June 2006 with her Russian friends.jpg "2 Wallis Ahern (on the right) with her Russian friends.jpg")
My daughter and I attended a two week session this summer. It was fantastic. For volunteer teachers who take Russian classes, you get a very individualized program, whatever your level AND you can't underestimate the experience of speaking a language 24/7--there are plenty of teachers around to practice your Russian with! I teach Russian lit in the US and had a great opportunity to work on my Russian. My daughter, who is 14, did know some basic Russian when we arrived--but she really learned a lot in the short period we were there. She got a great overview of the case system and basic verb conjugation. When we returned to the US, she attended a second year Russian class at my university for the month before she returned to school. Living with other Russian students and learning to communicate with them was exciting for her and really boosted her confidence level in speaking Russian. As for the Russian students who are at camp--the opportunity to converse with native speakers, of English in my case, was an incredible motivator and they took advantage of every opportunity to speak English--again, not just in the classroom, but throughout the day. Moreover, the learning experience isn't all about language acquisition--these camps are a fabulous medium for cultural exchange and understanding. We had a blast!
.jpg "1 Kathleen Ahern (third from left).jpg")