Russian handwriting in US classrooms in the computer age

Michael Denner mdenner at STETSON.EDU
Thu Sep 9 18:46:32 UTC 2010 

I waste zero time teaching cursive--they need to learn to recognize Russian handwriting (I write on the board) but I think teaching пропись is a waste of valuable resources.

Some students WANT to learn it, and I help them out. But for all written work I accept printed (печатные буквы) Russian. I send 4-6 students a year to Russia and I've never heard a complaint.  

One of my first assignments is for them to download an ASDF keyboard (like Russian for Gringos) or use translit.ru and type me a message. We do a lot of free-writing and I require all of it to be sent by email to me for correction. 

Finally, I'm slowly moving away even from worrying about typing skills and encouraging students to record dialogues, essays, even their homework assignments. It's something new for me this year, aided in part by the great site vocaroo.com, which allows students to make quick recordings online and post them easily. I'm requiring them to submit the audio files through our class blog (bearinahat.blogspot.com) so they don't fill my inbox. (You can see a few early submissions there already--mostly recordings of poetry.)

This move to recordings is a response to changes in the ways that students communicate: I asked my students recently about their email habits. To a one, they said "The only time I use email is to communicate with my professors."  Gosh, I'm so old I remember email being new.

Times they are a'changin...

Oh, and, if you DO still teach handwriting, I cannot recommend highly enough the very cool Primo and Tempo fonts here:
http://nekin.narod.ru/e25.htm

They're true handwriting fonts, and use a complex macro to connect letters using a variety of liaisons. You'll need to download the documents and fonts, read the instructions carefully. But the results are really impressive--perfect Russian handwriting. I've posted a couple examples here:
http://tinyurl.com/33gpr22

~mad

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
   Dr. Michael A. Denner
   Associate Professor of Russian Studies
   Editor, Tolstoy Studies Journal
   Director, Russian Studies Program
   Director, University Honors Program

   
   Contact Information:
      Russian Studies Program
      Stetson University
      Campus Box 8361
      DeLand, FL 32720-3756
      386.822.7381 (department)
      386.822.7265 (direct line)
      386.822.7380 (fax)

      google talk michaeladenner
      www.stetson.edu/~mdenner


-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [mailto:SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Melissa Smith
Sent: Wednesday, September 08, 2010 3:37 PM
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Russian handwriting in US classrooms in the computer age

Since Youngstown State has a one-year foreign language requirement and 
the bulk of our students stop their study at this level, I only require 
that they be able to READ cursive, and include sections on tests that 
include reading passages in cursive.  I subsequently include writing 
assignments like greeting cards for different holidays, and give them 
models written for Russian children. I required that they send me a 
card for March 8th, International Women's Day, which falls about spring 
break, and gave them stamped envelopes and blank cards that they were 
supposed to mail me.

This is not an ideal solution, but I try to compensate by getting them 
accustomed to using internet sources. I once had a student who had 
emigrated to the US at age 13 and wanted to return to study in a 
Russian University. Although she had gone to school and learned cursive 
as a child, she had taken to printing in both languages here. I had to 
convince her that she would be expected to write by hand were she to 
return to study in Moscow, and therefore had to retrain her!

