The Russian Summer Language School has been offering excellent language and culture instruction in Russian in an intensive immersion setting for over 50 years. It is widely recognized as one of the best Russian language programs in the world.
Today, the Russian School is a diverse and exciting place to be, as rapid change within Russia is creating new opportunities for people with language training and other skills. Every summer, highly motivated graduate and undergraduate students arrive at Middlebury from all over North America and abroad. The student body is diverse, and our faculty, most of whom are native speakers, are very experienced teachers of Russian as a foreign language. They live in the dorms, eat with the students, and are always available. Students and teachers come to Middlebury to plunge into our intensive program and immerse themselves in Russian language and culture.
The small-sized classes at the Russian School are challenging and exciting because they are designed to make learners active participants in the learning process. Whether preparing and performing a short skit, engaging in a role play or simulation, or making oral presentations summarizing a lecture or a report from Russian TV news, our students use their Russian in a very purposeful way in class. The Russian doesn't stop at the end of class. Students participate in our co-curricular program which includes films, concerts, and lectures, as well as chorus, dance, and theater groups, and newspaper and radio clubs. In the summer of 2000, our guest lecturers will speak on topics ranging from the Russian elections and contemporary Russian art to Russians' attitudes towards sex. These activities, and many more, make the Russian School program the success it is. Our students not only study Russian, they live it!
Our students and world-class faculty come together as a community for our "tea-drinking evenings", soccer games with teams of the other seven language schools, receptions, parties, art exhibits, recitals, to watch Russian TV, or play monopoly, chess, or ping pong ... and it's always in Russian, as our whole school community observes the Language Pledge -a formal commitment to speak the language of study as the only means of communication for the entire summer session.
The six-week graduate session of the Middlebury College Russian School offers degree programs for Master of Arts in Russian and Doctor of Modern Languages, in addition to coursework for credit transfer and professional development. This summer the course selection will include 13 courses in language, linguistics, literature, and civilization, and feature several exciting courses in the social sciences.
You can learn more about the program by visiting the Russian School Pages.