Дорогие друзья, здраствуйте из Тольятти!
Dear friends, greetings from Togliatti!

My name is Rev Darragh.  You may not know me – having majored in Political Science and German, I have been a somewhat secret member of Grinnell’s Russian community.  I took only two Beginner-level classes with our excellent Russian Department.  But I am now happily living and working as an English teacher in Togliatti, in the Samara region.  Though many citizens call it a small provincial city, Togliatti is the center of the Lada company’s automobile production, making Togliatti known throughout Russia (and even Europe), and earning the name “Russia’s Detroit” (only, Togliatti’s economic prospects are better).

Imagine my surprise when I saw Nicole Stevenson ’12, also an alum, get out of the car in front of the apartment we now share.  We were both “recruited” by 2011-2012 Russian Language Assistant Yulia Fedoseeva to work at Windsor Linguistic School.  Windsor is easily the best English school in Togliatti.  Since opening 12 years ago, it has opened three offices (soon to be four), including a headquarters in a snazzy shopping center-hotel complex.  They have had 2-3 US or UK teachers for at least the past several years.  The prestige these two accomplishments bring is a key advantage in a market for which passable knowledge of English is the key to working for one of the international automotive companies – some of the best jobs in the city.

I work full-time, and dedicate the majority of my “free” time to studying Russian language.   I teach three groups of teenagers, 4 groups of adults, 6 individuals and conduct a “Speech Club;” my hours are distributed in 4-11 hour chunks over 6-7 days (my one Sunday student cancels a lot).  Now three months in, I mostly understand how to tailor each class to the personalities and language needs of each group.  Teaching is very challenging, especially with adults, who think far too hard and crave simple rules they can follow to speak correctly (read the next paragraph for my view on grammar).  I am very lucky that three of my adult groups are all studying at the same “level.”  By the third time I teach the material, I feel confident and encouraged – helpful feelings for weathering more difficult days.

Perhaps counter-intuitively, I have boosted my Russian language “productivity” since my work-weeks reached 40 hours.  Though it took several months of meeting different people to find people with whom I substantively shared interests, I now regularly meet with a few colleagues and students (separately) to speak alternately in Russian and English about topics of mutual interest.  For us, these are business, economics, politics, and interesting macro-social questions.

I am pleased to now have middle-Intermediate skills, with very strong and fast-growing vocabulary at the “cost” of somewhat undisciplined grammar.  Reading is the core of my approach to language-learning, followed by conversations to solidify the concepts I have drawn out of the text and actively learned.  My philosophy is that as you listen to real or TV/radio speech, you can only recognize the words you have previously (and “actively”) encountered.  The most efficient way to gain these words is to read a newspaper or a kid’s history textbook; I don’t have the time, energy or patience to re-undergo childhood-length progressively-mothered language acquisition.  Newspapers are also the best vector for tapping into locals’ societal discussions.  While my vocabulary is skyrocketing, I learn grammar organically, learning from the corrections people make of my speech.

I have three pieces of advice for students going to Russia.  First, start intensively, actively reading text BEFORE you go.  Prime your brain early, so that you don’t have to spend valuable time at your desk once you have arrived (I made this mistake for 3-4 weeks).  If you know the words on paper, in many contexts, your ears and tongue will learn quickly once you start working hard, “on the ground”.  In dollar terms, each day not spent actively expanding your targeted language skills costs >$150, if you are on a typically-priced study abroad program.   Second, only speak Russian.  By the third time someone speaks with you, he/she will accept your insistence, and be glad to get to know you.  Don’t TELL them you want to only speak Russian, just DO it – no explanation is needed.  Third, do NOT sit on the Internet, whether chatting with friends or watching American TV/movies.  Live in your city, eat what they eat and watch what they watch.

—

To conclude, teaching English can be a great way to get to your target country.  The people are great!  If your students are like mine, they will invite you to dinner (this evening), or to bowling (next Saturday), or just want to chat with you long after your next class is supposed to begin.  But never forget why you are in-country, and what you have paid in financial and personal/relationship costs to get there.  Unlike study abroad programs, there are no syllabi or helpful professors/office staff to nurture your language skills.  Be disciplined, and relentlessly pursue the goals you set for yourself.

I don’t know if Novosti has a questions/comments function.  But if anything in this letter has inspired a question or comment in you, you can always reach me at my Grinnell address:darraghr@grinnell.edu.

From Russia with [Warm Regards],
–Rev Darragh ’12

Russian and RCEES alumni and faculty descended on the Big Easy November 14-18, 2012, for the 44th annual convention of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES, the association formerly known as AAASS).

Grinnell was well-represented at the annual conference in New Orleans, which brings together scholars from all disciplines engaged in Slavic, East European Studies. Faculty and alumni participated in various capacities at the annual meeting of our field.

