Russian and East European StudiesCourses for Spring 2026
| Title | Instructor | Location | Time | All taxonomy terms | Description | Section Description | Cross Listings | Fulfills | Registration Notes | Syllabus | Syllabus URL | Course Syllabus URL | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BCS 0400-680 | Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian IV | Neda Scepanovic-Uliano | TR 7:00 PM-8:29 PM | This course is the second in the series of second-year courses, continuation of Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian III. The course will continue strengthening and expanding students' competence in speaking, reading, writing, and understanding contemporary BCS and increasing active and passive vocabulary on a variety of topics. Class work emphasizes development of communicative and cultural competence in real-life situations, spontaneous interactions, pair and group work and is conducted almost entirely in BCS. By the end of the course, you will be able to engage in increasingly complex conversations in BCS on many topics in informal and formal contexts concerning your daily life, significant personal and cultural events, attitudes and perspectives. You will be able to write longer messages in a variety of informal and formal contexts. Satisfies Penn Language Requirement. | Penn Lang Center Perm needed | |||||||||
| HUNG 0200-680 | Hungarian II | Adrienn V. Mizsei | MW 7:00 PM-8:59 PM | This course is the second in a series of first-year courses, continuation of Hungarian I. The course continues to develop competence in speaking, reading, writing, and understanding contemporary Hungarian. We will continue the exploration of Hungarian culture through exciting authentic materials, including songs, videos, short stories, and internet sites. Class work emphasizes development of communicative competence in real-life situations, spontaneous interactions, pair and group work and is conducted almost entirely in Hungarian. By the end of the course, you will be able to engage in simple conversations in Hungarian on many topics in informal and some formal contexts concerning your daily life, including planning a trip to Hungary, staying in a hotel, ordering meals, and buying goods. You will also be able to write longer personalized messages in Hungarian. | ||||||||||
| HUNG 0400-680 | Hungarian IV | Adrienn V. Mizsei | TR 5:15 PM-6:44 PM | This course is the second in a series of second-year courses, continuation of Hungarian III. The course will continue strengthening and expanding students' competence in speaking, reading, writing, and understanding contemporary Hungarian and increasing active and passive vocabulary on a variety of topics. We will continue the exploration of Hungarian culture through exciting authentic materials, including online news resources, songs, and videos. Class work emphasizes development of communicative competence in real-life situations, spontaneous interactions, pair and group work and is conducted almost entirely in Hungarian. By the end of the course, you will be able to engage in increasingly complex conversations in Hungarian on many topics in informal and formal contexts concerning your daily life, significant personal and cultural events, attitudes and perspectives. You will be able to write longer messages in a variety of informal and formal contexts. Satisfies Penn Language Requirement. | ||||||||||
| HUNG 0400-681 | Hungarian IV | Adrienn V. Mizsei | TR 7:00 PM-8:29 PM | This course is the second in a series of second-year courses, continuation of Hungarian III. The course will continue strengthening and expanding students' competence in speaking, reading, writing, and understanding contemporary Hungarian and increasing active and passive vocabulary on a variety of topics. We will continue the exploration of Hungarian culture through exciting authentic materials, including online news resources, songs, and videos. Class work emphasizes development of communicative competence in real-life situations, spontaneous interactions, pair and group work and is conducted almost entirely in Hungarian. By the end of the course, you will be able to engage in increasingly complex conversations in Hungarian on many topics in informal and formal contexts concerning your daily life, significant personal and cultural events, attitudes and perspectives. You will be able to write longer messages in a variety of informal and formal contexts. Satisfies Penn Language Requirement. | ||||||||||
| PLSH 0200-680 | Polish II | Agnieszka Dziedzic | MW 5:15 PM-6:44 PM | This course is the second in a series of first-year courses, continuation of Polish I. The course continues to develop competence in speaking, reading, writing, and understanding contemporary Polish. We will continue the exploration of Polish culture through exciting authentic materials, including Polish films, history and contemporary affairs. Class work emphasizes development of communicative competence in real-life situations, spontaneous interactions, pair and group work and is conducted almost entirely in Polish. By the end of the course, you will be able to engage in simple conversations in Polish on many topics in informal and some formal contexts concerning your daily life. You will also be able to write longer personalized messages in Polish. | ||||||||||
