Admission requirements
Required course(s):
None.
Description
Russian for Beginners is a Russian language course for students with no knowledge of the language. The course will provide students with the basics of Russian and aims to develop language skills in grammar, speaking, listening, reading and writing. An important aspect of the course will be the cultural knowledge about Russia. The course provides the knowledge to communicate and understand Russian at A1 level.
Course Objectives
The required competences for a A1 level language can be described as follows: the student can understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases aimed at the satisfaction of needs of a concrete type. Can introduce him/herself and others and can ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, people he/she knows and things he/she has. Can interact in a simple way provided the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.
Visual reception (reading): A1
Written production (writing): A1
Listening (audio): A1
Oral production (speaking): A1
Timetable
Timetables for courses offered at Leiden University College in 2022-2023 will be published on this page of the e-Prospectus.
Mode of instruction
Three two hour tutorials every week.
Attending lectures and tutorials is compulsory. If you are not able to attend a lecture or a tutorial, please inform the instructor of the course. Being absent without notification can result in a lower grade or exclusion from the final exam.
Assessment Method
Written test about the alphabet and lesson 1: 5% (block 3 week 3)
Presentation: 10% (block 3 week 6-7)
Written exam (listening, vocab, grammar, reading, creative writing): 25% (block 3 week 7)
Oral exam: 10% (block 4 week 6-7)
Written exam (listening, vocab, grammar, reading, creative writing): 40% (block 4 week 7)
Participation (in class participation, homework): 10% (ongoing)
Reading list
Compulsory books:
Ruslan 1 Book with free online audio (fifth edition, 2012 or 2021), Ruslan Limited, ISBN 9781899785827
Ruslan 1 Workbook with free audio (second edition, 2017), Ruslan Limited, ISBN 9781912397013
The recordings of all the dialogues and listening exercises are free of charge available as MP3 downloads from the Ruslan website.
Registration
Courses offered at Leiden University College (LUC) are usually only open to LUC students and LUC exchange students. Leiden University students who participate in one of the university’s Honours tracks or programmes may register for one LUC course, if availability permits. Registration is coordinated by the Education Coordinator, course.administration@luc.leidenuniv.nl.
Contact
Drs. O.K. Karmanova, o.k.karmanova@hum.leidenuniv.nl
Drs. T.A.H.I. Nielen, t.a.nielen@hum.leidenuniv.nl
Remarks
The course has an interactive and communicative way of learning a language. The course content is composed of grammar practice together with vocabulary building and developing skills through class activities. The classes will be highly interactive and students will often work in pairs or groups to practice their language skills. During the course, students will give presentations about politics, history and Russian culture.
The course is based on course books, materials prepared by the instructor and the Internet. A Brightspace site will be available with essential documents, e.g. planning, hand-outs, additional exercises and links to various educative websites.
A substantial amount of self-study is required and the students are expected to prepare the classes. Attendance and participation in the classes is required as well and will count towards the final grade.