Working professionals can brush up on their Russian by taking one of two online evening courses.
The deadline to enroll in Professional Language Training courses for Fall 2023 is August 30th, 2023.
The Center for Language Studies offers Russian classes designed for professionals who want to continue working while strengthening their Russian fluency.
Students earn four undergraduate credits for each course, which covers the full curriculum of a college semester and includes five language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and cultural awareness. Classes meet online in three one-hour sessions each week and the homework helps students prepare for each class.
In the advanced class, thought-provoking discussions are conducted primarily in Russian.
Courses, Fall 2023
14 week courses: September 5 - December 8, 2023
Weekly schedule: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, 7:30 - 8:30 p.m. Central Time (adjustable to needs of students)
Russian
If you have little or no previous knowledge of Russian and would like to hold a basic conversation with a native speaker, start reading authentic Russian texts, or just looking for an exciting learning opportunity, this course is for you. In a highly interactive, friendly and safe environment, you will learn the essentials of Russian language and culture through a variety of student-centered activities, real-life tasks and educational games aimed at developing basic speaking, listening, reading and writing skills. You will also enjoy exploring both contemporary and classic Russian culture through songs, videos, social media posts, newscasts and more. This course is tailored to students’ needs, their learning objectives and long-term goals.
In the fall semester we will be reading a 1944 Russian play, The Dragon, by Evgeny Schwartz. On February 23, the day before Russian troops invaded Ukraine, the Economist ran an article about this play, depicting it as a remarkably timely exploration of autocracy and its corrupting effects on the human soul. Timely indeed: the play, a trenchant political and philosophical parable in the guise of a fairytale, has ripped-from-the-headlines passages that could have been written as an allegory for Vladimir Putin’s war.
Eligibility
Participants must:
hold an undergraduate degree or be 25 years of age or older
not currently be enrolled in an undergraduate program
Cost
$1,600
Credit
Four U.S. undergraduate semester credits. Participants will receive a transcript upon completion.
I am so thrilled CLS is offering this [Professional Language Training] course. I was nervous to enroll because I hadn’t spoken Russian in years, but it has come back with Olga’s guidance and emphasis on speaking in Russian.
After two semesters, I feel a lot more confident in my Russian comprehension, speaking, and writing ability. I often refer to class as “Russian book club,” as it is more than simply a language course. We have read two completely engrossing Russian novellas, which serve as gateways to Russian history, culture, social nuances, and more.
This couldn’t happen without Olga’s deep understanding of both cultures - she astutely knows when her American students require cultural context, and facilitates discourse on these topics, and many more. I am already looking forward to next semester.
Many of us fell in love with language learning during our time at Beloit and beyond. The evening professional programs offered by CLS have allowed me to fulfill the desire to practice and continue learning years later for both personal pleasure and professional opportunities.
The classes this year reflected the level where the students in the group were at the outset, which for some of us was quite rusty, and then blended cultural history, current events, and language lessons to clear away the cobwebs. Our culture and literature class was conducted almost entirely in Russian, but it only took a few sessions to get up to speed and to begin feeling comfortable interacting in the virtual classroom.
If you want a refresher course that not only reviews crucial grammar and usage, but also provides you a comfortable space in which to use the language in a natural way, these classes are a great option.