| PLSH 0400-680 | Polish IV | Agnieszka Dziedzic | MW 7:00 PM-8:29 PM | This course is the second in a series of second-year courses, continuation of Polish III. The course will continue strengthening and expanding students' competence in speaking, reading, writing, and understanding contemporary Polish and increasing active and passive vocabulary on a variety of topics. We will continue the exploration of Polish culture through exciting authentic materials, including Polish films, history and contemporary affairs. Class work emphasizes development of communicative competence in real-life situations, spontaneous interactions, pair and group work and is conducted almost entirely in Polish. By the end of the course, you will be able to engage in increasingly complex conversations in Polish on many topics in informal and formal contexts concerning your daily life, significant personal and cultural events, attitudes and perspectives. You will be able to write longer messages in a variety of informal and formal contexts. Satisfies Penn Language Requirement. | PLSH5400680 | |||||||||
| PLSH 5400-680 | Polish IV | Agnieszka Dziedzic | MW 7:00 PM-8:29 PM | This course is the second in a series of second-year courses, continuation of Polish III. The course will continue strengthening and expanding students' competence in speaking, reading, writing, and understanding contemporary Polish and increasing active and passive vocabulary on a variety of topics. We will continue the exploration of Polish culture through exciting authentic materials, including Polish films, history and contemporary affairs. Class work emphasizes development of communicative competence in real-life situations, spontaneous interactions, pair and group work and is conducted almost entirely in Polish. By the end of the course, you will be able to engage in increasingly complex conversations in Polish on many topics in informal and formal contexts concerning your daily life, significant personal and cultural events, attitudes and perspectives. You will be able to write longer messages in a variety of informal and formal contexts. Satisfies Penn Language Requirement. | PLSH0400680 | Penn Lang Center Perm needed | ||||||||
| REES 0011-001 | The Power of Language: A Linguistic History of Central and Eastern Europe | Julia Verkholantsev | TR 10:15 AM-11:44 AM | This course traces the history of languages in Central and Eastern Europe, exploring how they have shaped the region's cultural and political landscapes. From the early roots of linguistic traditions to the multilingual empires and the emergence of national languages, we will examine how language has been both a force for unity and a source of division. Through historical texts, maps, and case studies, we will uncover the ways in which language has created cultural communities, influenced identities, fueled state-building efforts, and played a role in political struggles. By the end of the course, students will gain a richer understanding of how language has been at the heart of Central and Eastern Europe’s history. | ||||||||||
| REES 0172-401 | Madness & Madmen in Russ Cult | Molly Peeney | TR 1:45 PM-3:14 PM | Is "insanity" today the same thing as "madness" of old? Who gets to define what it means to be "sane," and why? Are the causes of madness biological or social? In this course, we will grapple with these and similar questions while exploring Russia's fascinating history of madness as a means to maintain, critique, or subvert the status quo. We will consider the concept of madness in Russian culture beginning with its earliest folkloric roots and trace its depiction and function in the figure of the Russian "holy fool," in classical literature, and in contemporary film. Readings will include works by many Russian greats, such as Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Bulgakov and Nabokov. | COML1097401 | Hum & Soc Sci Sector (new curriculum only) | ||||||||
| REES 0190-401 | Russia and the West | Siarhei Biareishyk | MW 12:00 PM-1:29 PM | This course will explore the representations of the West in eighteenth- and nineteenth- century Russian literature and philosophy. We will consider the Russian visions of various events and aspects of Western political and social life Revolutions, educational system, public executions, resorts, etc. within the context of Russian intellectual history. We will examine how images of the West reflect Russia's own cultural concerns, anticipations, and biases, as well as aesthetic preoccupations and interests of Russian writers. The discussion will include literary works by Karamzin, Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Leskov, and Tolstoy, as well as non-fictional documents, such as travelers' letters, diaries, and historiosophical treatises of Russian Freemasons, Romantic and Positivist thinkers, and Russian social philosophers of the late Nineteenth century. A basic knowledge of nineteenth-century European history is desirable. The class will consist of lectures, discussion, short writing assignments, and two in-class tests. | COML2020401, HIST0824401 | Hum & Soc Sci Sector (new curriculum only) | ||||||||
