Program Description
PREREQUISITES
Students with sophomore, junior or senior status during 2011-2012 who will have completed at least two terms of Russian (101–102) at Carleton, or the equivalent, by the end of winter term 2012 are encouraged to apply.
COURSE OF STUDY, 18 CREDITS
All courses apply toward the Certificate of Advanced Study in Russian as well as the Russian major. The applicability of credit may differ for individual students depending on level and categories within the major and concentration to be fulfilled. You are advised to consult with the department. All students will register for 9 credits of language courses, which meet from six to nine periods per week and are taught by members of the Philological Faculty of Moscow State University. Students at all levels of Russian experience will also register for a spring break reading course prior to the seminar as well as for the “Russia East and West” course.
RUSSIAN 290-17: READING FOR RUSSIA (3 credits)
Over the spring break students will read works related to the seminar courses of study and excursions, including Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita, and will take an examination on the reading in the beginning of the spring term. Instructor: Professor Nemec Ignashev
RUSSIAN 227: RUSSIA EAST AND WEST (6 credits, RAD)
In this course we investigate Russia’s unique location as mediator between “East” and “West.” Readings include fiction—fairy tales, saints’ lives, short works by Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoevsky, and others—as well as Siberian travelogues and scholarly articles on Russian practice of shamanism, orthodox Christianity, and Buddhism. Discussions are complemented by field trips around Moscow, to St. Petersburg, and to shamanistic and Buddhist centers in the Lake Baikal region and Buryatia. Instructor: Professor Nemec Ignashev
STUDENTS CHOOSE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING BLOCKS:
- ADVANCED LANGUAGE BLOCK
RUSSIAN 307: ADVANCED GRAMMAR (4 credits)
RUSSIAN 308: ADVANCED PHONETICS AND INTONATION (2 credits)
RUSSIAN 309: ADVANCED COMPOSITION (3 credits)
These three courses combine advanced work in Russian grammar, composition, and phonetics. Conversational Russian will be practiced throughout the homestay environment as well as in meetings with Russian students. Students who register at this level will have completed at least 6 credits beyond Russian 205 and/or 206 and may already have studied in Russia.
-OR-
- INTERMEDIATE LANGUAGE BLOCK
RUSSIAN 207: INTERMEDIATE GRAMMAR (4 credits)
RUSSIAN 208: INTERMEDIATE PHONETICS (2 credits)
RUSSIAN 209: INTERMEDIATE CONVERSATION (3 credits)
These courses are for students at the intermediate level who have completed Russian 205 and/or 206. Focus at this level will be on vocabulary enrichment, grammar, and phonetics. Conversational Russian in class will be supplemented throughout the homestay environment as well as in meetings with Russian students.
-OR-
- BEGINNING LANGUAGE BLOCK
RUSSIAN 107: BEGINNING GRAMMAR (4 credits)
RUSSIAN 108: BEGINNING PHONETICS (2 credits)
RUSSIAN 109: BEGINNING CONVERSATION (3 credits)
These courses are for students who have just recently begun their study of the Russian language, having completed or tested beyond elementary Russian 101 or 102. At this level students work on a combination of grammar, conversation practice, reading, and phonetics.
HERITAGE STUDENTS
Heritage Students will do a combination of language study and independent study in a field of their choice in addition to Russian 227.
LIVING ARRANGEMENTS
Students will reside with host families located throughout the city of Moscow with ready access to public transportation. Russian Hosts, screened by Carleton staff members, will provide students breakfast and supper daily. Students will lunch on their own with an allowance provided by the program. The program will provide transit passes valid on all forms of mass transportation within the city of Moscow.
TRAVEL AND EXCURSIONS
Barring unanticipated changes in visa regulations or radical fluctuations in the Russian economy, we will travel by train to St. Petersburg for 4-5 days over the traditional May 1-May 9 holidays. If time and finances allow, we will travel to the Lake Baikal region in Eastern Siberia for a week in late May. In addition, course work within Moscow will be supplemented by travel in and around the city’s suburbs. Students who intend to travel in Russia after the program’s completion should be advised that their visa will be valid for ninety days beyond the day of our arrival; at the time of this writing, visa extensions are very difficult (read: impossible) to obtain, unless you are willing to register (for reasonable tuition rates) as a summer-school student with our Moscow State University affiliate.