Russian Immersion Programs

[shariperkins.livejournal.com]

I am interested in hearing about people's personal experiences with various Russian language programs.

Who has been to the Russian Language School at Middlebury College? How was the experience? How much did your language skills improve? Did the pledge and total immersion (particularly if you went as a beginner) lead you to make grammatical mistakes a habit? (That's my one concern.)

How about study abroad programs in Moscow or SP? Where have you been? How was the program, the teaching?

Thank you for your thoughts!

Shari

Comments

[belacane.livejournal.com]

I havn't been to middleburry, but i've heard good things about it. A friend of mine said it's very focused on verbal skills as opposed to written.
I personally spent a summer at beloit college center for language studies (http://www.summerlanguages.com/). It's a relatively small program, and I learned a HUGE amount.

Then I moved to russia.... and learned even more.

[zufall.livejournal.com]

The University of Arizona (http://russian.arizona.edu / http://www.azrussianabroad.com) has a program that was fairly good back when I did it (99-2000). It seems to still be at the same location as before, at the end of a metro line in southeast Moscow plus some (lots of metro-riding to the center). The actual UofA program is adminstratively separate from the university (Moscow Humanities University, was Institute of Youth / former Higher Party School when I was there).

The normal courses there were pretty good -- good teachers, at least, and a lot of instruction, organized weekend trips and stuff. My problem is I was in a class with a numbnut the first semester and didn't learn a tremendous deal. For the second semester I got one-on-one tutoring (arranged by the program) which was infinitely better but probably not practical if you're going as a beginner (I'd had 3 years prior).

If you're not looking for credits, you could probably just go bug a Russian university directly for a lot less $$ (or see if your university would accept credits from abroad). Only issue there would be your being kind of helpless in the face of quality/other problems (the American on-site coordinator handles such stuff in the UofA program -- but sometimes they're crap coordinators, too) but some places like the Pushkin Institute (http://www.pushkin.edu.ru) were supposedd to be top-notch back when I was there -- a long while ago.

[quem98.livejournal.com]

Haven't been to middlebury, but I've heard nothing but good things about it.

ACTR has really good programs and they take care of your Visa stuff. I've been to Russia with them three times already.

[linnapaw.livejournal.com]

I haven't been to Middlebury, but when I was taking Russian, my professors had nothing but good things to say about it. Despite the fact that I took Russian in mid-Minnesota, by chance I ended up at a university who had a professor who teaches at Middlebury in the summers, and he *pushed* us, and so if the Middlebury program is anything like that, you're sure to learn a lot, but you're surely going to have to work really hard at it.

[minnesota-anne.livejournal.com]

This reply is late, but...

You studied w/ Prof. Grottel too? :)

I'm currently in Russian 101, and I completely agree with you as far as the pushing goes, but it's my favorite class. I like the challenge.

[linnapaw.livejournal.com]

Hi there! Actually, I started with Professor Langen, and then continued with Professor Grottel. Oje! (I practically lived in the Foreign Language office my last couple years at SCSU! For awhile there, I was taking German, Russian, and Latin, and I had professors trying to get me to take Spanish and French besides.)

When you see Professor Grottel, tell him that Katja (of Katja and Laura fame) sends him greetings. :) (I haven't been back to MN in ages, though I saw Professor Langen in Toulouse this past April.)

[yozhevich.livejournal.com]

Middlebury is very well known. A guy I studied abroad with had two years of Russian, and he placed in the highest level, whereas people from his same school were two levels lower. And I think we would all agree he wasn't the most dedicated of students... :)

Feel free to email me if you have any questions, unclebriggy at hotmail.

[shariperkins.livejournal.com]

So you attribute his testing into the highest level to the immersion at Middlebury?

[yozhevich.livejournal.com]

I really think so. One of the other students from the same university is a really good student, and that's where she placed. He spent the summer before at Middlebury and had a really good command of English by the time he arrived in Russia. Of course he had the extra benefit of having studied over the summer, but that could only get someone so far :) It'd be a very good program if you don't have the option of studying abroad.

[mjhelol.livejournal.com]

I haven't been to the Middlebury College program, but my Russian language professors had nothing bad to say about it. I actually considered applying one summer, but ended up doing something else.

[soidisantfille.livejournal.com]

I did the Smolny program for six weeks. A friend of mine did it for four months. It's cheap and they will set you up with a place to live (with a family or in Russian student residence, although they usually place you among foreigners within it). I enjoyed it, but it's not very structured. They more or less throw you into a class that is already in progress, because people are constantly coming and going. The flexibility is both an advantage and a drawback, in this regard. I wouldn't recommend going there if you have absolutely no Russian at all, because the language of instruction is Russian, but if you are looking to improve a pre-existing command of Russian, it would be appropriate.

