Tuesday, April 26, 2011
DAY ONE: Alphabet
This link is pretty helpful. We will also be learning the scripted (cursive) versions of each letter.
WHAT WE LEARNED:
1. How to say Hello formally and informally
2. Alphabet - printed, english equivalent, and script
3. Song
Здравствуйте!
ZDRAST - VWEE - TYEH - everybody practice! Next week we'll review, play some spelling games, learn introductory phrases, and enjoy our first vocab/writing homework. YPA.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Introductions
Well, the last post details why you should come to class. Now, time to tell you a little about myself and what we will be tackling in the first weeks of class.
COMRADE BIO:
My name is Tim, and I am 25 years old. I am from a small town in southern Wisconsin. Interestingly enough, I have no Russian heritage that I am aware of. As evidenced by the last sentence, I enjoy a casual relationship with the stickier points of English grammar. But I love to read and I love to speak Russian.
I learned the Cyrillic alphabet on a school trip to Cherkasy, Ukraine in August of 2003. Since then, I have cultivated a deep, inexplicable love for Slavic languages and cultures. I studied Russian for 3 years at DePaul University and for 2 years at Loyola (both in Chicago), learned basic Czech while studying at Univerzita Karlova in Prague, and picked up a little Polish both in Krakow and on Chicago's north side. And here's the rub - I'm losing all of these wonderful skills at an alarming rate. That's part of the reason I want to teach this class; I can build up my own waning skills while helping others begin to cultivate their own.
During class, you may call me Timofey Lansovich or tovarish (comrade), based on your comfort level.
WHAT IS TO BE DONE (TENTATIVELY):
1. Week one will focus solely on the alphabet. We will learn both the printed and script versions of the letters, as Russian is almost exclusively written in cursive. Please bring pens and papers, writing skills begin this week as well. Expect spelling games, alphabet songs, etc. Oh, and I'm guessing we'll take at least 20 minutes learning how to say hello.
2. Review of the alphabet and written letters will be key in subsequent lessons. From there, we will learn basic greetings and conversation, both formal and non. First vocab lists will begin to surface - homework time!
3. Depending on class size and consistency, we will continue to review our lessons with games and dialogues. Then it's time for parts of speech, cases, and the treatment of gendered nouns.
MORE TO COME AS I DRAFT LESSON PLANS! YPA!!
(and for your listening pleasure...)
COMRADE BIO:
My name is Tim, and I am 25 years old. I am from a small town in southern Wisconsin. Interestingly enough, I have no Russian heritage that I am aware of. As evidenced by the last sentence, I enjoy a casual relationship with the stickier points of English grammar. But I love to read and I love to speak Russian.
I learned the Cyrillic alphabet on a school trip to Cherkasy, Ukraine in August of 2003. Since then, I have cultivated a deep, inexplicable love for Slavic languages and cultures. I studied Russian for 3 years at DePaul University and for 2 years at Loyola (both in Chicago), learned basic Czech while studying at Univerzita Karlova in Prague, and picked up a little Polish both in Krakow and on Chicago's north side. And here's the rub - I'm losing all of these wonderful skills at an alarming rate. That's part of the reason I want to teach this class; I can build up my own waning skills while helping others begin to cultivate their own.
During class, you may call me Timofey Lansovich or tovarish (comrade), based on your comfort level.
WHAT IS TO BE DONE (TENTATIVELY):
1. Week one will focus solely on the alphabet. We will learn both the printed and script versions of the letters, as Russian is almost exclusively written in cursive. Please bring pens and papers, writing skills begin this week as well. Expect spelling games, alphabet songs, etc. Oh, and I'm guessing we'll take at least 20 minutes learning how to say hello.
2. Review of the alphabet and written letters will be key in subsequent lessons. From there, we will learn basic greetings and conversation, both formal and non. First vocab lists will begin to surface - homework time!
3. Depending on class size and consistency, we will continue to review our lessons with games and dialogues. Then it's time for parts of speech, cases, and the treatment of gendered nouns.
MORE TO COME AS I DRAFT LESSON PLANS! YPA!!
(and for your listening pleasure...)
Welcome! Добро пожаловать!
Well, if you've stumbled across this site, chances are you might be interested in attending the NOFSN Beginner's Russian class. As a fellow Russophile, let me just say RIGHT ON BRATAN. Before you hop on the next slow train to Novosibirsk, however, maybe we should address a few key objectives of this class.
WHY LEARN RUSSIAN IN NEW ORLEANS?
Shouldn't we be learning French? What about Spanish? Is there any reason to learn such a complicated language in a region where it is hardly spoken? Of course!
