The study abroad program SRAS (Slavic, Russian, and Area Studies) offers an economical package of multiple “Poboltaem / Let’s Talk” hour-long Russian speaking sessions with tutors from St Petersburg via zoom. At a time when Russian Programs across the country are becoming further estranged from Russia because of Russia’s war in Ukraine, we as instructors are seeking ways to show students Russia today and connect them with Russia’s youth. Beaming in a tutor to class a few times a semester allows my students to have direct contact with a young professional who grew up in Russia and is based in Russia. This abroad program also offers a virtual tour of St Petersburg. An SRAS tour guide gives a professional tour of St Petersburg’s major sites while a camera linked to Zoom connects students in Sewanee to the excursion. At a time when going to Russia is impossible for students in America because of the war, this modestly-priced innovation brings St Petersburg – a cultural capital of the world – to students in Sewanee.
The key to good teaching is variety. When weaving this tutoring system into my classes, students speak in Russian not only with me, with Dr. Preslar, or with our Eastern European House director, but with people who are close to students’ ages and have a St Petersburg Russian dialect (which is in fact a crisply articulated version of Russian in comparison to Russian spoken, for instance, with a Moscow accent). If my students and I are in a classroom and we beam into Gailor or Carnegie the Russian tutor, then that tutor can hold students’ attention while talking about a current cultural topic in Russia, demonstrating cooking a Russian dish (using constructions of grammar students are learning), or giving a tour of a Russian cosmopolitan environment.
If, due to inclement weather, my class meets on Zoom, then I can move students into individualized breakout rooms with the tutor or tutors who are based in Russia. A few years ago when I taught at the Kathryn Wasserman Davis School of Russian at Middlebury College, it was integral to the Russian Language Summer Program in Vermont for each language student to meet once a week with a tutor for at least 15 minutes to review and solidify grammar taught that week. Zoom was designed as a conference room for two people or a small group. The Russian Language School in Vermont used Zoom for this purpose. In my classes when I employ the innovation of connecting students to a Russian tutor online, each student gets an individualized 10-15 minute conversation with the tutor while in the main Zoom room I teach grammar and the lesson topic from the textbook. Students following my lesson then one by one drift into the breakout room for an individualized approach to the lesson. Talk about zooming in or honing in on a grammar topic!
What’s more is that SRAS connects students to tutors who are based in the Baltics, in Kazakhstan, and in the Caucuses – essentially, in the areas that are the topics of different chapters that students read about when learning from one of our main textbooks, Diverse Russian: A Multicultural Exploration.
The online tutoring system, used on occasion, complements the in-person regular tutoring hours that Sewanee offers its students at the Eastern European Cultural House (Mississippi Ave). Thank you to the Dean’s Office for continually funding that position for our on-campus tutor! And thank you, CfT, for the Mini grant to allow this additional innovation that can connect my classroom directly to Russia!