Russian Course

This FSI Russian course actually consists of two separate sets of course materials. The first is an “Active Introduction” to Russian, while the second is a FAST course.

The Active Introduction is an experimental course that was developed as a response to the lack of progress FSI students were making with more traditional courses.

According to the old way of thinking, learning languages was based on first acquiring a mastery of the grammar, after which things like listening comprehension and fluency were expected to somehow “fall into place”.

Nowadays, this would be considered a very old-fashioned approach, and even in 1973, when this course was published, people were beginning to realize that it wasn’t working, especially with such a highly inflected language as Russian.

Instead, this course is based on communication, teaching the students Russian through real situations and leaving them with much more advanced practical speaking skills upon completing it.

Lessons revolved around a physical model of Moscow in the classroom, and communicative activities were related to places, buildings and even vehicles in the model.

The other course materials available here make up a more traditional FAST course, shorter courses provided by FSI to provide basic introductions to languages as well as giving students some cultural background before being sent to their postings abroad.