Goal: Students who choose to study Russian at COAF SMART Center come with different levels of background knowledge ranging from true beginners to intermediate knowledge. Given this, the goal of the program is to level-up each group’s knowledge with a tailored program. With English being taught at COAF SMART Center as a lingua franca and Chinese (Mandarin) as the language of the future, Russian is taught as a language of strategic regional importance.

Methodology: Communicative and game-based methodologies lie at the core of language instruction at COAF SMART. Various study materials are used to enhance and complement Russian learning experience for different age-groups: “Сорока (Soroka)” (6-11 y/o), “Поехали (Poekhali)” (12-18y/o). Working with each student individually is a key to success in learning a language in particular since everyone learns at a different pace. Thus, the activities are largely implemented through the communicative method, focusing on pairwork and group work, so as to create an immersive environment in which students are able to internalize the content and express themselves in their own simpler terms.  

Topics: The goal of the program is to teach conversational skills and improve vocabulary, listening and speaking activities are a large part of the program. Topics covered include dialogues, listening to and reproducing daily conversations in short sentences, critical examination of a reading material, preparing questions and answers, making descriptions and creating short essays. 

Program Outcome: At the end of the program, based on the entry level, the participants will level up within four language skills acquiring from elementary to upper-intermediate level. The students will be able to read and understand short texts, write notes and compose simple personal letters, listen and contribute to daily conversations being able to describe their families, their education and converse about other familiar topics.