created by pedagogues, such as those which come
with language textbooks, are generally not engaging. More authentic
texts such as movies and TV programs lack supporting materials such
as vocabulary lists and exercises for students. We needed to find
interesting video clips at an intermediate level, design supporting
materials for them, and make them available in a format which would
allow students to move through them at their own pace.
The videos I decided to use are from the popular Russian series
“Eralash” (“Mishmash”), which depicts
the (mis)adventures of a group of students. These episodes are
short (a few minutes each), use colloquial and contemporary language,
and have clear plots and humorous twists at the end. They are
thus very successful at holding students’ attention and
motivating them to understand what is going on.
All the course materials are online: the videos are on the FLTC
server, and exercises, vocabulary lists, and tests are on Blackboard.
The course is broken down into 14 segments: one for each week
of a semester, with two episodes per week. Each episode is preceded
by a written list of relevant vocabulary words and their translations,
as well as an audio file of the vocabulary being read by a native
speaker. After watching an episode, students complete exercises
on Blackboard created in Respondus. These exercises test both
comprehension and vocabulary development. Students are provided
with immediate feedback on their performance, and are encouraged
to review the video and redo the exercises until they get them
all right. Every three to four weeks the students take an online
test, which is graded automatically and tells the students correct
answers for any items they got wrong. At the end of the course,
students take an online final.
This course allows students to work at their own pace, and rewards
them for watching a video multiple times in order to improve their
grades on the exercises. It also makes it possible for them to
work from their homes or other locations, which is very convenient
for our commuter community. Students who are temporarily out of
the area can also take advantage of this course to keep up their
Russian. In the past year several students took the course, which
has been approved by the university, and all of them spoke highly
of it. Moreover, although the students were at different levels,
each did very well because of the flexibility of the program.
Thus, this project has enabled the Russian program to enrich its
offerings and create a completely new type of course which responds
to the specific needs of Wayne students.
