High School Russian program

[Devin P Browne]

Hi!  I'm teaching my first year of Russian I at West Mifflin Area High
School, a suburb outside of Pittsburgh.  I saw a message from your student
teacher on FLTEACH regarding reasons for offering Russian in this day and
age.  Well, in my opinion, there are many....

Let's look at this in a top-down kind of way:  from International/National
to Regional/Local.

Internationally and nationally, there are many jobs out there for those
who have a background in Russian.  Some require "fluency" while others
require "a knowledge" of Russian.  For evidence of this please check out
the Job Index on the homepage of the American Association of Teachers of
Slavic and East European Languages (AATSEEL).  This is located at the
following URL:

http://clover.slavic.pitt.edu/~aatseel/jobs/job-index.html

Also, there are other organizations that maintain lists of jobs that
require a background in Russian or other Slavic languages.  Some are
listed at the bottom of the AATSEEL index.


Your student teacher mentioned that you are located in Central PA.
Therefore, you can talk about the LARGE numbers of Russian-speaking
immigrants that have relocated in Pennsylvania - mostly in Philadelphia
and Pittsburgh.  Russian comes in handy in a number of ways in these
cities.  Those with a knowledge of Russian have a benefit here in
Pittsburgh as well as in Philly while looking for jobs in health care,
law, social work, and many other fields.


Now, aside from jobs, there are lots of reasons to study Russian which are
culturally related:  rich literature, famous music and ballets,
outstanding operas, incredible art.  Russia and the former Soviet Union
are big players in the international scene these days (look at Russia's
maneuvering with regard to Iraq for instance).  Teaching Russian allows
students to better understand Russian culture and current international
events from perspectives other than their own.

Don't give up!  Teaching Russian in the high school is very important!
Keep building the program, one year at a time!

Good luck to you!

Devin

Devin P Browne
dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu