Webcasts in Special Russian

[Richard Robin]

The National Capital Foreign Language Resource Center is proud to announce
the launch of NOVOSTI NEDELI NA UPROSHCHENNOM RUSSKOM JAZYKE
(www.gwu.edu/~slavic/webcast).

NOVOSTI NEDELI delivers a survey of the previous week's news in simplified
standard Russian. Listeners of Voice of America's "Special English"
broadcasts will recognize the slightly slower rate of speech and textual
redundancy which characterize these webcasts.

WHY UPROSHCHENNYJ RUSSKIJ? Back in Soviet times, the news was easy to
understand. The propaganda-laden messages were predictable and the diction
clear and slow. Post-communist newscasts feature telegraphic speech and
slurry diction. Our webcasts serve as a stepping stone between the teacher
talk of the classroom and the "real" Russian of the media.

AUTHENTIC NEWS. The news itself is taken from a number of Russian sites,
including Lenta.Ru, Gazeta.Ru, and Ekho Moskvy (www.echo.msk.ru). The
accompanying exercises pre-listening background information, vocabulary
support, and post-listening activities. Some of these are open-ended
questions. Others are interactive. Listeners can check their answers with a
mouse click.

TIMEFRAME. The news cycle covered is from Monday to Friday. The news is
recorded and posted the following Monday. Exercises are available by Tuesday
morning. In other words, listeners should expect at least a 96-hour delay in
"timeliness."

AUDIENCE. The news items, style, and exercise level are aimed at students
with listening skills at ACTFL Intermediate Mid to Intermediate High. In
most cases, that corresponds to college Russian at the end of second-year.

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION. Users may download both the written and audio
versions of the exercises, copy them, and redistribute them. The only
restriction is that the source for the material must be cited: "Novosti
nedeli na uproshchennom russkom jazyke, a project of the National Capital
Foreign Language Resource Center. www.gwu.edu/~slavic/webcast/."
_________________________________
Richard Robin, Associate Professor, Chair
German and Slavic Dept.
The George Washington University
Washington, DC 20008
rrobin at gwu.edu
http://home.gwu.edu/~rrobin
Whr`~ on-psqqjh bn bqeu jndhpnbj`u.
Chitayu po-russki vo vsex kodirovkax.

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