: jzludwig@rice.edu

Course goals: Welcome to Russian 201, the third course in a four-semester sequence that will teach you the basic language skills of the Russian language. At the end of this semester, you will be able to:

In short, you will be able to create, participate in, and understand dialogs in Russian about yourself and your surroundings.

Required texts:

Golosa: A Basic Course in Russian. Book 2. Textbook, 3nd ed.
Golosa: A Basic Course in Russian. Workbook/Lab Manual for Book 2, 3nd ed.

Course grading policies:

Course requirements:

There will be 5 hour-long in-class chapter tests spread throughout the semester. Each exam will be roughly the same length, and will consist of sections such as the following: a listening comprehension and/or dictation exercise, fill-in-the-blank exercises, translation exercises, a reading comprehension passage, a communicative writing exercise, and a section on Russian culture. Exams turned in after the assigned deadline will be penalized.

There will be ten quizzes, two per chapter. One will be a dictation/question-answer style quiz; the other will be a grammar quiz. Quizzes may not be made up without prior permission.

There will be one oral exam. The oral exam will consist of a series of questions asked by your instructor.

Oral presentation: At the end of the semester, you are to give a 5-minute presentation on an historical figure of your choice. You should also be prepared to answer questions from your fellow students about your presentation. Your grade will be based both on your presentation and on the questions you ask after the other presentations.

The complete final version of your journal will be due: Friday, 8 December, in class.

As part of your journal this semester, there will be two written interviews. For each written interview you will choose a figure of some importance-one of whom should be from Russian history, literature, or politics-and write an interview of 8-10 questions/answers with this person.

Homework will be graded on a 5-point basis as follows:

Homework is due the class after it is assigned, unless otherwise specified; late homework will not be accepted. Students who know they will be absent on a given date are encouraged to submit their homework in advance, or ask a friend or classmate to turn it in for them; thus they may earn up to the total 5 points available for the given assignment, as well as earning 2 points for class participation for that day, rather than 0 points, as described below.

Some homework assignments will include listening comprehension exercises. These are available on the web, as mp3 files, at: www.gwu.edu/%7Eslavic/golosa/audio/audio2.htm. Check carefully and select the correct portion for your homework assignment.

In addition, computer-based learning modules will be assigned later in the semester, due when indicated. These will be graded as additional regular homework assignments.

Class participation will be graded daily on a 5-point basis as follows:

The lowest 3 class participation grades for each student will be dropped in the calculation of the class participation grade for the semester. Regular class attendance is very important for learning a foreign language, as often the in-class hour is the only time during which you may practice speaking the language; failure to attend class will have an adverse effect on your grade, as will consistent late arrival to class. Classroom etiquette requires that you do not eat during class.

Mandatory ADA Statement: Any student with a documented disability needing academic adjustments or accommodations is requested to speak with me during the first two weeks of class. All discussions will remain confidential. Students with disabilities will also need to contact Disability Support Services in the Ley Student Center.