Languages Today, issue 3: Autumn 2009 – Anna Scrivenger, Wendy Newman
After a period of decline, Russian teaching is on the up again.
Languages Today spoke to some of those involved in this Russian Revival to find out why…
After a somewhat turbulent 20th century, Russia is rising again. Glossy magazines are full of the new elite, super-thin, super-rich, super-fashionable Russian glamourati and business is booming. Since embracing capitalism, Russia has been able to exploit its vast mineral wealth and manufacturing sector, which, in turn, is boosting its other export sectors. There are over half-a-million former Soviets now living in Britain, heralding new generations of Anglo-Russians. Where trade and migration lead the way, education must follow – Russian speakers are in increasing demand and there has been a resurgence of Russian in UK schools and colleges in the last few years.
James Muckle taught Russian in schools for 14 years and is now Special Professor of Comparative Education at the University of Nottingham. He says that Russian learning is nothing new, and certainly nothing British pupils can’t manage. “The fact is that British people have been learning Russian since 1553,” he points out. “As early as the 1880s, army officers started qualifying as Russian interpreters, reaching several hundred by 1914. In 1914-15 several dozen schools started teaching Russian, as did technical and commercial colleges, universities, evening and adult education classes.
“We have documentary evidence that HM Inspectorate found that Russian could be taught effectively in schools then, even bearing in mind the lack of appropriate textbooks, which was total! The post-1945 expansion of Russian also began in the armed services, and for a decade or two Russian in schools was effectively run by enthusiastic teachers.”
He rejects the idea that Russian is too difficult or not relevant for today’s schoolchildren, but acknowledges that our motive for learning it has changed. While once we may have sought to understand our differences, we now seek to strengthen our links. “This country must trade with Russia, work diplomatically with Russia, and be sure we’re not being taken for a ride while doing so. We must befriend the Russian people; get to know their history, science, technology, economy, religion, literature and thought. The new political entity stridently demands our attention. Not one of the arguments used for the teaching of Russian since 1827 has lost its force. Perhaps one day soon, some of the schoolchildren who are enjoying their Russian lessons in school now will be contributing to this understanding.”
Russian is spreading onto timetables across the educational spectrum. In the university sector, while the number of universities offering undergraduate programmes in Russian has declined, some Russian departments have begun offering Russian as an interdisciplinary module to students of other subjects. In schools, the number of students taking Russian at GCSE and A-Level has been rising steadily since 2003. Many schools and language colleges are introducing Russian and other less traditional languages to broaden their curriculum, often as part of an enrichment or second/third language option.
According to an article by Nick Brown in the 2008 edition of our partner publication, Rusistika, despite fluctuations in demand in some sectors, the overall picture of Russian in all educational sectors is one of buoyancy and optimism. This positive conclusion is borne out by teachers across the board. While Russian classes are often relatively small, Russian departments are bursting with enthusiasm and commitment. Some schools have seen growing numbers of Russian learners in the past few years. Rusistika details the phenomenal expansion of Russian at Eton over the last decade, made possible in part by a change in school policy, which allows students to choose any two languages on entry to the school.
Russian is also thriving at Bolton School, where 169 of the 890 pupils from years 8-13 study Russian. The school offers biennial trips to Moscow and St Petersburg. – a once in a lifetime chance for the students. This experience has unquantifiable value to the students’ learning, both for their language skills and also for their history and cultural studies. The school gets outstanding examination results as a result.
But this renewed interest in Russian is not restricted to the independent sector. Woodbridge High School in North-East London boasts 50 students per year taking Russian for GCSE, plus a lively A-level cohort.
The introduction of Russian at The Bromfords School in Essex started as an extra, enrichment class outside normal school hours. Now these enthusiastic students are being entered for an Asset Languages qualification at the end of Year 10.
Meanwhile, the annual ALL Russian Essay Competition, organised by the Russian Committee of ALL, with the support of many Russian-interest organisations in the UK, goes from strength to strength. It’s open to school, college and university students at all levels of Russian, from complete beginners to university level, and there is also a category for heritage learners – typically second- and third-generation Russians who want to be on speaking terms with their ancestral tongue.
