Foreign Language Pedagogy Podcast

What are the positive lessons we learned as a result of teaching online during the pandemic? How can teachers benefit from the current situation and be better prepared for the fall semester? Our experts share their views on the present and future of teaching languages. We interviewed three experts in online and hybrid language teaching:

Shannon Spasova (Michigan State University),Liudmila Klimanova (the University of Arizona), andOlga KIimova (University of Pittsburgh)

Podcast host Izolda (Iza) Savenkova is a Visiting Assistant Scholar at Dickinson College, PA.

Podcast is created by Evgeny Dengub for www.TeachRussian.org

У нас в гостях Лёша Разин, преподаватель русского и эстонского языков, специалист по игровым методикам, автор книги "Играем все" и онлайн-проекта RuswithFun. Мы поговорили о том, чем отличается геймифицированный урок от обычных уроков с игровыми вставками, о конкретных формах работы, упражнениях, которые можно использовать при вводе нового материала и его отработке в игровой форме. Мы также обсудили роль учителя в современном образовательном процессе и почему преподавателю не нужно бояться быть смешным и участвовать в игре вместе со студентами.

This is the second part of the conversation with Professors Dubinina and Kisselev, authors of the textbook for Russian heritage speakers "Родная речь".

Podcast host Izolda (Iza) Savenkova is a Visiting Assistant Scholar at Dickinson College, PA.

Podcast is created by Evgeny Dengub for www.TeachRussian.org

This is the first part of the conversation with Professors Dubinina and Kisselev, authors of the textbook for Russian heritage speakers "Родная речь".

Podcast host Izolda (Iza) Savenkova is a Visiting Assistant Scholar at Dickinson College, PA.

Podcast is created by Evgeny Dengub for www.TeachRussian.org

We interview our guest Karen Evans-Romaine, professor of Russian at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and director of the UW-Madison Russian Flagship Program.

Podcast host Dr. Natalie McCauley and her guest discuss ways to promote students' autonomy, how technology changed over the years and what it means for language teaching, how Karen uses songs in her classroom, and many other practical aspects of language teaching. They also talk about how our field has changed over the years, and the importance of mentorship, and faculty support.

Podcast host:

Dr. Natalie (Natasha) McCauley is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Russian Studies at the University of Richmond and the current director of the UR Summer Study Abroad Program in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Since she began teaching Russian in 2012, Natasha has taught at the University of Pittsburgh, Middlebury Institute of International Studies, and the University of Michigan, where she finished her PhD in 2018. What Natasha enjoys most about teaching Russian studies, whether language, literature and film, is the experience to help students not only learn about a different region and culture of the world, but also learn to think critically about the ways societies are structured, including how this is reflected within languages. Her research interests include gender and sexuality, contemporary television and media, and affect theory.

Podcast is created by Evgeny Dengub for TeachRussian.org

This is second par of the conversation with William Comer which is focused on learning and teaching grammar.

Doctor William Comer is Professor of Russian and Director of the Russian Flagship Program at Portland State University.

Dr. Comer has published numerous articles in national journals including the Slavic and East European Journal, Russian Language Journal and Foreign Language Annals. His pedagogical edition of Viktoria Tokareva's short story A Day without Lying (Slavica, 2008) was awarded the prize for Best Book in Language Pedagogy by American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages in 2010. In August 2009 he won the University of Kansas W.T. Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence. He is co-author of Mezhdu nami (=Between you and me), an online, open-access textbook for elementary Russian. At Portland State he teaches courses in Russian language, literature and culture, and directs the Russian Language Flagship Program.

Podcast host Izolda (Iza) Savenkova is a Visiting Assistant Scholar at Dickinson College, PA. She has been teaching Russian for 7 years after graduation from Lomonosov State University with a Master's degree in Teaching Russian as a Foreign Language. The main sphere of her academic interests is Russian for Specific Purposes. She is currently completing her PhD in Teaching Russian as a Second Language at Lomonosov Moscow State University. Before coming to Dickinson College in 2018, she taught courses in Russian language, literature, and culture and assisted a Dickinson-in-Moscow program at Russian State University for the Humanities. During the summers of 2018 and 2019 she taught at Middlebury College Cathryn Davis School of Russian.

We interview our guest, Cindy Martin, an Associate Professor of Russian at the University of Maryland, College Park. Dr. Martin is an active ACTFL OPI certified Tester and Trainer She is the author of numerous publications, including an Intermediate-level Russian textbook Welcome Back!. Podcast host Dr. Natalie McCauley and her guest discuss a number of topics related to language teaching, specifically: - How student body changed in the past 20 years and what teachers can do to cater to a more diverse audience. - How Dr. Martin helps her students embrace discomfort and how she shows them that Russian Language is not hard (it just takes longer to acquire it for English speakers). - How current grading is punitive in nature and ways to design grading system that encourages students' growth in the language. - What activities work best for classroom space and which ones are best for homework. - How to use pre-speaking activities to help students talk non-stop for the duration of the entire class - How Cindy uses technology to improve students' speaking skills. We hope you will enjoy this interview with Professor Cynthia Martin!

Podcast host: Dr. Natalie (Natasha) McCauley is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Russian Studies at the University of Richmond and the current director of the UR Summer Study Abroad Program in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Since she began teaching Russian in 2012, Natasha has taught at the University of Pittsburgh, Middlebury Institute of International Studies, and the University of Michigan, where she finished her PhD in 2018. What Natasha enjoys most about teaching Russian studies, whether language, literature and film, is the experience to help students not only learn about a different region and culture of the world, but also learn to think critically about the ways societies are structured, including how this is reflected within languages. Her research interests include gender and sexuality, contemporary television and media, and affect theory.

We interview Yulia Amlinskaya, director of the online schools Language Life and Russificate, the host of the online community for Russian language teachers on Facebook. We are discussing topics related to teaching online, such as how to set up an online school, how to find students, and the needs of contemporary students who choose to learn Russian online.

The interview is in Russian.

We interview Doctor William Comer, Professor of Russian and Director of the Russian Flagship Program at Portland State University.

Dr. Comer has published numerous articles in national journals including the Slavic and East European Journal, Russian Language Journal and Foreign Language Annals. His pedagogical edition of Viktoria Tokareva's short story A Day without Lying (Slavica, 2008) was awarded the prize for Best Book in Language Pedagogy by American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages in 2010. In August 2009 he won the University of Kansas W.T. Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence. He is co-author of Mezhdu nami (=Between you and me), an online, open-access textbook for elementary Russian. At Portland State he teaches courses in Russian language, literature and culture, and directs the Russian Language Flagship Program.

The conversation comes in two parts. In this part of the conversation podcast host Izolda Savenkova and her guest are discussing approaches to teaching reading. In the second part they focus on learning and teaching grammar as well as Doctor Comer's views on our field in general.

We interview our guest, Benjamin Rifkin, Dean and professor of Rusia at Hofstra University and the author of several textbooks, including most recent Panorama (co-authored with E. Dengub and S.Nazarova). Tune in as the podcast host Dr. Natalie McCauley and her guest discuss a number of topics related to language teaching and assessment, such as: - how oral prociency workshop changed Dr. Rifkin's teaching; - why it is important to study abroad and why just "being there is not enough"; - how teachers could reducee their presence in the classroom so that students get more time to use the language; - why successful language classroom is a 'noisy' classroom; - the concept of "intensity of engegement' and an alternative approach to lesson planning; - how Dr. Rifkin assigns and structures students' presentations; - ways to sustain students' motivation as they continue their study of Russian, and many others. We hope you will enjoy this interview with Professor Benjamin Rifkin! Leave your comment in the section below!