| REES 0270-401 | Russian History in Film | Aleksey Berg | TR 3:30 PM-4:59 PM | This course draws on fictional, dramatic and cinematic representations of Russian history based on Russian as well as non-Russian sources and interpretations. The analysis targets major modes of imagining, such as narrating, showing and reenacting historical events, personae and epochs justified by different, historically mutating ideological postulates and forms of national self-consciousness. Common stereotypes of picturing Russia from "foreign" perspectives draw special attention. The discussion involves the following themes and outstanding figures: the mighty autocrats Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, and Catherine the Great; the tragic ruler Boris Godunov; the brazen rebel and royal impostor Pugachev; the notorious Rasputin, his uncanny powers, sex-appeal, and court machinations; Lenin and the October Revolution; images of war; times of construction and times of collapse of the Soviet Colossus. | CIMS2750401 | |||||||||
| REES 0430-301 | Masterpieces of 20th-Century Russian Literature | Asher Maria | MW 1:45 PM-3:14 PM | "Only in Russia is poetry respected. They kill you for it,” famously quipped the poet Osip Mandelstam, who died in Joseph Stalin’s concentration camps. Russia is a society that takes literature seriously—one in which the pen is assumed to have direct historical consequences. In this course, we will study how twentieth century Russian literature actively participated in war, revolution, totalitarian dictatorship, and resistance. The masterworks we will study open windows into worlds of revolutionary rapture, moral uplift in the face of tyranny, courageous subversion of the repressive state, and historical reflection on its failures. Our readings will range from an avant-garde play intended to rewire your mind, to an epic representation of revolutionary social transformation, to surreal and absurdist representations of a world gone mad. In other words: fasten your seatbelts low and tight across your waist; turbulence ahead! | Arts & Letters Sector (all classes) | |||||||||
| REES 0471-301 | Russian Short Story | Djamilia Nazyrova | TR 5:15 PM-6:44 PM | This course studies the development of 19th and 20th-century Russian literature through one of its most distinct and highly recognized genres -- the short story. The readings include great masters of fiction such as Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Solzhenitsyn, and others. The course presents the best works of short fiction situating them in a larger cultural-political context. The students learn about the historical formation, poetic virtue, and thematic characteristics of major narrative modes such as sentimentalism, romanticism, utopia, realism, modernism, and socialist realism. We study literary devices, styles, and trends of storytelling such as irony, absurd, satire, grotesque, anecdote, etc. Main topics include culture of the duel; the role of chance; the riddle of death; anatomy of madness; imprisonment and survival. | Arts & Letters Sector (all classes) | |||||||||
| REES 0481-401 | Tolstoy | D. Brian Kim | MW 10:15 AM-11:44 AM | Leo Tolstoy is a figure who arguably needs little introduction, if only as an effigy for the kind of author who writes books like "War and Peace" — prime examples of what Henry James called the “large, loose, baggy monsters” of nineteenth-century Russian literature, the sprawling novels with several parallel plot lines and hundreds of characters who inhabit page numbers in the quadruple digits. In this seminar, we will grapple together with the intricacies of "War and Peace," learn about the social, cultural, and historical contexts not only of its depiction and genesis, but also of its wide-ranging reception, and consider the big questions that preoccupied Tolstoy throughout his lifetime. Working with a range of his texts including a wide spread of his shorter fiction and also a number of Tolstoy’s non-literary writings on topics such as aesthetics, religion, education, and social and political problems, we will work toward understanding Tolstoy’s work, how he became who he was, and the reverberations of his thought throughout the rest of the world. | COML2004401 | Arts & Letters Sector (all classes) | ||||||||
| REES 1170-301 | Socialism, Museums, and Power | Ana Lolua | MW 3:30 PM-4:59 PM | Nothing we see in museums is ever neutral. This course examines the museum as a site of knowledge and power production in the world’s first socialist society, the Soviet Union. Additionally, we will visit and study local museums here in Philadelphia, in order to study how museums work in the contemporary USA. When the Tsarist Empire collapsed in 1917, the Marxist revolutionaries who assumed control sought to break with the legacies of the past. Museums that had once showcased the glory of Russian imperial rule were transformed into institutions promoting the anti-imperialist and socialist ideals of the new state. Museums, however, remained sites for the expression of social and political power. They also continued to be hierarchical, fragmented, and often contradictory spaces. In this course, we will examine museums of the Soviet period as case studies. We will also visit local institutions to engage directly with exhibition spaces and with objects categorized as archaeology, anthropology, and art, drawing comparisons with the Soviet experience. We will seek to answer the following questions: How did museums convey socialist visions of history and the present to their visitors, and how did those visitors respond? These seemingly contrasting cases invite new reflections not only on Soviet power but also on political power more broadly: How is it staged, enacted, and shared? The course aims to develop critical thinking and encourages students to reflect on their own position in history both in relation to sites of power and to the material world - the world of objects - that these sites claim and curate. | https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202610&c=REES1170301 | |||||||||