I know some people who enjoyed Middlebury, but my thoughts on it are: 1) it's expensive (I'm Canadian, so it's doubly expensive) and 2) why immerse yourself in Russian anywhere other than Russia? I learned so much just from being forced to use my Russian in St. Petersburg when I had no option to use English. If given the choice, I'd go with a program in Russia.

[moria923.livejournal.com]

How can I find out more about this program?

[soidisantfille.livejournal.com]

http://www.crlc.pu.ru/

I would e-mail them for particulars. They are quick to respond, in my experience.

[capa26.livejournal.com]

I totally agree with soidisantfille. Middlebury is extremely expensive and I think I learned a whole lot being in Russia and speaking with Russians. That said, some of the people I know who went to Middlebury speak Russian very well (although often with strong accents and typical mistakes of non-native speakers). And some of the people I know who went to Russia don't speak as well (mostly because they spent the majority of non-class time speaking English).

The thing about being in Russia is that it all depends on how much effort you put in to speaking Russian. If you force yourself not to speak English you will be much better because of it. I spent a semester in Petersburg with ACTR. While ACTR is a great program it is very expensive and because all of the students are from the U.S. people tend to spend a lot of time speaking English. But they also have lots of field trips which is nice if you don't speak Russian well and are concerned about traveling alone.

I also did SRAS's program this past summer. It is at SPbGU and is roughly the same as the Smolny program that was described by soidisantfille. The one thing I like about it was that I was in classes with people from all over the world so I didn't speak English at all (but that was also a personal decision on my part). If you go to Russia, try to make Russian friends and speak as much as you can with native speakers, it is well worth it.

[moria923.livejournal.com]

I spent three summers at Norwich University's Russian immersion program, and couldn't say enough good things about it. They make it a lot of fun, so that you don't always realize how hard you're working.

Although there is no substitute for spending time in Russia, there actually are a few advantages, from the studying point of view, to immersion programs in the States. You can concentrate totally on your language immersion, without dealing with culture shock at the same time. When I was in Russia, we tended to speak English a lot outside of class, and I think that was out of a need to talk freely about some of our more perplexing experiences. Plus, you get more out of your time in Russia if your level of competence is already high.

[im-such-a-slav.livejournal.com]

how much time to you have?

i showed up in ukraine a year ago with zero language ability (well, zero in the ukrainian/russian areas) and can now speak/write both languages pretty well.

i started with the preperatory faculty for foreign students and then left after 5 months. after that i managed to put together my own "program", using university students and other teachers. if you are able to do this it is 5-10 times cheaper...but is also much more of a hassle. once you reach proficiency it is only a matter of self-motivation and knowing where to buy cheap books/movies.

if all you have time for is a summer course i dont have any personaly experience, but a friend spoke very highly of a ciee course in st. pete's.

[chukchisea.livejournal.com]

Having studied both in Russia (on the University of Arizona Program)and at the Middlebury Russian School, I would *highly* reccommend a Summer at Middlebury before traveling to Russia. Middlebury's strict language pledge takes students, even mediocre ones like me, and beats Russian into them in a way that is usually quite enjoyable. It takes students to the next level. Middlebury imports enough native speakers every summer that you get a wide exposure to accents and speach patterns. Most of the instructors have extensive teaching backgrounds in both the US and Russia. The cultural components are incredible too. During the summer there are several famous directors, musicians and scholars who spend time on campus. There is also a folk choir in residence and each week 3-6 films are shown.

Summer programs in Russia with American universities often do not provide an academic climate conducive to total immersion. On the U of A program most time with other students was spent speaking english and my time with host families was mostly spent adjusting to living with old women. The teachers in the program are sometimes older women stuck to very archaic methodology. My summer with the U of AZ program resulted in 12 hours of credit, but really only the linguistic gain of a semester. At Middlebury I easily gained 3 semesters worth of Russian. On the U of AZ program there were 2 students who had studied at Middlebury the summer prior and they were clearly the best students there... Thats really what convinced me to go to Middlebury the following summer.

One of the drawbacks of Middlebury is cost. However, especially if you are a graduate student, Middlebury's financial aid office is quite generous and will usually work with students to make it affordable.

If you are low on cash and want to learn Russian in Russia, let me suggest not traveling with a US institution. Many universities have Russian programs for foreigners. Try a smaller Russian city like Yaroslavl. Check out http://www.sras.org/

my 2 cents...