My First Month of Russian 101 at the University of Hawaii

I was super excited to finally take RUS 101 this semester. Of course, as a Russian major, I was eager to start learning the language, plus I was curious as to how the class would be taught. I took Spanish 101, 102, and 201 (well, my transcripts show that I took SPAN 201, but I literally cannot recall taking that class) the first time I went to college (about 12 years ago), and I have taken 3 years of private lessons for Georgian. So, I have some language learning under my belt, and I have an idea of what I think works well (for me) and what doesn’t. I’m about 1-1.5 months into RUS 101 at UH, and I thought I’d share my experience- what I personally like and dislike about class so far.

WHAT I LIKE:

1. Focus on conversation

I absolutely LOVE this about the way class is structured. Focus is not on conjugation tables and grammar exercises, but CONVERSATION. From the very first day, you start speaking in Russian. How many times have you heard something like “oh I took 4 years of Spanish in high school, but I can’t speak it at all.” I mean, I took 3 semesters of Spanish (1 of which I absolutely don't remember) and I barely spoke a word outside class.

Our desks are situated in a huge horseshoe, and every single day we have structured exercises where we turn to our classmate and have a conversation. And you don’t always sit next to the same person, so you are speaking in Russian to different people constantly. It gets you comfortable having a conversation very early on, which is so important!

2. The teacher speaks in Russian most of the time

I know this can seem intimidating at first, but I prefer when the teacher speaks in the target language. Through facial expressions and gestures, it is usually clear what she means. Plus, the presentation on the projector behind the teacher is in English. And, when necessary, she speaks in English to make sure something is absolutely understood.

3. Lots of listening and speaking practice for homework

If you can’t tell, I pretty much loathe grammar exercises. I mean, sure they have their place, but I don’t enjoy them, and they rarely help me with actually speaking the language. Our homework includes a lot of listening activities to dialogues, and then we record ourselves speaking those same dialogues. And we turn these recordings in, so of course you practice a lot of speaking to make sure you get a good recording done. Again, these daily exercises help make you more comfortable with speaking.

4. Upper level student from Russian program assists during class

A senior in the Russian program, Nina, comes to all of our classes to help out. We have a rather large class, so it gives us more access to instruction during class when we do various speaking activities with partners or writing exercises. It also helps the class run smoother and more efficiently because she runs the powerpoint while the teacher speaks and teaches. We only have 50 minutes, so I personally appreciate that time is not wasted.

5. Being in class actually helped you prepare for the test

I get really annoyed when teachers make tests that are out of left field. You know when its like when on earth did we ever even discuss this/were we supposed to know this??? But, as our first test was today, there is no doubt that if you went to class, you probably did well on the exam. There were no surprises or tricks, nothing was on the test that we hadn’t gone over in class. However, our teacher did say that most students find the 2nd test much more difficult, so we shall see!

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WHAT I DISLIKE:

1. I really don’t have any dislikes, the only thing would be that turning in homework can be a tad cumbersome. (Due to assignments being turned in online). It only takes an extra couple minutes to do it, but when you are in a rush and have a lot of work to do, it can be…I don’t know, inconvenient I suppose.

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So basically, I’m really pleased with my experience in class so far. For me, the ability to have a conversation in the foreign language is what I care about the most, so I am really glad that seems to be the focus of the course. I’m also relieved that I don’t feel like I’m doing pointless grammar exercises- just not my cup of tea (though I realize there are some who like that sort of thing). I'm really hopeful that my Russian will be a million times better at the end of the year. If you are thinking about taking Russian at UH Manoa, please feel free to contact me! I will do my best to answer any and all questions =)