Following the popularity of the Russian Residential Summer Schools in Cambridge,
we are now launching a Russian Residential Weekend in spring 2019. This is a wonderful opportunity to explore a new, unique format of an intensive Russian course, and combine it with the pleasure of meeting like-minded people in a friendly atmosphere.

Dates and Times: 29-31 March 2019:
From lunch at 12:00 on Friday 29th March till 13:30 on Sunday 31st March.

Target audience: higher intermediate and advanced students of Russian only.

Summary: 13 hours of Russian language tuition in special-interest groups and 6 hours of extra-curricular activities. All sessions will be led by experienced tutors, native speakers of Russian.

Venue: Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University, Storey’s Way, Cambridge CB3 0DG.
Fitzwilliam College is renowned for a long-standing tradition of Russian and Slavonic studies. It is a 15 minutes’ walk or a 5 minutes’ bus ride from Cambridge city centre. The college has comfortable en-suite accommodation, a cosy bar and buttery, and ample parking.

• Accommodation and meals will be provided.
• Local students, not requiring accommodation, are also welcome.

Enrolments: In order to book your place on the course, please click here and complete the enrolment form, and pay a non-refundable deposit of £70 at the time of booking. The deadline for enrolments is 11th January 2019.

Click here for MORE DETAILS ON FEES & ENROLMENTS

Programme: Students will be given a wide range of vocabulary, audio or video recordings and texts for listening, reading and translating in each special-interest area. participants will practise their newly acquired (or developed!) knowledge and skills through a variety of activities: role-plays, games, debates and team tasks, like acting as an interpreter at a journalist forum or a translator of poems, or a guide in the art museum, or a chef in the Russian cuisine. At the end, students will create their interest-specific project in a small team.

During the weekend, students will be working in turns in the following
SPECIAL-INTEREST GROUPS:

1) Cuisine & Leisure.  Relax and chat in Russian about such enjoyable past as sports, cooking, gardening, and even watching TV. A spot of grammar home improvement will give your Russian a nice spring cleaning.

2) Prose & Difficulties of Translation.  Enjoy meeting your favourite characters from Russian classical and  modern literature — Bunin’s, Bulgakov’s, Dovlatov’s or Tolstaya’s —  to answer the eternal Russian questions: Кому на Руси жить хорошо? Кто виноват? and Что делать? Crack the problems professional translators come across, like Пить есть, есть нет. 

3)  Visual Arts.  Revisit famous Russian art collections in the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg and the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, and share your impressions with others. Explore «The Wanderers» movement, and compare them with Russian Avant-garde and Socialist Realism. Try the role of an auctioneer at the Christie’s Russian sales to identify the best-selling modern Russian painter. Discover the world of folk crafts from Sergiev Posad, Dymkovo and Bogorodskoye.

4) History & Current Affairs.  Discover secrets from the Russia’s past and relate them to her present. Compare current affairs presented by the BBC or The Guardian with their interpretation in the Russian media.  Try the role of a journalist or an interpreter at a political debate, and write your comments on a Russian forum.

5)  Poetry & Creativity.  Discover what makes Russian poetry so powerful and captivating.  Enjoy the beautiful sound, music and imagery of Russian verses from Pushkin to Brodsky.  Listen to the poets’ own voices, and guess who is who. Explore Russian rhymes and discuss different approaches to poetry translation. Have a go at translating  or creating a poem of your own.

EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

• Talk «The Mysteries of the Russian Church» by David Taylor (in English). The speaker is a retired baptist Minister who has been visiting Russia over the past 25 years. He has a first-hand experience of meeting with Russian Orthodox congregations, priests and Bible scholars.
• Quiz Night (in Russian, with English translation). Students will prepare questions on their favourite topics — both individually and in their special-interest groups. There will be prizes for the winners!
• The Final Show (in Russian). Each special-interest group will prepare a 20-minute presentation with their tutor. The students will also be welcome to demonstrate their skills individually if they wish to.

Whether you can or cannot make it this time, if you wish to receive information about future Russian language courses (for non-native speakers), please follow this link to join our mailing list: https://goo.gl/forms/jEN3F0IXijFIYab33

We look forward to seeing you in March!

Cambridge Russian Summer School Team 

Please note that this event is held by Cambridge Sterling Scholar in collaboration with CamRuSS and all proceedings go to Cambridge Russian Summer School Team.