Dec 12, 2019
We interview our guest, Cindy Martin, an Associate Professor of
Russian at the University of Maryland, College Park. Dr. Martin is
an active ACTFL OPI certified Tester and Trainer She is the author
of numerous publications, including an Intermediate-level Russian
textbook Welcome Back!.
Podcast host Dr. Natalie McCauley and her guest discuss a number of
topics related to language teaching, specifically:
- How student body changed in the past 20 years and what teachers
can do to cater to a more diverse audience.
- How Dr. Martin helps her students embrace discomfort and how she
shows them that Russian Language is not hard (it just takes longer
to acquire it for English speakers).
- How current grading is punitive in nature and ways to design
grading system that encourages students’ growth in the
language.
- What activities work best for classroom space and which ones are
best for homework.
- How to use pre-speaking activities to help students talk non-stop
for the duration of the entire class
- How Cindy uses technology to improve students’ speaking
skills.
We hope you will enjoy this interview with Professor Cynthia
Martin!
Podcast host:
Dr. Natalie (Natasha) McCauley is a Visiting Assistant Professor of
Russian Studies at the University of Richmond and the current
director of the UR Summer Study Abroad Program in Saint Petersburg,
Russia. Since she began teaching Russian in 2012, Natasha has
taught at the University of Pittsburgh, Middlebury Institute of
International Studies, and the University of Michigan, where she
finished her PhD in 2018. What Natasha enjoys most about teaching
Russian studies, whether language, literature and film, is the
experience to help students not only learn about a different region
and culture of the world, but also learn to think critically about
the ways societies are structured, including how this is reflected
within languages. Her research interests include gender and
sexuality, contemporary television and media, and affect
theory.