grad students/ outreach

[James Gerhart]

It's a lovely plan, especially if well organized.  But surely third
graders are beneath the dignity of grad students, not to mention their
mentors?                     G. Gerhart

On Fri, 10 Mar 1995, Stephen Blackwell wrote:

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> Date: Fri, 10 Mar 95 08:32:44 EST
> From: Stephen Blackwell <SHBLACKW at ucs.indiana.edu>
> X-To: PO1::"seelangs at cunyvm.cyny.edu"
> Subject: grad student activities
> To: seelangs at cunyvm.cyny.edu
>
>
> One activity that I have been involved in lately seems to me
> to have enormous potential value for the quantity of students
> in our field.  The town where I have been working teaches Russian
> to its third- and fourth-graders.  The third graders are especially
> enthusiastic.  I do not mean to propogate the myth that they are
> language learning geniuses--they are not.  But the LOVE the stuff.
> They have no inhibitions.  The alphabet is a game to them.  They
> enjoy making strange noises.
>
> My point is that these kids, when older, will not see Russian as any
> more scary or difficult than, say, Spanish or French or German.  They
> may even harbor a bit of nostalgia for the language, even if they have
> not been able to study it in high-school.
>
> Here's my proposal: there is a nation-wide trend toward introducing
> foreign languages in elementary schools.  But this trend is slow in
> gathering steam, and there is a large window of opportunity. By expanding
> outreach contacts, and making available advanced undergrads and
> grad students of all levels to offer extended series of Russian lessons
> at these grade levels, Russian can get a head start in the schools,
> and by providing free service now (with, perhaps, some credit for the
> "teachers" in their degree programs) can by stealth main-stream itself
> while no-one is looking.  Spanish is around most kids every day, so
> their interest in it is understandable.  A balancing presence of
> Russian should at least prevent a massive act of national "forgetting"
> about the Russian language and people, and we as a nation are very
> forgetful.
>
> When schools finally and officially introduce foreign language instruction,
> the bashmak will already be in the door.
>
> The greatest benefits lie about ten years down the road, but consider:
>
> o       The outreach can be used as evidence of the departments value
> o       The growing exposure among youngsters can be indicated as a future
>                 source of large numbers of students (future=< 10 years)
> o       Ten years goes by quicker than we think.
>
> I hope that some of you find these ideas useful.  I think that faculty
> and grad students could develop them together at various institutions.
>
>
> Stephen Blackwell
> shblackw at ucs.indiana.edu
>