| REES 1530-401 | Communism | Mitchell Orenstein | TR 3:30 PM-4:59 PM | The rise and fall of Communism dominated the history of the short twentieth century from the Russian revolution of 1917 to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. As a system of government, Communism is more or less dead, but its utopian ideals of liberation from exploitation and want live on. Communism remains the one political-economic system that presented, for a time, an alternative to global capitalism. In this course, students will gain an introduction to socialist and Communist political thought and explore Communist political and economic regimes their successes and failures, critics and dissidents, efforts at reform, and causes of collapse. We will learn about the remnants of Communism in China, North Korea, and Cuba and efforts of contemporary theorists to imagine a future for Communism. | PSCI0102401 | Society sector (all classes) | ||||||||
| REES 1575-401 | Oligarchy, Corruption, and Kleptocracy in Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia | Robin Brooks | CANCELED | Corruption is one of the main political pathologies that can undermine government transparency and therefore limit the ability of government to represent and deliver for citizens. It exists in all countries to varying degrees, and is endemic in post-communist Eastern and Central Europe and Eurasia - in part due to the way former state assets were privatized in the 1990s - and though it can be a mainly domestic phenomenon, it contributes to malign foreign influence as well. Corruption erodes public trust and has affected negatively not only the consolidation of democratic institutions, but in some cases the ability to form a functional government at all or to know who is driving government decision making and on the basis of what interests. Corruption and kleptocracy in the region also have fueled domestic and international conflicts and have impacted European, American, and global security. In this seminar-format course, taught by a practitioner who has served as the National Security Council Director for Central Europe and the Balkans, students will examine the roots, mechanisms, and consequences of corruption and kleptocracy, and will seek to understand some of the available tools to counter them (including, i.a., sanctions, law enforcement, financial transparency initiatives, investigative journalism, and international relations tools such as the EU accession process). They will read case studies from Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, Ukraine, and the Balkans, analyze and compare these cases, and discuss the adequacy of citizens' and the international community's attempts to address them thus far. Each student will also write a final paper examining a country or situation and proposing responses to mitigate or eliminate corruption and its consequences in that case. | REES6575401 | |||||||||
| REES 1630-401 | Soviet & Post-Soviet Economy | Alexander Vekker | T 10:15 AM-1:14 PM | The course will cover the development and operation of the Soviet centrally planned economy--one of the grandest social experiments of the 20th century. We will review the mechanisms of plan creation, the push for the collectivization and further development of Soviet agriculture, the role of the Soviet educational system and the performance of labor markets (including forced labor camps--GULags). We will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the Soviet system and the causes of its collapse. Privatization, called by some "piratization," will be one of the central issues in our consideration of the transition from central planning to a market economy in the early 1990s. Even though our main focus will be on the Soviet economy and post-Soviet transition, we will occasionally look back in time to the tsarist era and even further back to find evidence to help explain Soviet/Russian economic development. | REES6630401 | |||||||||
| REES 3675-401 | Advanced Russian for Business | Maria Bourlatskaya | TR 12:00 PM-1:29 PM | This advanced language course is designed to develop effective oral and written communication skills and competencies essential for navigating a Russian-speaking business environment. The relocation of people and companies from Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine underscores the role of the Russian language as a means of business communication in the post-Soviet countries. Consequently, the course shifts its focus from the Russian market to encompass Russian-speaking markets. Students will explore key aspects of conducting business in Russia and Kazakhstan, gaining insights into various companies and business practices through business press materials and case studies. News reports, presentations, and the final project offer opportunities to investigate other Russian-speaking markets. Special emphasis is placed on materials that focus on communication styles across diverse cultures, culture-specific behaviors, and business practices that may present challenges to effective communication among individuals from different cultural backgrounds. In the second part of the semester, you will be working on a simulation project. The primary objective of this project is to develop a simulation that replicates a real-life business situation, allowing you to utilize and enhance your language skills, intercultural competency, and knowledge of business environment in one of the Russian-speaking countries. | REES5675401 | |||||||||
