Faces of Contemporary Russia

"What a gift Olga Mesropova has given to upper-level students of Russian and their instructors! Faces of Contemporary Russia offers learners the chance to acquire deep cultural literacy in the realm of post-Soviet Russian media, politics, athletics, and the performing arts, while also developing the lexicon and syntactical strategies that will propel them to advanced level proficiency in reading, speaking and writing in Russian. Structured around engaging biographies of major cultural figures from 21st century Russian life and culture, each unit offers annotated readings, accompanied by expertly designed exercises that take students from the finer points of Russian grammar to thoughtful discussion of major sociocultural issues facing Russians today. The exercises ask students to explore in depth a range of topics that are particular to Russian life and culture, while also making connections to their own cultural, political, and social contexts. The material is fun, dynamic and flexible enough to be easily adapted to meet the needs of a wide range of instructional styles and learner needs."

eTextbooks are now available to purchase or rent through VitalSource.com! Please visit VitalSource for more information on pricing and availability. Faces of Contemporary Russia is a one-semester textbook for high-intermediate to advanced level Russian students that aims to develop students' linguistic proficiency by examining significant personalities in current Russian culture. In addition to introductory and concluding chapters, the book features twelve individuals (one per chapter), drawing from a range of areas such as arts, sports, journalism, and business. While upper-level Russian textbooks tend to emphasize grammar and reading more traditional works of Russian literature, this book instead seeks to primarily engage students in learning about and discussing the breadth of contemporary Russian culture while weaving the study of grammar and vocabulary into those discussions. In addition to readings and in-class communicative activities, the book also features guided research assignments that encourage students to make use of the many personality interviews and YouTube clips available online. For Instructors: Exam copies of the textbook are available free of charge to instructors and can be ordered on this page. To request a print sample, please use the "print" exam copy button. To request a digital sample, instructors should log onto VitalSource.com, select "Faculty Sampling" in the upper right-hand corner, and select the desired product.