TheAATSEEL NEWSLETTER American Association of Teachers of Slavic & East European Languages Contents Message from the President ...............3 Russian at Work ....................................4 Technology and Language Learning ...............................................6 Belarusica ...............................................6 Ukrainian Issues ...................................6 Recent Publications ..............................6 Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Grammar But Were Afraid to Ask ......................................7 Czech Corner .........................................9 Graduate Student Forum ...................11 Psychology of Language Learning .............................................12 Member News .....................................13 Summer Programs ..............................15 Employment Opportunities ..............18 Professional Opportunities ...............28 Volume 50 Issue 4 December 2007 AATSEEL NEWSLETTER Vol. 50, Issue 4 December 2007 AATSEEL NEWSLETTER EDITORIAL STAFF AATSEEL POINTS OF CONTACT President: Editor: BETTY LOU LEAVER SIBELAN FORRESTER Assistant Editor: ANNA JACOBSON Swarthmore College Contributing Editors: VALERY BELYANIN [email protected] ALINA ISRAELI President-Elect: OLGA LIVSHIN CARYL EMERSON KEITH MEYER-BLASING Princeton University ALLA NEDASHKIVSKA [email protected] JEANETTE OWEN Past President: MILA SASKOVA-PIERCE CATHARINE NEPOMNYASHCHY CURT WOOLHISER Columbia University [email protected] NL Coordinates: Vice Presidents: Editor: [email protected] ANTHONY ANEMONE College of William and Mary Assistant Editor: [email protected] [email protected] Layout/Advertising: [email protected] TODD ARMSTRONG Grinnell College AATSEEL Office: [email protected] PATRICIA ZODY JANE HACKING Executive Director, AATSEEL University of Utah P. O. Box 569 [email protected] Beloit, WI 53512-0569 USA KEITH LANGSTON Phone: 608-361-9697 University of Georgia Fax: 608-363-7129 [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] ELIZABETH SANDSTROM Thomas Jefferson High School Layout/Advertising: CDL Services for Science and Technology [email protected] Submitting Copy: BORIS WOLFSON University of Southern California (1) Foreign languages are accommodated if prepared on Ma- [email protected] cIntosh with a truetype or postscript font that can be shared. Program Coordinator: (2) Eps or pdf with embedded fonts, Indesign, PageMaker, WILLIAM J. COMER and Quark Express documents can be accommodated. University of Kansas [email protected] (3) Please do not double-space between sentences in elec- Editor, Slavic and East European Journal: tronic submissions. GERALD JANECEK (4) Please query the editor about formatting, content, graph- University of Kentucky ics, or language. [email protected] Editor, AATSEEL Newsletter: (5) The AATSEEL Newsletter is not copyrighted. Authors BETTY LOU LEAVER wishing to protect their contributions should copyright their [email protected] materials. Executive Director: PATRICIA ZODY (6) Full specifications are available at the AATSEEL web site. Beloit College [email protected] Conference Manager: DIANNA MURPHY AATSEEL Web site University of Wisconsin-Madison [email protected] For current online information about Webmaster: AATSEEL and its activities, visit AATSEEL MARTA DEYRUP on the web: Seton Hall University [email protected] http://www.aatseel.org 2 December 2007 Vol. 50, Issue 4 AATSEEL NEWSLETTER Message from the I would especially like to invite of December 29: be sure to attend that graduate students attending the confer- meeting for an update on the health and AATSEEL President ence to check out the pre-conference activities of the organization. More de- Job Interviewing Workshop the evening tails on the conference program sched- Dear Friends and Colleagues, of December 27. It will be followed by ule, complete and frequently updated, As the Program Committee puts the President’s Reception for Graduate is on the organization’s web page at finishing touches on the schedule for the Students — information on the location <http://www.aatseel.org/2007_confer- annual conference, we look forward to will be at the Registration Table. If you ence_pr> . an extremely interesting series of panels are no longer a graduate student but do Last, but not least, start thinking and roundtables and a variety of special teach them, please urge your students to of panels you would like to organize presentations for your pleasure and attend this special reception, which will and papers you would like to present utility. December 29 will showcase the offer a chance to meet members of the at the 2008 AATSEEL conference in Russian Poetry Reading and an evening Executive Council and get acquainted San Francisco, to take advantage of of Czech music with Jeff Holdeman, and with other AATSEEL graduate members the chance to discuss and organize dur- (in late-breaking news) Robert Chandler over snacks and a glass of wine, to com- ing the personal conversations that are will present a reading of his recent trans- pare projects and interests, and