The most challenging aspect of teaching Russian online are:

. Creating and and maintaining an online classroom community. Students are usually on different proficiency levels. I partner them in breakout rooms so they can work together and get to know each other.

. Secondly, it is challenging to motivate the students to learn online. I usually have a goal for the whole class, then individual goals. Having goals help us stay focused. I use google slides with pictures and words. I also incorporate online resources and authentic materials, virtual tours ...

To determine that the resource is appropriate for my online class, the resource has to be authentic, applicable to the topic I am teaching and can enhance the achievement of the topic goals.

Using authentic material bridges the cultural gap between the Russian culture and my students cultures. The students can visualize, listen to, then compare and contrast.

If the resource is appropriate, relevant and relates to the topic of discussion, it can be used- videos, virtual tours, online Russian Newspapers, online shopping, a native speaking about Russian traditions, cultures, beliefs...

Authentic materials bridge the gap between Russian culture and my students culture. The students are able to visualize, listen, then compare and contrast the cultures.

Videos, TV shows, movies, artifacts, pictures, Online newspapers, Online shopping, watch videos of Russians talk about their traditions, culture, beliefs. All these can be added to an online lessons.

I start teaching reading and writing in Russian by first introducing the Cyrillic Alphabet. I then teach my students the letter sounds. I proceed to teach them easy three/four/five letter words first before moving to sentences. I regularly assign reading and writing assignments both as classwork and as homework. I check their work and give them feedback of how to improve.

My students usually have a tough time with letters only unique to Cyrillic alphabet, example ^{дд, Ёё, жж, Фф, цц, Щщ  etc.} They also often confuse the sounds of Cyrillic alphabet that look like Latin alphabet but have different sound and meaning - for example Вв, Ее, Нн, Рр, Сс etc.

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Students struggle with sounding out letters only unique to Cyrillic alphabet, example ^{дд, Ёё, жж, Фф, цц, Щщ  etc.}

Since they already know the Latin equivalent of these letters Вв, Ее, Нн, Рр, Сс etc., they often confuse their sounds when reading and writing in Russian. To help students fasten up reading and writing in Russian, I usually group the 33 letters in the Cyrillic alphabet into four different groups:

1. The letters that look like, sound like their Latin letter equivalent - ^{Аа   Кк   Мм    Оо   Тт;}

2. The letters that look like, does not sound like their Latin letter equivalent -  Вв, Ее, Нн, Рр, Сс etc.;

3. Letters only unique to Cyrillic alphabet - ^{дд, Ёё, жж, Фф, цц, Щщ  etc.;}

4. ^{Letters that never begin a Russian word - ЪЪ, Ыы,  Ьь}

   We practice recognizing, sounding and writing these groups of letters multiple times to familiarize leaners with then and ease reading reading and writing them . I also show pictures/images of items beginning with each letter.

Teaching Russian as a foreign language online presents unique challenges. One significant issue is managing distractions, which are much harder to control in an online environment. In a physical classroom, students are present specifically for learning, making it easier to maintain their attention and involvement. However, when students are online, they can easily be distracted by their surroundings, other online content, or even notifications on their devices.

This year, I effectively addressed some of these challenges by incorporating peer assessment into almost every exercise. This strategy compelled students to listen attentively to their peers' responses, fostering a more engaged learning environment. Additionally, it provided students with more opportunities to express their opinions, enhancing their speaking skills as a byproduct. Peer assessment also helped in reducing distractions, as students had a vested interest in what their peers were saying, knowing they would be asked to provide feedback.

2. Practicing reading and guessing cognates.

3. Reading same text a few times to improve fluency

4. Reading tongue twisters before reading texts

Writing:, early stages: writing essays based on provided examples and then editing with a teacher.

Forget Ь

В and Б

И and N

Challenges in Writing: In writing, many students struggle with organizing their thoughts and creating a structured, coherent piece. This often leads to essays that lack clarity and flow. To help them overcome this, I provide a detailed framework that students can follow. I break down the essay into specific paragraphs, each with a distinct purpose, so that students can clearly see how the different parts of their essay fit together. This step-by-step approach allows students to focus on one section at a time, making the writing process less daunting and helping them to produce well-organized and thoughtful essays.

To overcome this, I carefully consider the strengths, weaknesses, and personalities of the students when assigning partners or forming groups. I also facilitate the conversation by providing clear roles and outcomes for each student. By assigning specific tasks or responsibilities within the conversation, I ensure that each student remains engaged and that the interaction is focused and productive.

In addition to general feedback, I also organize peer assessments. During these sessions, students give feedback to each other on their work. This peer-to-peer interaction encourages them to engage critically with the material and their classmates’ performances. After the peer assessments, I add my input to reinforce key points and offer additional insights. This dual approach allows students to learn from their peers while also benefiting from my expertise.

Pronunciation Challenges: Pronunciation is another unique challenge in Russian. Even changing a single sound can completely alter the meaning of a word, which could lead to misunderstandings. This makes it essential to address pronunciation carefully during feedback, focusing on errors that could change the message being communicated.

There are many things that are unique to the Russian Language. Because of these uniqueness, giving feedback is very challenging. I am very mindful  of when it is absolutely necessary to correct the students so I don't overwhelm them. I will mention a few challenges:

Russian language has three genders - Masculine, feminine, Neuter. Everything has a gender. I teach the students the ending of each gender. I also explain to them that there are a few exceptions and I give them examples. 

Cases/Пaдeж It is challenging to get the students to understand and use appropriate ending for the same word. For example "Mom" I have a mom; I see mom; I am with mom; I gave it to mom etc. - мама; маму; мамой; маме . Teaching them each case and allowing them enough time to interact and practice helps.