| REES 5675-401 | Advanced Russian for Business | Maria Bourlatskaya | TR 12:00 PM-1:29 PM | This advanced language course is designed to develop effective oral and written communication skills and competencies essential for navigating a Russian-speaking business environment. The relocation of people and companies from Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine underscores the role of the Russian language as a means of business communication in the post-Soviet countries. Consequently, the course shifts its focus from the Russian market to encompass Russian-speaking markets. Students will explore key aspects of conducting business in Russia and Kazakhstan, gaining insights into various companies and business practices through business press materials and case studies. News reports, presentations, and the final project offer opportunities to investigate other Russian-speaking markets. Special emphasis is placed on materials that focus on communication styles across diverse cultures, culture-specific behaviors, and business practices that may present challenges to effective communication among individuals from different cultural backgrounds. In the second part of the semester, you will be working on a simulation project. The primary objective of this project is to develop a simulation that replicates a real-life business situation, allowing you to utilize and enhance your language skills, intercultural competency, and knowledge of business environment in one of the Russian-speaking countries. | REES3675401 | |||||||||
| REES 6176-401 | Marx and Spinoza, a Subterranean Tradition | Siarhei Biareishyk | F 1:45 PM-4:44 PM | This seminar will focus on the thought of Baruch Spinoza and Karl Marx and trace the traditions of their encounter—traditions that extend not only to philosophy and critical theory, but also to fields ranging from literary studies to environmental humanities. Countering the dominant narrative of Hegelianism in Marxist theory, we will look at how Spinoza’s philosophy shaped the dissident currents in the Social Democratic Party in Germany and gave birth to the so-called Russian Marxism in the early twentieth century. Subsequently, we will investigate how the second half of the twentieth century witnessed a revival of interest in Spinoza across humanities and social sciences as a means of rethinking the very terms of philosophical and political debates of modernity. The seminar will follow this persistent strain of Spinozan thought in modernity to the most recent publications and investigate the contradictory and conflictual Spinoza-interpretations on the political and philosophical left. The currents addressed in this seminar will include, but are not limited to: the vicissitudes of Spinozism among Soviet Marxists (Georgi Plekhanov, Lyubov Axelrod, Abram Deborin, Evald Ilyenkov); the deployment of Spinoza against Hegel to rejuvenate Marxism in France (Louis Althusser, Etienne Balibar, Gilles Deleuze, Chantal Jaquet, Alexandre Matheron); the development of theories of the multitude in the tradition of Autonomism in Italy (Antonio Negri, Paolo Virno); and, most recently, we will look at the Spinozan thought in contemporary Lacanian psychoanalysis (A. Kiarina Kordela), theories of finance capitalism (Frédéric Lordon, Jason Read), feminist theory (Moira Gatens), intellectual history (Tracie Matysik, Franck Fishbach, Katja Diefenbach), literary studies (Pierre Macherey, Anthony Uhlmann), and environmental humanities (Hasana Sharp, Beth Lord). | COML6176401, FIGS6176401 | |||||||||
| REES 6575-401 | Oligarchy, Corruption, and Kleptocracy in Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia | Robin Brooks | CANCELED | Corruption is one of the main political pathologies that can undermine government transparency and therefore limit the ability of government to represent and deliver for citizens. It exists in all countries to varying degrees, and is endemic in post-communist Eastern and Central Europe and Eurasia - in part due to the way former state assets were privatized in the 1990s - and though it can be a mainly domestic phenomenon, it contributes to malign foreign influence as well. Corruption erodes public trust and has affected negatively not only the consolidation of democratic institutions, but in some cases the ability to form a functional government at all or to know who is driving government decision making and on the basis of what interests. Corruption and kleptocracy in the region also have fueled domestic and international conflicts and have impacted European, American, and global security. In this seminar-format course, taught by a practitioner who has served as the National Security Council Director for Central Europe and the Balkans, students will examine the roots, mechanisms, and consequences of corruption and kleptocracy, and will seek to understand some of the available tools to counter them (including, i.a., sanctions, law enforcement, financial transparency initiatives, investigative journalism, and international relations tools such as the EU accession process). They will read case studies from Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, Ukraine, and the Balkans, analyze and compare these cases, and discuss the adequacy of citizens' and the international community's attempts to address them thus far. Each student will also write a final paper examining a country or situation and proposing responses to mitigate or eliminate corruption and its consequences in that case. | REES1575401 | |||||||||