Melissa Smith


On 9/8/10 2:26 PM, Beyer, Tom wrote:
> At Middlebury student learn cursive in first year, much like I learned 
the
> Palmer method in first grade. They begin using lined paper- two lines 
at
> first, writing in pen (meaning they have to practice several times 
before
> the final version). After they have learned the alphabet I give them 
two
> books used by Russian first graders to practice penmanship.
> But computers for text input also come into play almost immediately. A 
first
> night assignment is to print out a page from rambler.ru, just so they 
know
> their computers have Cyrillic. I also point to input methods, speak of
> finding and using online dictionaries, how to type in Cyrillic using 
either
> the Russian or some YAWERTY keyboard or online keyboards. Since some 
have
> Iphones, Ipads, Itouches, and who knows what else before long, etc I 
simply
> point them to google and say figure out how to type in Russian one way 
or
> another on whatever device(s) you have. Many do word lists on the
> computer,and there are some other assignments in first year: type a 
menu,
> make a business card, etc. But cursive by hand is still for the 
foreseeable
> future a necessary skill that I feel we should teach.
> 
> Good luck and best wishes to all who toil in the garden of Basic 
Russian.
> 
> 
> 
> On 9/8/10 9:45 AM, "Monnier, Nicole M." <MonnierN at MISSOURI.EDU> wrote:
> 
> > Richard!
> > 
> > Great question - one I was contemplating posting to the list as 
well. As I
> > began the semester this year, I was struck by how many students 
don't use
> > cursive in English and the added difficulties of this fact for the 
teaching
> > of Russian cursive.
> > 
> > As to your conditions, our current textbook (Live from Russia) does 
not have
> > online exercises, so students inevitably have to handwrite their 
textbook
> > exercises, as well as their exams and quizzes, so learning cursive is
> > unavoidable at this juncture. I also tell them that they should be 
taking
> > notes, and all my notes on the board are in cursive; likewise, when 
they
> > head off to Russia (I always tell them "when," not "if"!), they're 
going to
> > find themselves in situations where they'll have to read or write 
cursive.
> > 
> > HOWEVER, I have been seriously contemplating requiring them to learn 
how to
> > type in Russian, preferably with the Gosstandart layout (again, on 
the same
> > premise that they find themselves in Russia some day with no option 
of the
> > QUERTY translit keyboard), if only because it will give them 
incredible
> > interactive access to real Russian online (Vkontakte, chat, etc.). 
I'm
> > thinking about doing this in the second semester of first-year (ours 
is a
> > 15-week course at 6 hours/week).
> > 
> > I do not curtail students' use of the computer, though few venture 
onto the
> > keyboard on their own in any event.
> > 
> > If our university required all students to have laptops of some 
sort, I
> > would be even more likely to require students to learn to type in 
Russian.
> > 
> > Other than that, I can only say that I am as curious as you as to 
other
> > practices in our field.
> > 
> > Best,
> > 
> > Nicole
> > 
> > 
> > ****************************
> > Dr. Nicole Monnier
> > Associate Teaching Professor of Russian
> > Director of Undergraduate Studies (Russian)
> > German & Russian Studies
> > 428A Strickland (formerly GCB)
> > University of Missouri
> > Columbia, MO 65211
> > 
> > phone: 573.882.3370
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > On 9/8/10 7:48 AM, "Richard Robin" <rrobin at GWU.EDU> wrote:
> > 
> >> Dear SEELANGers,
> >> 
> >> I¹d like to get some feedback from colleagues on the issue of 
teaching
> >> Russian script to beginners in an era of computer-delivered 
materials.
> >> 
> >> Imagine using a textbook under the following conditions:
> >> 
> >>    1. Every exercise is online but also available in the printed 
version of
> >>    a student workbook (tear out pages, etc.)
> >>    2. Your students have computers that can type Cyrillic, and 
using either
> >>    the native Gosstandart layout or the phonetic ³student² 
keyboard, they can
> >>    type Russian.
> >>    3. While all the exercises are on line, some are (a) machine 
gradable
> >>    (simple choose the ending or fill in the blank with an 
unambiguous word or
> >>    phrase, (b) sentence or paragraph length, submittable 
electronically to
> >> the
> >>    teacher, but not machine gradable.
> >> 
> >> 
> >> Questions:
> >> 
> >>    1. Do you teach cursive basically for recognition and embrace 
the use of
> >>    all the online exercises?
> >>    2. Do you limit the use of the students¹ use of the computer 
until they
> >>    have mastered cursive?
> >>    3. If you answered yes, to Question 2, what are the limits? How 
long must
> >>    they write things by hand? (It helps if you calculate by 
instructional
> >>    hours, where a typical 4-hour a week semester of 15 weeks comes 
to 60
> >> hours,
> >>    a year ‹ 120 hours). Do they have to write everything by hand or 
is there
> >> an
> >>    acceptable mix of handwritten work and computer work?
> >>    4. Any other opinions you have on the subject.
> >> 
> >> Either public or private answers are appreciated. This is not a 
formal
> >> scholarly survey (obviously). I just want to get people to express 
some
> >> opinions on the matter.
> >> 
> >> Thanks,
> >> Richard Robin
> >> 
> >> 
> >> 
> > 
> > 
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------------------------------------

Melissa T. Smith, Professor
Department of Foreign Languages and 
Literatures  
Youngstown State University
Youngstown, OH 44555
Tel: (330)941-3462

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