1. TRAVEL - Over 300 million people speak Russian as either a primary or secondary language worldwide. It is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Now, this may not seem important to your average bike-riding, garden-tending, crawfish-slurping NOLA resident, but anyone with ambitions to go abroad would do well to learn a few introductory phrases in Russian and, more importantly, how to read the Cyrillic alphabet. Every major city from Berlin to Beijing has at least some linguistic tie to the Motherland, thanks to the indomitable efforts of centuries of imperialist rulers. So learn a little, and maybe the street signs in Minsk won't seem so daunting.
2. COGNATES, DOG - Committing to a basic Russian vocabulary will prove useful in learning a ton of other Slavic-based languages. Polish, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Serbo-Croat, Slovenian, Bosnian, Czech, Slovak, Macedonian - all these languages (though belonging to distinct branches of the Slavonic tree) share similar phonetic and grammatical structure to Russian. Look to the ancient Turkic languages of the Uzbeks, Tajiks, Turkmenis, Afghanis, Armenians, Georgians, Kazakhs, and Kyrgyz for distant influences of their Russian neighbors.
3. TONGUE WRESTLING - Learning to speak a new language is great exercise for your mouth. Russian contains a variety of vowel and consonant sounds not found in our own language, alien sounds that demand a patient tongue and a discerning ear. Once mastered, these phonetic skills can only benefit as you venture on to newer and more exciting languages.
4. ART, LITERATURE, AND SEDUCTION - There is no denying that Russian literature in translation has impacted most of out lives at least once. Have you ever wondered what the words of Tolstoy or Nabokov might sound like exactly as they wrote them? Learning to read Cyrillic is the first step. Most students of Russian in the U.S. are at some point compelled to honor the rich history of Russian art by memorizing a poem or giving a short lecture - this class will be no different. And just try whispering a few lines in your sweetie's ear. Yeah, your welcome.
5. IT'S POLITICAL - Even if the language is of little use to you, the politics of the Russian Federation damn well should be. For nearly a century, the USSR rivalled our own status as a world superpower. But long before that, the seat of power in Eurasia was never very far from the Volga River. Geographically, the Russian Federation spans more than 6.5 million square miles of the globe and is home to more than 170 distinct ethnic groups. So, whether you want to know more about the inner workings of the Duma, the biodiversity of Lake Baikal, the secrets of the KGB, or how to pronounce Dmitry Medvedev's name at parties without spitting, learning a little Russian is key.
Хорошая идея? Я думаю да!
WHY LEARN RUSSIAN IN NEW ORLEANS?
Shouldn't we be learning French? What about Spanish? Is there any reason to learn such a complicated language in a region where it is hardly spoken? Of course!
1. TRAVEL - Over 300 million people speak Russian as either a primary or secondary language worldwide. It is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Now, this may not seem important to your average bike-riding, garden-tending, crawfish-slurping NOLA resident, but anyone with ambitions to go abroad would do well to learn a few introductory phrases in Russian and, more importantly, how to read the Cyrillic alphabet. Every major city from Berlin to Beijing has at least some linguistic tie to the Motherland, thanks to the indomitable efforts of centuries of imperialist rulers. So learn a little, and maybe the street signs in Minsk won't seem so daunting.
2. COGNATES, DOG - Committing to a basic Russian vocabulary will prove useful in learning a ton of other Slavic-based languages. Polish, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Serbo-Croat, Slovenian, Bosnian, Czech, Slovak, Macedonian - all these languages (though belonging to distinct branches of the Slavonic tree) share similar phonetic and grammatical structure to Russian. Look to the ancient Turkic languages of the Uzbeks, Tajiks, Turkmenis, Afghanis, Armenians, Georgians, Kazakhs, and Kyrgyz for distant influences of their Russian neighbors.
3. TONGUE WRESTLING - Learning to speak a new language is great exercise for your mouth. Russian contains a variety of vowel and consonant sounds not found in our own language, alien sounds that demand a patient tongue and a discerning ear. Once mastered, these phonetic skills can only benefit as you venture on to newer and more exciting languages.
4. ART, LITERATURE, AND SEDUCTION - There is no denying that Russian literature in translation has impacted most of out lives at least once. Have you ever wondered what the words of Tolstoy or Nabokov might sound like exactly as they wrote them? Learning to read Cyrillic is the first step. Most students of Russian in the U.S. are at some point compelled to honor the rich history of Russian art by memorizing a poem or giving a short lecture - this class will be no different. And just try whispering a few lines in your sweetie's ear. Yeah, your welcome.
5. IT'S POLITICAL - Even if the language is of little use to you, the politics of the Russian Federation damn well should be. For nearly a century, the USSR rivalled our own status as a world superpower. But long before that, the seat of power in Eurasia was never very far from the Volga River. Geographically, the Russian Federation spans more than 6.5 million square miles of the globe and is home to more than 170 distinct ethnic groups. So, whether you want to know more about the inner workings of the Duma, the biodiversity of Lake Baikal, the secrets of the KGB, or how to pronounce Dmitry Medvedev's name at parties without spitting, learning a little Russian is key.
Хорошая идея? Я думаю да!
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