For deeper Iissiidiology understanding we recommend learning Russian with this course

 

Golosa coverGOLOSA (Book 1, 5th ed. and Book 2, 5th ed.: Richard Robin, Karen Evans-Romaine, Galina Shatalina; Pearson Education) is a basic course in Russian. Students successfully completing a course taught in concert with both Books 1 and 2 can expect to reach the ACTFL Intermediate range in speaking and Intermediate High in reading and listening.

Each volume of GOLOSA includes a Main Textbook, and a Student Activities manual (S.A.M.) with laboratory drills, written exercises, and Video activities and access to MyRussianLab.com. The audio program runs approximately 15 hours per volume and includes listening comprehension exercises, speaking dialogues, and rapid-pace oral drills. The video program, available online with exercises in the S.A.M. includes over two hours of interviews with everyday Russians in Russia. All the audio and video is downloadable from the Golosa website or from MyRussianLab.com.

 

  MAIN FEATURES OF GOLOSA

Goal statements. Objectives are explicitly stated for the book as a whole and for each unit therein in terms of global tasks, content, and language tools (grammar and lexicon). Cultural notes are highlighted.

Separation of skills. Each language skill (speaking, reading, writing, listening) is addressed in its own right.

Flexibility. The textbook dictates no particular methodological approach. While all skills are presented on an equal footing, teachers and students may choose to focus on those which best serve their needs without violating the structural integrity of individual units or the book as a whole. A class can move faster by eliminating some of the activities for reading and listening for content.

Authenticity. Each unit contains authentic materials and realistic communicative activities for all skills.

Spiraling approach. Students are exposed repeatedly to similar functions and structures at an increasing level of complexity.

Cultural relevance. All texts and conversations are embedded within culture relevant to Russia today.

Learner-centered. Each unit puts students into communicative settings in all four skills. In addition to core lexicon, students acquire personalized vocabulary for individual needs.

Variety of exercises. Oral drills and written exercises progress from mechanical to contextualized to individualized activities.

Learning strategies. Students acquire strategies for productive and receptive skills. The variety of types of exercises assures that a wide range of learning styles is served.

Phonetics and intonation. Pronunciation (segmental and suprasegmental features) is presented and practiced in each unit in conjunction with material covered rather than in isolation.

World Wide Web component: additional activities for reading, grammar, and video. The complete audio program is also available on-line at https://www.gwu.edu/~slavic/golosa/

  Student Learning Outcomes/Course Objectives for Golosa, Book 1

Listening. Understand simple conversations including greetings, introductions, languages, where and what students study, daily schedule and activities, homes, rooms, family members, purchases, food and biographical details.

Speaking. Respond to simple questions, give simple autobiographical information, ask simple questions, basic etiquette. Talk about homes: rooms, furnishings; people: ages, professions, where they were born; making purchases; giving gifts; food: ordering meals, planning to cook; telling autobiographical details.

Reading. Master the Cyrillic alphabet, read and comprehend short passages, dialogs, want ads, letters, e-mails, menus, biographies.

Writing. Master writing the Cyrillic alphabet, write basic information about themselves and others, write grammatical sentences and paragraphs, writing letters.

  Student Learning Outcomes/Course Objectives for Golosa, Book 2

Listening. Understand the main idea when listening to passages based on known material, understand the main idea and several details of the conversations found in video segments. Use a variety of listening strategies to understand the main points in a conversation on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure. Understand the main point and some detail of sources such as radio and TV programs and announcements when the delivery is relatively slow and clear.

Speaking. Significantly expand vocabulary used to talk about yourself, family, student life, computers. Speak about familiar topics (weather, feelings, asking for and giving directions, dates) with increased grammatical accuracy. Improve ability to use aspect appropriately, especially in commands. Use motion verbs correctly in context. Discuss the unknown or describe hypothetical situations. Paraphrase information in one's own words. Decipher the meaning of unfamiliar Russian words through analysis of roots. In both presentational and interactive speech, use the rules of Russian phonetics (vowel reduction, devoicing, voicing and devoicing assimilation, palatalization of consonants) and intonation. In presentational speaking, describe things such as personal experiences, events, dreams, hopes. Briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans. Narrate a story or the plot of a book or film and describe one’s reaction to it. In interactive speech, deal with most situations likely to arise when speaking with native speakers not used to interacting with non-native speakers. Enter unprepared into a conversation on topics that are familiar, of personal interest, or pertinent to every day life (e.g., family, hobbies, work, travel, and current events). Demonstrate familiarity with basic speech etiquette (greeting, leave taking, apologizing, phoning, asking for permission, ordering in a restaurant, making toasts). Express congratulations, approval, disapproval, admiration, exasperation, regret.

Reading. Analyze sentence structure, analyze passages for specific information, understand passages from literature when familiar vocabulary is used; glean information from everyday texts – advertisements, movie reviews, schedules; understand and explain an author’s point of view, recognize basic grammatical terms in Russian. Apply a variety of reading strategies to increase understanding of written material and to state the main idea and some details of a text based on familiar material, authentic literary works, or realia (theater schedules, advertisements, menus, maps…); determine the main idea of a text that uses familiar concepts and vocabulary; analyze texts for specific information or the author’s point of view; be able to extract a reasonable amount of detail from a text regarding description, contrast, enumeration. Have an understanding of the roots of Russian words and how they have a role in word formation.

Writing. Translate passages that feature familiar grammatical concepts. Write a fairly detailed autobiography, essays involving description and comparison. Construct dialogues. Recount a passage in one's own words. Write in a variety of genres – descriptions of themselves, their families, work, studies, hometowns; formal and informal letters, including conventions of addressing envelopes; essays taking and defending a position or preference; drawing comparisons and contrasts; paraphrasing a passage. Write a short piece of poetry. Translate passages, both prose and poetry. Understand and employ rudiments of style and follow rules and conventions of Russian word order and punctuation. Know the basic Russian spelling rules.

Cultural Awareness. Name important figures in Russian culture/history. Explain basic differences between Russian and American life: study, work, housing, the family, food, leisure, songs. Be reasonably familiar with current events in Russia. Be able to recognize, read, and recite several famous Russian poems. Be familiar with Russian customs concerning gift-giving, folk remedies, superstitions, table manners, telephone etiquette, the metric system, hotels, health care and holidays.

More information on GOLOSA is available from Pearson, Inc. at www.pearsoned.com

Ilnur Khuzin

Instructor of Russian
Pittsburg State University, the USA
Instructor of English and German
Naberezhnye Chelny State Trade and Technological Institute, Russia

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