| REES 6630-401 | Soviet & Post-sov Econ | Alexander Vekker | T 10:15 AM-1:14 PM | The course will cover the development and operation of the Soviet centrally planned economy--one of the grandest social experiments of the 20th century. We will review the mechanisms of plan creation, the push for the collectivization and further development of Soviet agriculture, the role of the Soviet educational system and the performance of labor markets (including forced labor camps--GULags). We will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the Soviet system and the causes of its collapse. Privatization, called by some "piratization," will be one of the central issues in our consideration of the transition from central planning to a market economy in the early 1990s. Even though our main focus will be on the Soviet economy and post-Soviet transition, we will occasionally look back in time to the tsarist era and even further back to find evidence to help explain Soviet/Russian economic development. | REES1630401 | |||||||||
| RUSS 0150-401 | Accelerated Russian I-II |
Anna Linetskaya Maria Alley |
MTWR 12:00 PM-1:29 PM | TWO IN ONE: This is an intensive two-credit course covering two semesters of the first-year sequence in the traditional track (RUSS0100 and 0200). The course is designed for students with no background in Russian and develops competence in speaking, reading, writing and understanding contemporary Russian. It will also introduce you to Russian culture and Russian-speaking cultures around the world through exciting authentic materials, including internet sites and cultural artifacts, songs, videos, short stories, as well as conversations with native speakers. Class work emphasizes development of communicative competence in real-life situations, spontaneous interactions, pair and group work and is conducted almost entirely in Russian. By the end of the course, you will be able to engage in simple conversations in Russian on topics concerning your daily life. You will know greetings and everyday expressions, talk about people in your life, your hobbies and interests, past activities and future plans, your residence, food preferences and health. You will also be able to write short personalized messages in Russian in a variety of informal ad formal contexts. Together with RUSS0300 and 0400 fulfills Penn Language Requirement. | RUSS5150401 | |||||||||
| RUSS 0200-401 | Russian II | Aleksey Berg | MTWR 12:00 PM-12:59 PM | This course is the second in a series of first-year courses in the traditional track, continuation of Russian I. The course continues to develop competence in speaking, reading, writing, and understanding contemporary Russian. We will continue the exploration of Russian culture and Russian-speaking cultures around the world through exciting authentic materials, including internet sites and cultural artifacts, songs, videos, short stories, as well as conversations with native speakers. Class work emphasizes development of communicative competence in real-life situations, spontaneous interactions, pair and group work and is conducted almost entirely in Russian. By the end of the course, you will be able to engage in simple conversations in Russian on many topics in informal and some formal contexts concerning your daily life. You will be able to talk in detail about your interests, study habits and daily schedule, plans for the future, food preferences and health and compare these with practices common in the target cultures. You will also be able to write longer personalized messages in Russian. | RUSS5200401 | |||||||||
| RUSS 0200-680 | Russian II | Lada Vassilieva | TR 5:15 PM-7:14 PM | This course is the second in a series of first-year courses in the traditional track, continuation of Russian I. The course continues to develop competence in speaking, reading, writing, and understanding contemporary Russian. We will continue the exploration of Russian culture and Russian-speaking cultures around the world through exciting authentic materials, including internet sites and cultural artifacts, songs, videos, short stories, as well as conversations with native speakers. Class work emphasizes development of communicative competence in real-life situations, spontaneous interactions, pair and group work and is conducted almost entirely in Russian. By the end of the course, you will be able to engage in simple conversations in Russian on many topics in informal and some formal contexts concerning your daily life. You will be able to talk in detail about your interests, study habits and daily schedule, plans for the future, food preferences and health and compare these with practices common in the target cultures. You will also be able to write longer personalized messages in Russian. | RUSS5200680 | |||||||||
