Prepared by: David J. Birnbaum (djbpitt+tales@pitt.edu)
Last modified: 2007-08-27
Location: http://clover.slavic.pitt.edu/~russ0010/2081/description.html
Main course
web site: http://clover.slavic.pitt.edu/~russ0010/2081/
| When | Where | Who | CRN | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lecture | TH 10:00 a.m.–10:50 a.m. | LAWRN00104 | Birnbaum | 11181 |
| Recitation | MWF 10:00 a.m.–10:50 a.m. | CL00312 | Draskoczy | 11985 |
| Recitation | MWF 11:00 a.m.–11:50 a.m. | CL00363 | Draskoczy | 11641 |
| Recitation | MWF 12:00 p.m.–12:50 p.m. | CL00249 | Birnbaum | 10989 |
David J. Birnbaum (Де́йвид)
Email: djbpitt+russ0010@pitt.edu
Office:
1417 CL
Phone: 412-624-5712
Office Hours: Monday 2:00–2:50 p.m., Thursday
1:00–1:50 p.m., and by appointment
Julie Draskoczy (Ю́лия)
Email: jsd14@pitt.edu
Office: 1417 CL
Phone: (none)
Office Hours:
Tuesday 11:00–11:50 a.m., Wednesday 1:00–1:50 p.m., and by appointment
This course is the first half of a year-long introduction to the Russian language. The course has two main goals. The first goal is to give you, in the course of one year, a solid and thorough introduction to the structure of the Russian language. This knowledge will be the foundation for intermediate and advanced study. The second goal, no less important than the first, is to help you gain as high a level of proficiency in spoken and written Russian as is possible in the course of one year. At the end of the academic year you should be able to engage in simple conversations on everyday topics, talk about yourself in some detail, perform many of the everyday tasks that a student might need to perform in Russia. You will gain a basic familiarity with the cultural context that structures a Russian person’s daily life and his/her language use.
Russian 0010 carries 5 credits and must be taken for a letter grade (S/N enrollment and auditing are not permitted).
There are no prerequisites, but students who have any prior exposure to the Russian language (prior course work, travel in Russia, relatives with whom they have lived who are able to speak Russian, or anything else that would provide exposure to the language) must inform the instructors about this prior experience. Failure to disclose this information to the instructors constitutes practicing deceit in an academic evaluation proceeding, and will be regarded as an Academic Integrity offense.
This course will be structured in a lecture/recitation format. There will be two lectures (Tuesday and Thursday) and three recitations (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) per week.
The purpose of the lecture is to introduce linguistic concepts, give students introductory speaking practice, troubleshoot problem areas, and answer student questions regarding the material of the course. The languages of instruction will be Russian and English. The lectures are the place where “instruction” takes place.
The purpose of the recitation is to give the students practice speaking Russian. Russian is the only language to be used by both student and instructor during the recitation. The recitation is the place where “language acquisition” takes place. It is where you actively practice and use the language that you have been taught in lecture and practiced at home. It is your responsibility to learn the material taught in the lectures before you come to recitation, as it will not be reviewed or retaught there. It is your responsibility to prepare your homework for each and every recitation as you will not be able to participate without full and complete preparation. The no-English rule will be strictly enforced. You will only learn Russian by speaking it and your full active participation in every recitation session is required.
In many courses homework is a sort of take-home test that you complete after studying new material, but that isn’t the case here. This course and its textbook are designed so that homework is studying; it’s a step-by-step guide to learning the material, rather than something you do after you’ve completed the learning. You’ll find, for example, that you’ll learn the alphabet in the first unit not by studying the alphabet first and then doing the homework, but simply by sitting down and doing the homework, which is designed to introduce you to the alphabet and provide an opportunity for you to become familiar with it in an organized way.
This course starts fairly intensively because it is difficult to do much of interest with a language until you’ve developed a bit of a foundation. After the first week or so, you should anticipate 1–2 hours of studying/homework per day.
Daily recitation, homework, and oral examination grades are on a Russian five-point system. Written unit examinations and the final examination grades are on a hundred-point scale according to the US system. See http://clover.slavic.pitt.edu/~russ0010/2081/grades.html for details.
The final course grade will be computed as follows:
| Component | Weight |
|---|---|
| Daily recitation grade | 30% |
| Tests (4 written and 1 oral) and quizzes | 40% |
| Final Exam (including oral component) | 15% |
| Written homework | 15% |
By remaining enrolled in the course, students not only agree to abide by the above stipulations, but also understand that the instructors will follow rigorously the rules spelled out in the University's Academic Integrity Policies (Policy 02-03-03, http://www.pitt.edu/HOME/PP/policies/02/02-03-03.html) and Procedures (Procedure 02-03-03, http://www.pitt.edu/HOME/PP/procedures/02/02-03-03.html) and the Arts & Sciences Academic Integrity Code regarding cheating, plagiarism, etc. It is the students’ responsibility to familiarize themselves with these regulations and to observe them, and any infraction will be penalized according to these rules.
In this course, the minimum sanction for violating the University's academic integrity guidelines is an F in the course. Not an F on the quiz or exam, but an F for the course. The maximum sanction, as described in the documents mentioned above, is dismissal from the University without the possibility of readmission.
A solid knowledge of English grammar will help you in this course, and if you do not know English grammar well, you are likely to encounter problems at some point. You may find the recommended text, English Grammar for Students of Russian, helpful, but please also feel free to seek out your instructor after class or during office hours if this is a problem.
Do not hesitate to consult with either of the course instructors should you find yourself in need of extra help.
If you have a disability for which you are or may be requesting an accommodation, you should contact both your instructor and Disability Resources and Services, 216 William Pitt Union, 412-648-7890 (or 412-383-7355 TTY), as early as possible in the term. DRS will verify your disability and determine reasonable accommodations for this course (see http://www.drs.pitt.edu/ for general information). Instructors are not permitted to make special accommodations except in consultation with DRS.
Students who wish to engage the help of a private tutor are advised to consult with Christine Metil (metil@pitt.edu, 4-5906) in the Slavic Department main office. Chris maintains a list of Russian majors and native speakers who offer this service. Payment is negotiated directly between the tutor and the student.
If you purchase used textbooks, be aware that you need the fourth edition, and you also need both the main textbook and the workbook (called a Student Activities Manual). These are sold together in a package available in the University Bookstore. You will also need the extensive audio component of the course, which is made available by the publishers via the Internet at no cost. The audio component of the textbook is not optional and will be required for daily completion of homework assignments.
Although the Student Activities Manual looks as if it is designed for you to write your answers in the book and then tear out and hand in the pages, you may have homework on one side of a page one night and on the other side of the same page the following night, which means that if you tear out the page and hand it in on that first night, you won’t be able to do your homework on the second night. You may, therefore, need to hand in photocopies, so that you won’t find yourself unable to complete homework on the back side of a page that you handed in the day before, and that has not yet been returned.
The general course syllabus is available at http://clover.slavic.pitt.edu/~russ0010/2081/syllabus.html. The syllabus may be modified in minor ways during the semester, but assignments and examination dates will not be changed. Unit syllabi will be linked under the main syllabus site as needed.