Reviews from Yerevan program participants
Vivian Leskes
The May 2023 Russian class in Yerevan, Armenia was a wonderful experience! We were six diverse students, unknown to each other when we arrived, but we all had a determination to improve our Russian skills and a curiosity to know Armenia. We varied in age, in profession, in home states, in our strengths and weaknesses. Susanna guided us skillfully through our time in Yerevan; we quickly became a marvelous congenial cohort, enjoying ourselves and each other thoroughly. None of us had been to Armenia before. Our three-hour daily classes anchored us; we read about and discussed Armenian culture and history, the artists and writers who represent the Armenian spirit. We developed our vocabulary and worked on our grammar through the content of the material. On field trips we visited the museums, theaters, and concert halls that we had just read about, and we listened to Russian-speaking guides explain the works and lives of the artists and poets. During our free time in town, we explored the city, the neighborhoods, markets, restaurants. On the weekend, we traveled outside the city and explored the magnificent monasteries, the unique landscape, caves, wineries. I believe that my Russian skills made great strides, and I also know so much more about Armenian culture. I can’t wait to get to Riga!
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Klara Moricz
Spending two weeks in Yerevan with a group of six people and Susanna Nazarova as our guide and teacher was one of the best experiences I had in my life. The premise of the trip was simple: we’ll immerse ourselves in Russian and combine three hours of instruction a day with life experiences in the city. Without signing an agreement, members of the group instinctively switched to Russian the moment we arrived. Nobody broke the unspoken pledge; we never spoke English. When we walked around the city, had dinner together, went shopping, the only language we used among ourselves was Russian. What I found the most valuable in the program was the way we immersed in Armenian culture. Susanna put together material for us that covered the most important cultural figures of this little-known country: the film director and artist Sergey Paradjanov; the painter Martiros Saryan; the writer Vardges Petrosyan; the poet Egishe Charents; the writers Ovanes Tumanyan and Narine Abgaryan. We also read about Mandelstam and Akhmatova’s fascination with Armenia. A typical day looked like this: we would go to a museum, say the museum of Saryan, and have a guided tour in Russian. Then we would gather for three hours to discuss our readings and what we saw in the Museum of Saryan. We presented to each other one of Saryan’s paintings and gave a mini lecture on it. By the end of the day, we had a deep understanding of Saryan and of the significance of Armenia in his work; and, almost as a side effect, improved our Russian. We had passionate conversations about everything we learned and saw. Learning did not come with the usual pain—we spoke Russian because we wanted to express our ideas. Learning was organic, natural, and illuminating—precisely what learning should be.
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The study trip to Armenia was one of the most unique and excellent educational experiences I have had the pleasure to participate in. Susanna Nazarova custom-designed the curriculum around the interests and language levels of the people in our group, making it an ideal program for the six participants. The curriculum centered around the study of Armenian history and culture, with daily visits to local museums and historic monuments as sites of experiential learning. In addition to traversing much of Yerevan on foot, we visited the 4th-century monastery Geghard, the natural wonders of Garni, and the Museum of the Armenia Genocide.
The academic program was superb, with texts by and about Sergei Paradjanov, Egishe Charents, Ovanes Tumanian, Narine Abgarian, and Vadgres Petrosian. Nazarova is one of the top instructors of Russian as a second language working today, and she is an outstanding teacher. I cannot recommend this program highly enough, and I look forward to participating in a future trip!