to plan such a valuable part of our scholarly lations the same evening. Don’t miss to attend one another’s papers or explore interactions. the President’s Reception later on the possible future collaboration before the Hoping to see you in Chicago -- 29th, to greet friends and applaud while conference gets into full swing. with safe intellectual and actual travels outstanding colleagues receive various This year’s Program Book will until then, AATSEEL awards for publications and contain the agenda for the Members’ professional achievement. Meeting for Business on the morning See You At The AATSEEL 2007 ANNUAL CONFERENCE December 27-30, 2007 Hilton Chicago • Chicago, Illinois I am delighted to invite you to the 2007 AATSEEL conference in Chicago, Illinois. This year we will meet at the historic Hilton Chicago, on the Michigan Avenue “Cultural Mile,” overlooking Grant Park and Lake Michigan, Millennium Park and the Museum Campus. Besides artistic and intellectual treats, the city offers some of the best food in the world, both haute cuisine and a wealth of ethnic food tradi- tions. Sibelan Forrester, AATSEEL President (2007-2008) For More Information & To Register On-line Go To: http://www.aatseel.org 3 AATSEEL NEWSLETTER Vol. 50, Issue 4 December 2007 RUSSIAN AT WORK: Editor: Rachel Stauffer INTERVIEWS WITH PROFESSIONALS (University of Virginia) WHO USE RUSSIAN ON THE JOB tute in Moscow. Suddenly the largely lit- erary language I knew was a real living Editor’s Note: If you have any sugges- all of them but Russian, but if I screw up language that I could barely understand tions for this column please send them my face in a grimace of fierce concentra- at all. I remember having a headache for to Rachel Stauffer ([email protected]. tion, I can sometimes read a bit. And if months just from concentrating. But I virginia.edu). you drop me in either a Slavic-speaking loved Moscow immediately and wanted or Romance language country, I can Of Ukrainian descent, though originally to stay -- both to improve my Russian, more or less, sort of, almost, to some and to learn and see more. After the pro- from Schenectady, New York, Michele A. extent figure out the gist of things. Or Berdy lives and works in Moscow as a gram was over, I got a job as an editor at least I enjoy the illusion (delusion?) at a Soviet publishing house and stayed freelance writer, translator, and instruc- that I can”. tor. Mickey has lived in Moscow perma- for almost four years”. Q: Did you major in Russian as an Q: What is the best part of your nently since 1992, and off and on since undergraduate? If so, what led you to graduating from Amherst College in job? that decision - was it a specific class or A: “The variety and the fact that 1978 with a B.A. in Russian Language professor, maybe the language itself? and Literature. Prior to working as a “going to the office” means carrying A: “Yes, I was a Russian language a cup of coffee from the kitchen to my freelancer, she held jobs in non-profits, and literature major in college. I think publishing, film, and communication. desk”. my interest started out as family curios- Q: What is the most challenging She was kind enough to take time out ity -- my grandparents came from the of her busy schedule to answer some part of your job? Ukraine but were in a Russian-speak- A: “That same variety -- switch- questions for the “Russian At Work” ing community -- and then got hooked, column via e-mail. ing from job to job over the course of I think mostly through the literature. I the day -- and the constant struggle Q: When did you begin studying wanted to read it in the original”. Russian? What other languages do you with words: finding the ‘right’ way to Q: Did you study abroad in Russia translate a text, finding the ‘right’ way speak? (or anywhere else) as an undergraduate? A: “I had two years of Russian in to describe a church or the history of a If so, how did that experience contribute place. And the fact that almost everyone high school and then four years in col- to your knowledge of the country and lege. I studied French in high school and wants a translation ‘yesterday’”. the language? Q: What are your goals and plans college, ancient Greek in college and a A: “After I graduated from college, bit of Czech as an adult. I’ve forgotten for the next few years? Do you intend I spent a semester at the Pushkin Insti- to stay in Moscow indefinitely? Slavic & East European A: “I didn’t plan to stay as long as S u m m e r I have -- I always say it was like get- L a n g u a g e ting a job transfer to Peoria and then I n s t i t u t e discovering that 20 years later you’ve put down roots. I don’t have any plans SLIUniversity of Pittsburgh • 2008 to leave, but I think I’d like to spend a 6+4 : PITTSBURGH ~ POLAND, bit more time in the US every year... I’d like to go back to school -- to learn BULGARIA OR SLOVAKIA more systematically what I’ve learned 6 weeks - Pittsburgh — (June 9 - July 18, 2008) in bits and pieces about Russian and 4 weeks - Krakow, Sofia or Modra — (July 21- August 15, 2008) translation”.