Thirdly, getting students to understand that adding prefix to the same base word changes the meaning of that word, example - Играть - выиграть Проиграть  говорить - yговорить, подговорить, выговорить, поговорить etc.

Many a times, direct interpretation does not work/does not make sense. Good morning/Kind morning (Доброе утро) etc. I to encourage my students to supplement with English equivalence when direct interpretation does not work or it is impossible to interpret. I also use cognates when applicable. 

When it is appropriate to use надо vs нужнo. I explain to the students that both words can be used to express need but the difference is that only  нужнo can be used with an object.

Reflexive verbs - ...СЯ I explain to them that using reflexive  ...СЯ shows that there is no object or subject and object are the same.

Stress/Ударeные Putting the stress in the wrong place can change the meaning of the word. (Pronunciation)

Overall, repetition, practice, interaction make them better.

The Cyrillic alphabet, the false cognates, Russian cases, Russian sentence structure, some nuances unique to Russian Language.

I do not correct the students on everything but those things  that will affect the language learning if left uncorrected. if it a student group mistake,  I usually start with the positive  - what  they are doing right, then what they got wrong and then what they need to do to get it right. My body language, tone of voice, choice of words make a difference. Building trust with the students mater. Individual mistakes, I give private feedback. This way, students feel more confident to continue interacting with me and fellow students. I sometimes let the student correct one another.

Pronunciation is a close second because in the classroom I can hear my students as a chorus but I also hear their mistakes. On Zoom, half don't turn their mics on during phonetic exercises or it turns into a cacophony with delays, etc.

Is it freely available or does it require a password, etc.

I introduce cursive by about lesson 8-10 (second week of classes). I do a workshop and then students fill out worksheets that I give them feedback on.

I have a Russian fairy tale book that I use because all the words are broken down into syllables and I added stresses to it. I recorded the audio for it. This way, we practice a bunch in class and then students can practice on their own checking their progress against the audio.

For upper-level learners, I think the challenges are somewhat similar but manifest themselves in less striving ways. It's also the word choice and collocation.

Reading out loud is often a problem for students of all levels. The stresses are difficult if you don't know the words. Unstressed O is always an issue.

Insisting on practicing these skills as much as possible no matter what the level is what helps. I also provide examples of successful students' writing samples to give an idea of the level of detail I would like to see. It serves as inspiration.

If it's something that is not urgent, I would write it down nad give individual feedback outside of class.

I try to not stop students while they are actively trying to express a thought.

Students may also mirror each other's mistakes.

Thus a balance is needed of correcting but only enough to nib the mistake in the bud before it spreads to others, but not too much to deter students from trying to create with the language.

One thing I do in my Int- Adv classes is I have students record a 30 sec- 1 min oral response to a question that is relevant to what we do in class and submit it on eLC (our online learning system). I give thorough feedback on these as it is only the student who can see it.

Depending on the age of the students, it takes between three weeks and four months to learn to read. We practice writing every lesson, starting with exercises such as filling in missing letter

s, then progressing to words, and later moving on to complete sentences and texts.

Students may struggle with unfamiliar sounds and the concept of vowel reduction in unstressed syllables.

Russian sentence structure might be confusing for students who are used to more rigid word order. Stress and Intonation creates some challenges as well.

^{-Handwriting: it is challenging to evaluate students’ skills and give feedback}

^{-Pronunciation: because of the usage of technology, sometimes it is difficult for students to comprehend some pronunciation nuances, and it is challenging for a teacher to hear every student speak. When everyone repeats new vocabulary at the same time with their mics on, it does not carry the sound very well.}

^{- Interpersonal communication: a lack of face-to-face interaction and limited formats of student-to-student interaction.}

^{The resource should be easy to use for both teacher and students. When choosing a resource, I consider students’ proficiency level, vocabulary/grammar content and relevancy to the topic of the lesson. Plus age and culture appropriateness.}

^{Using authentic materials makes language lessons more engaging by providing a real-world environment and cultural insight. There are so many authentic resources online: YouTube videos, websites of different organizations, shops, travel agencies, TV channels, social media, etc. Depending on the resource, one can create various types of activities: watch and discuss/compare, pretend you are traveling abroad and order a meal delivery, go on a virtual tour to the art gallery, etc.}

^{Learning Russian alphabet in several groups, starting with letters that look like English letters. Students learn to write letters at the same time, practicing with simple words. The first sentence we learn to write is  “Hello, my name is __.”}

^{Keyboard layout. We recommend using Cyrillic keyboard layout and buying Russian letters stickers for their keyboards. There is also temptation for students just to copy and paste words instead of typing it.}

^{When learning to read, my students struggle with confusing Russian letters that look like English letters, reading words with й, ы, ь, ъ and some other unique Russian letters, vowel reduction, word stress. Also, novice students tend to try guessing a word instead of reading it properly.}

^{Russian is one of the most complex languages to learn. It is harder to progress as fast compared to other languages. I would mention a few: word order, word stress, verb conjugation, cases.}

^{My feedback would depend on the activity and the format of the lesson: online vs in-person. If there is a repetitive mistake from several students, I would go over that material once again or I might ask one of the students, who mastered the topic, explain it to the class. Sometimes I do learner-to-learner observations. If mistakes are minor, depending on the situation, I will not correct it. I am reminding students it is okay to make mistakes, especially that Russian is so complex.}

^{Probably the fact that Russian is one of the most complex languages to learn. When providing feedback, especially at the novice level, it is important to remember not to make excessive corrections, to keep students encouraged to keep learning.}