Admission requirements
This course is only available for students in the BA International Studies.
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 an 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 productions (speaking): A1
Timetable
The timetable is available on the BA International Studies website
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 tutor of the course. Being absent without notification can result in a lower grade or exclusion from the final exam or essay.
Course Load
Total course load for this course is 10 EC (1 EC = 28 hours), this equals 280 hours, broken down by:
This course will be 10 EC (1 EC – 28 hours), this equals 280 hours, broken down by:
Total hours spent on attending lectures: 72 (= 6 hours per week x 12 weeks)
Time spent on studying: Around 12 hours per week (= 4 hours per lecture)
Other hours can be used for preparing for an exam or a presentation
Assessment method
The final grade consist of assignments and exams that count towards it.
1 Alphabet & vocabulary test, 10 %, block 1
2 Listening exam, 10%, block 1
3 Midterm exam: grammar, vocabulary and reading comprehension in class exam, 25 %, block 1
4 Oral exam (presentation & speaking), 15 %, block 2
5 Listening exam, 10 %, block 2
6 Final exam: grammar, vocabulary and reading comprehension in class exam, 30 %, block 2
To complete the final mark, please take notice of the following: the final mark for the course is established by determining the weighted average.
To pass the course, the average has to be 5.5 at least.
Resit
If the final grade is insufficient, there is the possibility of a resit.
The resit will be a written exam of two hours, and will test if the students have reached the end level of this semester. This exam consists of the following components:
Reading and writing;
Written dialogue;
Vocabulary and grammar.
Blackboard
Blackboard will be used. For tutorial groups: please enroll in blackboard after your enrolment in uSis
Students are requested to register on Blackboard for this course.
Reading list
Compulsory books:
Ruslan 1 Book with CD, Ruslan Limited, ISBN 9781899785834
Ruslan 1 Workbook with free CD, Ruslan Limited, ISBN 9781899785223
Recommended
1 Oxford Russian Dictionary, Marcus Wheeler, Boris Ottokar Unbegaun, Paul Falla, Oxford University Press, 2007, ISBN 9780198614203
Any other pocket dictionary will be sufficient for Russian A1:
1 Russian Grammar, Ruslan Limited, paperback, 2010, ISBN 9781899785742
2 Russian-English, Langenscheidt, Pocket books Us, 2009. ISBN 9781439142370
3 Russian Berlitz Pocket Dictionary, Berlitz Publishing Company, 2006. ISBN 9789812469458
4 The Pocket Oxford Russian Dictionary, Jessie Coulson, Nigel Rankin, Della Thompson, Oxford University Press, 2000, ISBN 978-0198601500
Registration
Enrolment through uSis is mandatory.
General information about uSis is available in English and Dutch
Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs
Not applicable
Contact
Remarks
For this course attendance and participation is essential. Classes missed for a good reason have to be discussed with the language instructor BEFORE the class takes place. Frequent absence will inevitably lead to lower participation grades, or denied access to the final exam.
Passing this course is an additional requirement for a positive Study Recommendation at the end of the year.
This course uses Integrated communicative language learning method. Therefore active participation in the classroom activities is essential for successful learning outcomes.
The course has an interactive and communicative way of learning a language.
Course contents are grammar practice together with vocabulary building and developing the skills with 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 blackboard site will be available with essential documents i.e. 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 class is required as well and will count towards the final grade.
Passing this course is an additional requirement for a positive Study Recommendation at the end of the year.