| RUSS 0400-401 | Russian IV | Molly Peeney | MTWR 12:00 PM-12:59 PM | This course is the second in a series of second-year courses in the traditional track, continuation of Russian III. The course will continue strengthening and expanding students' competence in speaking, reading, writing, and understanding contemporary Russian and increasing active and passive vocabulary on a variety of topics. We will continue the exploration of Russian culture and Russian-speaking cultures around the world through exciting authentic materials, including internet sites and cultural artifacts, songs, videos, short stories, as well as conversations with native speakers. Class works emphasizes development of communicative competence in real-life situations, spontaneous interactions, pair and group work and is conducted almost entirely in Russian. By the end of the course, you will be able to engage in increasingly complex conversations in Russian on many topics in informal and formal contexts concerning your daily life, significant personal and cultural events, attitudes and perspectives. You will be able to write longer messages in a variety of informal and formal contexts. | RUSS5400401 | |||||||||
| RUSS 0401-401 | Russ for Heritage Speakers II | Aleksey Berg | MW 3:30 PM-4:59 PM | This course is the second in the series of literacy courses for students who have spoken Russian at home and seek to improve literacy skills and language competence. The course continues to focus on enhancing linguistic accuracy in spelling, grammar, word choice and pronunciation, as well as fluency, narrative structure and appropriate use of idiomatic expressions in both speaking and writing. We will continue developing effective reading and listening strategies. Course readings mostly include works of Russian classics and focus on topics in Russian history as well as cultural issues and daily life of the Russian-speaking community around the world. Satisfies Penn Language Requirement. | RUSS5401401 | |||||||||
| RUSS 1200-401 | Russia Society Today II | Djamilia Nazyrova | TR 1:45 PM-3:14 PM | Primary emphasis on speaking, writing, and listening. Development of advanced conversational skills needed to carry a discussion or to deliver a complex narrative. This course will be based on a wide variety of topics from everyday life to the discussion of political and cultural events. Russian culture and history surveyed briefly. Materials include Russian TV broadcast, newspapers, Internet, selected short stories by contemporary Russian writers. Offered each spring. | RUSS5600401 | |||||||||
| RUSS 5150-401 | Accelerated Elem Russian |
Anna Linetskaya Maria Alley |
MTWR 12:00 PM-1:29 PM | TWO IN ONE: This is an intensive two-credit course covering two semesters of the first-year sequence (RUSS001 and 002). The course is designed for students with no background in Russian and develops language competence in speaking, reading, writing and understanding contemporary Russian. Class work emphasizes development of communication skills and cultural awareness. Together with RUSS003 and 004 fulfills Penn Language Requirement. | RUSS0150401 | |||||||||
| RUSS 5200-401 | Russian II | Aleksey Berg | MTWR 12:00 PM-12:59 PM | This course is for graduate students. It is the second in a series of first-year courses in the traditional track, continuation of Russian I. The course continues to develop competence in speaking, reading, writing, and understanding contemporary Russian. We will continue the exploration of Russian culture and Russian-speaking cultures around the world through exciting authentic materials, including internet sites and cultural artifacts, songs, videos, short stories, as well as conversations with native speakers. Class work emphasizes development of communicative competence in real-life situations, spontaneous interactions, pair and group work and is conducted almost entirely in Russian. By the end of the course, you will be able to engage in simple conversations in Russian on many topics in informal and some formal contexts concerning your daily life. You will be able to talk in detail about your interests, study habits and daily schedule, plans for the future, food preferences and health and compare these with practices common in the target cultures. You will also be able to write longer personalized messages in Russian. | RUSS0200401 | |||||||||
| RUSS 5200-680 | Russian II | Lada Vassilieva | TR 5:15 PM-7:14 PM | This course is for graduate students. It is the second in a series of first-year courses in the traditional track, continuation of Russian I. The course continues to develop competence in speaking, reading, writing, and understanding contemporary Russian. We will continue the exploration of Russian culture and Russian-speaking cultures around the world through exciting authentic materials, including internet sites and cultural artifacts, songs, videos, short stories, as well as conversations with native speakers. Class work emphasizes development of communicative competence in real-life situations, spontaneous interactions, pair and group work and is conducted almost entirely in Russian. By the end of the course, you will be able to engage in simple conversations in Russian on many topics in informal and some formal contexts concerning your daily life. You will be able to talk in detail about your interests, study habits and daily schedule, plans for the future, food preferences and health and compare these with practices common in the target cultures. You will also be able to write longer personalized messages in Russian. | RUSS0200680 | Penn Lang Center Perm needed | ||||||||
