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| Reviewed: |
May 09, 2003 by World Languages Editorial Board |
| Overview: |
Golosa is a site providing good supplemental materials and Internet links for
the Russian textbook Golosa (Voices). The presented materials include authentic
and adopted texts for reading and reading comprehension exercises based on the
information found on Russian sites.
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| Learning Goals: |
The goal of this site is to provide some additional materials available on the
Internet for the textbook Golosa. The assignments would increase students?
vocabulary and improve their reading comprehension skills.
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| Target Student Population: |
This site is made for beginning level Russian students. However, intermediate
level students and instructors would find it a valuable source of information
about Russia and Russian everyday life.
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| Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills: |
Familiarity with the material presented in the textbook Golosa or some other
beginning level textbook.
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| Type of Material: |
You can find authentic and adapted texts with and without reading exercises;
communicative assignments; some listening comprehension materials, such as the
song ?When your girl is sick" by the popular Russian rock group Kino.
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| Recommended Uses: |
The site can be used to improve students? reading comprehension skills and
introduce them to some practical aspects of Russian life. Such assignments as
Job application, Renting a St. Petersburg apartment,College acceptance, and many
others would help students learn how to deal with Russian realities.
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| Technical Requirements: |
In order to read Russian text, one needs installed KOI8-R or Cyrillic (Windows)
fonts in his computer and his browser. aspects.
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| Strengths: |
The site Golosa consists of material relevant to the content of the textbook
Golosa. There are 20 lessons: 10 lessons for Book 1, and 10 lessons for Book 2.
There are such topics as Languages, Family, Store, University, Schedule, etc.
Each lesson has links to communicative assignments and/or reading exercises. In
addition, each lesson has links to Russian sites, where students can read
authentic materials which are more challenging than adopted ones. For example,
Lesson 4 from Book 1, ?University? has a link to the communicative assignment
?Russian Universities? by Annelie Chapman, with a link to the adapted text with
questions ?The letter from American University?, and links to homepages of
Russian universities such as Moscow State University, Kazan State University,
and others. Some lessons provide the links to information that can be very
useful for foreigners visiting Russia. For example, Lesson 3 from Book 2
provides a link to a Russian site which has information on making long distance
calls from Russia. Thus, the site Golosa gives students the opportunity to
improve their language skills and to familiarize themselves with Russian
everyday realities. The site is not overwhelming in terms of link numbers. Each
lesson is provided with 3-7 links on average.
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| Concerns: |
Several punctuation errors were found, such as ?Iia eii??ii ii?o ii-i?i?oee?
from O?ie 3 (Lesson 3), exercise ?Eoi ??ou eoi?? (Who is who?). The word
?eii??ii? (of course) is a parenthetic word and must be used with comas before
and after it. A couple of misspells, such as ?ei?a-ieaoau? instead of
?ei?aa-ieaoau? from Lesson 4, ?Ie?uii ec oiea???eo?oa ??A? (The letter from the
American university) is found. However,
there is a very insignificant number of
such mistakes and misspellings. In general, the information presented on this
site is accurate.
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Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool |
Rating:   |
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| Strengths: |
The site offers the materials that can be used as supplemental activities
outside the classroom for motivated students. Students studying Russian
independently might want to use this site as well. Several materials, such as
Communicative assignments by Annelie Chapman, can be easily integrated into
language classrooms.
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| Concerns: |
The site lacks variability. The main concern is the deficit of links to the
sites containing sound files. The focus of almost all activities is on
development of reading comprehension skills whereas listening skills could be
developed as well through Russian Internet sites. There are plenty of Russian
music sites on the Internet. Another concern is that communicative and reading
assignments are mostly of the same type. Variation in assignments might be more
motivating for students.
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Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty |
| Rating: |
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| Strengths: |
The site structure is very simple. Basically, it is just the main page with the
links to different Internet sites and activity files. The site does not require
technical support. The colors are not overwhelming. The fonts are easy to read.
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| Concerns: |
Too many links have dead ends. Such links as Universities of Russia) from Book 1
Lesson 4, The movie club Agama from Book 2 Lesson 6, Radio 101 program schedule
from Book 1 Lesson 5 and many others need to be updated. The site design is too
simplistic. No images are included.
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| Other Issues and Comments: |
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