Organiser Natalia Tronenko, of the ALL Russian Committee, publicises the competition in Angliya newspaper and the Rusistika journal. There were 219 entries for this year’s competition, across all categories, and the standard of entries was particularly impressive. Submissions ranged from posters for the beginners, to 250-word essays for the more advanced categories.
“The judges chose the winners on their originality of thought, interesting content, grammar and structure,” says Natalia. “This competition is helping to raise the profile of Russian. French, German and Spanish get plenty of competitions and are supported by embassies, but Russian doesn’t get much extracurricular support.
“We launched this event to include anyone who is interested in Russian. It unites not only students, but teachers from all sectors: school, uni, heritage, adult education… and because they don’t usually communicate with each other, it shows them what’s happening in each other’s sector, so they can help each other out and work together a bit more.”
Congratulations to all the winners, who won cash, theatre tickets, books, CDs, DVDs and more.
CASE STUDY:
The school teacher Victoria Hicks is head of Russian at Abingdon School for Boys
“Russian was compulsory at Abingdon for some pupils during the late 1990s until fairly recently. Due to trends in languages and the introduction of Spanish and Mandarin, it’s now only taught to older pupils. These boys often learn several other languages such as French, German, Spanish, Italian and Mandarin. Pupils in our classes are different ages, and ability is most important. Having decided to study Russian by their own volition, the boys are very enthusiastic and interested in the history, business opportunities and culture of Russia as well as the structure of a Slavic language. The learners are often friends with the Russian boarders. The misapprehension that the Russian language is complex is swiftly dispelled. The boys often create their own methods to remember the Cyrillic letters, for example, the ‘Russian character zh’ looks like a space invader that makes the sound ‘zh’. After a term, the most able can use the past, present and future tenses and conditional mood.
“I have found the ‘Sazov’ course, developed by the University of Wolverhampton to be bright, modern and comprehensive. It has proved popular with boys, and I make resources myself – for example, cartoon-style descriptions of Russian festivals using the Comic Life IT package. The Maslenitsa festival scene in the Mikhalkov film The Barber of Siberia can be combined with a lesson on Russian Shrovetide. I taught myself Russian and had conversation lessons with a Russian lady in my home town. I then studied French and Russian ab initio at Newnham College, Cambridge. I moved to Abingdon School after completing my PGCE in MFL in 2003. We’ve had several pupils choosing to study Russian at university. For example, we have a pupil going up to Clare College, Cambridge to read Russian and Hebrew this September. Teaching Russian is a richly rewarding experience for myself, and learning it is a rewarding experience for the students.”
CASE STUDY:
The textbook author Dr Daphne West is former Headmistress of the Maynard School, Exeter, and former Head of Modern Languages at Sherborne School for Girls. She takes over as editor of Rusistika in January and is currently working on new editions of Teach Yourself Russian, for publication next year
“Commercial publishers are often reluctant to invest in teaching materials for what is a relatively small market. Luckily, the world of Russian teaching has always been notable for the mutual support, creative industry and enterprise of Russian teachers. In recent years, James Muckle of Bramcote Press has encouraged and made possible the publication of AS and A-level materials written by practising teachers, and Michael Ransome (Chief Examiner for Russian with Edexcel and Head of Languages at Bristol Grammar School) has continued to inspire and work with teams of Russian teachers in devising materials for all levels. This is quite a busy time for me in terms of producing teaching material. I am currently working on new editions of Teach Yourself Russian, Teach Yourself Russian Grammar and Teach Yourself Beginner’s Russian Script (Hodder Education). This is an exciting project, and the new editions aim to reflect changes in both Russian language and Russian society. These titles have proved popular with the adult learner – Teach Yourself Russian has also been translated into French and German. I am looking forward to taking on the editorship of ALL’s Rusistika in January, and to hearing from Russian teachers about the sort of articles they would welcome in future.”