| RUSS 5400-401 | Russian IV | Molly Peeney | MTWR 12:00 PM-12:59 PM | This course is for graduate students. It is the second in a series of second-year courses in the traditional track, continuation of Russian III. The course will continue strengthening and expanding students' competence in speaking, reading, writing, and understanding contemporary Russian and increasing active and passive vocabulary on a variety of topics. We will continue the exploration of Russian culture and Russian-speaking cultures around the world through exciting authentic materials, including internet sites and cultural artifacts, songs, videos, short stories, as well as conversations with native speakers. Class works emphasizes development of communicative competence in real-life situations, spontaneous interactions, pair and group work and is conducted almost entirely in Russian. By the end of the course, you will be able to engage in increasingly complex conversations in Russian on many topics in informal and formal contexts concerning your daily life, significant personal and cultural events, attitudes and perspectives. You will be able to write longer messages in a variety of informal and formal contexts. | RUSS0400401 | |||||||||
| RUSS 5401-401 | Russ for Heritage Speakers II | Aleksey Berg | MW 3:30 PM-4:59 PM | This course is the second in the series of literacy courses for students who have spoken Russian at home and seek to improve literacy skills and language competence. The course continues to focus on enhancing linguistic accuracy in spelling, grammar, word choice and pronunciation, as well as fluency, narrative structure and appropriate use of idiomatic expressions in both speaking and writing. We will continue developing effective reading and listening strategies. Course readings mostly include works of Russian classics and focus on topics in Russian history as well as cultural issues and daily life of the Russian-speaking community around the world. Satisfies Penn Language Requirement. | RUSS0401401 | |||||||||
| RUSS 5600-401 | Russian Society Today II | Djamilia Nazyrova | TR 1:45 PM-3:14 PM | This course is for graduate students. It is the second in a series of third-year courses in the traditional track, continuation of Russian 1100. In this course we will continue exploring aspects of contemporary Russian society and every day life including gender issues, educational system, standardized testing, and health care through current mass media, polling data, TV, radio, and film. The course is designed to strengthen and expand students' competence in speaking, reading, writing, and understanding contemporary Russian, as well as to increase students' active and passive vocabulary on a wide range of topics. The course continues to solidify students' knowledge of the basic structure of Russian, which they learned in previous courses and focuses on more advanced grammatical concepts including verbal aspect. By the end of the course, you will be able to write short analytical essays in Russian on an increasing number of issues. Class work emphasizes development of communicative competence in real-life situations, spontaneous interactions, pair and group work and is conducted almost entirely in Russian. | RUSS1200401 | |||||||||
| UKRN 0200-680 | Ukrainian II | Kseniia Power | TR 5:15 PM-6:44 PM | This course is the second in a series of first-year courses, continuation of Ukrainian I. The course continues to develop competence in speaking, reading, writing, and understanding contemporary Ukrainian. We will continue the exploration of Ukrainian culture through exciting authentic materials, including songs, videos, and short stories. Class work emphasizes development of communicative competence in real-life situations, spontaneous interactions, pair and group work and is conducted almost entirely in Ukrainian. By the end of the course, you will be able to engage in simple conversations in Ukrainian on many topics in informal and some formal contexts concerning your daily life. You will also be able to write longer personalized messages in Ukrainian. | Penn Lang Center Perm needed | |||||||||
| UKRN 0400-680 | Ukrainian IV | Kseniia Power | TR 3:30 PM-4:59 PM | This course is the second in a series of second-year courses, continuation of Ukrainian III. The course will continue strengthening and expanding students' competence in speaking, reading, writing, and understanding contemporary Ukrainian and increasing active and passive vocabulary on a variety of topics. We will continue the exploration of Ukrainian culture through exciting authentic materials, including Ukrainian newspaper articles on a variety of cultural themes and current events. Class work emphasizes development of communicative competence in real-life situations, spontaneous interactions, pair and group work and is conducted almost entirely in Ukrainian. By the end of the course, you will be able to engage in increasingly complex conversations in Ukrainian on many topics in informal and formal contexts concerning your daily life, significant personal and cultural events, attitudes and perspectives. You will be able to write longer messages in a variety of informal and formal contexts. Satisfies Penn Language Requirement. | Penn Lang Center Perm needed |
