Passport to Russia (review)

[Andrew Jameson]

Passport to Russia
Alla Nazarenko and Keith Rawson Jones
Sheffield Academic Press, 2000, 190 p.  ISBN 1 85075 879 4
(pbk only) British Pounds 14.95. CD-ROM included.

Compiled by two members of staff of the Foreign Language
Faculty, Moscow State University, this textbook is based on
a series of unedited texts from the late 1990s covering the
Russian character, women, new Russians, youth, education,
media, festivals, Moscow's 850th anniversary, religion, art,
transport, ecology, the economy. The texts are genuinely
interesting and are accompanied by black and white
photographs. The units are divided each into four parts,
all rubrics and instructions being in Russian.. Firstly
preparation for the text with vocabulary exercises following.
Secondly exercises on grammar topics, including a smaller
supplementary text. Thirdly materials and suggestions for
speaking exercises, and fourthly listening exercises,
including the text of a recording available on the CD-ROM
included. The overall impression is of a thorough, challenging,
rigorous textbook, with a well integrated set of activities
over a wide range of skills, suitable for final year students as
well as those preparing for their period of residence abroad.
It must be said that the small "briefing" sections, unit 14 in
Russian and the five pages of notes in English look rather like
an afterthought. Perhaps the authors could be encouraged to
develop this section into a fuller cultural briefing. As it stands
it is a chance missed: greetings, shopping, queuing should be
doubled in size and extra sections, for example on public
transport and telephone etiquette, would be very useful for
the intended readership.

Andrew Jameson
Chair, Russian Committee, ALL
Languages and Professional Development
1 Brook Street, Lancaster LA1 1SL UK
Tel: 01524 32371  (+44 1524 32371)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                http://members.home.net/lists/seelangs/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------