Russian/RCEES Alumni at the convention:

Naomi Caffee ‘04, pictured to the left with the discussant on her panel, Псой Короленко,  presented ”Virtual Peripheries: The Effects of Mobility and Internet Publication on Central Asian Russophone Poetry.” Naomi is currently working on her dissertation at UCLA

Avram Lyon ’06, currently in the Ph. D. program at UCLA, participated on the roundtable  ”Non-Monogamy in Russian Literature and History,” and was a discussant on the panel “National and Russian-language Schools in the Soviet Union and Post-Soviet States.” Avram is the proud father of a new daughter. Поздравляем!

Lindsey Martin ’07 is working on her PhD in Stanford, and was at the conference after a year of research in Moscow.

Naomi Olson (née Bethel) ’04, pictured to the right, presented “Nabokov and the Brain: The Narrative Logic of Neurological Conditions.”

Joan Neuberger ’75 presented “Tackling the 1920s–1930s Divide:  Filmmaking Continuities in Pre-Thaw Soviet Cinema, and

Beth Holmgren ’75 presented ”Lopek and Company: The Warsaw Careers of Kazimierz Krukowski”. Beth is at Duke, and wanted me to pass on word of their Slavic and Eurasian Studies MA program

Russian/RCEES faculty at the convention:

Raquel Greene was a participant on the roundtable “Inclusitivity and Academic Diversity in Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies,” and participated on the roundtable “Young Adult and Crossover Literature in the New Russia,” and convened, in her role as the organization’s president,  the annual meeting of the Association for Students and Teachers of Color in Slavic Studies. Kelly Herold chaired the panel, Childhood as Contested Space I: Violating Boundaries and Crossing Borders, and participated on the roundtable  ”Young Adult and Crossover Literature in the New Russia.” Anatoly Vishevsky chaired the panel “Children‘s Literature Across Borders: Smuggled in Translation.” Ed Cohn (History) was also in attendance, as was Danielle Lussier (Political Science) who presented ”The Social, Demographic, and Attitudinal Roots of Post-Soviet Russian Political Participation”–continuing her work on the changing political scene in Putin’s Russia. Todd Armstrong was a discussant on the panel “Overcoming Trauma: The Instability of Space, Genre, and Identity in Modern Polish Literature,” and chaired the panel “Between Autobiography and Authorship: Constructing Jewish Literary Selves.”

Tolya, Lindsey, and Naomi catching up the conference.

Alex McConnell ’12 near the Peter-Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg

For those who I may not have met: My name is Alex McConnell. I was a history major and Russian, Central & Eastern European Studies concentrator from the class of 2012. I took Russian for three years but never got the chance to study abroad while at Grinnell. Fortunately, thanks to Grinnell’s awesome Russian Department and the incredible generosity of the Mohan Award donors, I am currently doing a CIEE Russian Language study abroad semester in St. Petersburg.

Привет, друзья!

I’m writing to you from a café near the Горковская метро on the Петроградская сторона. The last two months here in St. Petersburg have been alernatively busy, awesome, insane, confusing, exciting, inspirational, frustrating, and always interesting. Russia is one of the most fluid and dynamic countries in the world right now, and so much can happen in just one day that sometimes it’s hard to remember how little time I’ve actually spent here. I’m technically studying in the факультет политологии at Санкт-Петерсбургский государственный университет (СПБГУ), but the program I’m doing is focused on Russian language.

I’ve met a ton of really cool people, both Americans studying abroad here and Russians who are full-time СПБГУ students. Russians, especially young Russians, are incredibly friendly people once you get to know them, and many of the most valuable experiences I’ve had so far have been spending time in the city with Russian friends and acquaintences. My host family is also great; they have been nothing but helpful and welcoming, and have made me feel as at home as possible here.

I’ve definitely noticed an improvement in my Russian since being here, but it can actually be suprisingly difficult to speak Russian consistently; many if not most Russians in Petersburg (again, especially young Russians) speak English and are eager to practice with a native speaker. Probably the biggest challenge I’ve faced here is continuing to use the language even when I don’t want to and/or it’s easy to do otherwise. At the same time, it’s hard to overstate how much being in an environment where you read and hear a language every day improves your ability to learn and retain new information.

I’ve just returned from a week-long visit to Kiev, Ukraine and Moscow, so maybe if I get a few hours I’ll try to write up a short post about that trip. In the meantime, I have uploaded (and will continue to upload) a ton of pictures from my time in Russia to a Flickr, which can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexmcconn

Anyway, I hope everyone at Grinnell is doing great; I never thought I’d miss it this much so soon. Being away has only made me appreciate how amazing and truly unique the people and opportunities we have at Grinnell are, and I’m thankful more and more every day that I was lucky enough to be a part of it for four years.

Желаю вам всего хорошего!

- Алекс