Moldavians in Russian class

[David Burrous]

>Does anyone else beside me have an enormous influx of emigres from
>Moldavia in their classes? I have about half a dozen, all native
>speakers of Russian, of course. We can't accommodate them in a
>separate class, I don't want to kick them out, and yet it must
>be discouraging to the other students in the class to have them
>there. Emily Tall

Dear Emily:
My suggestion is for you to "kick them out".  I remember as an
undergraduate at the University of Colorado how discouraging it was to be
in a second year Russian class sitting next to a native speaker who held me
in contempt  due to my lack of linguistic facility and seemed to hold the
fact that they needed to be there to fulfill some requirement in contempt
also.  Perhaps a policy could be formulated which would exclude them from
the class before they  get there, then you wouldn't have to "kick them
out".  I would encourage them to study a different foreign language.
What's the point of studying Russian if you already speak Russian?

Sincerely yours,

David E. Burrous                         * phone:       (303) 465-1144
Standley Lake Sr. High School | voice mail: (303) 982-3221
9300 West 104th Avenue          (  ) fax:           (303) 465-1403
Westminster, CO  80021,  USA   |  | e.mail:  burrous at csn.net
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