A Russian dilemma

[mothwing]

I have a student I tutor who is difficult, mostly because she is homesick and really demotivated.

Homesick because she's from Siberia and she gets tearful whenever she talks about her home. Last time she was rendered incapable of participating in class for twenty minutes because she saw a map of Europe and the East lying about before class and spent five minutes looking at her former home, then sat there, brooding, sullen. She was so bubbly when she came in, and this is not the first time she said she'd remembered something from home and went quiet.

Demotivated because they're analysing poetry, and she can't be bothered because she doesn't see the point both of poetry, what the particular pieces I bring in are about (they're supposed to work with Romantic poetry, and the Golden Age poets are a good match for obvious reasons), and why analysis is a good idea.

Now I'm thinking about bringing in a few poems in Russian which deal with similar subject matter as the German poems we're doing in class. I'm not sure it's such a good idea because I don't want her to feel bad, obviously. Still, it'd be an excuse to pick a native speaker's brain on Pushkin in the original, and possibly even Achmatova, because she's obsessed with Stalin's Russia, although if anything is likely to depress her, this'd probably be most likely to.

Comments

[daharyn.livejournal.com]

I dunno. I can totally see why you'd go there, intellectually -- it would be useful comparative work -- but one gets over homesickness through distraction, not through reminders. So I guess that I would stick with German poems, but look for funny and bawdy ones -- ones that everyone could get a laugh or two from.

It depends on the age group and class set-up, but I'm willing to bet that bringing in Russian poems would isolate the student/make things worse. You could try picking her brain on Pushkin, et al one-on-one, though. That might be a better way to go through that material.

(Disclaimer: I don't know your instructional situation so please feel free to ignore.)

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

I'm teaching her together with her best friend whom she's very close to. When she's bored/sad/demotivated, she'll rely on her friend to keep up the discussion alone, and I've spent a lot of time trying to get her out of her shell during the past couple of lessons. She gladly joins in if someone mentions something that piques her interests in history, or Russia. She is incredibly interested in these topics and frequently speaks about those in class, even when they're not strictly relevant to the topic at hand - so Russian poetry might cater to her interests in both and combine them with what they're supposed to study.

Distraction is what I've tried to counteract her homesickness, which is why I didn't try to actively incorporate her interests into the discussion before and why I'm still not sure it'd be a good idea.

Basically, I'm not sure what to assign a greater importance here - homesickness-prevention or motivation.

Is that Rachel Maddow in your icon? <3

[daharyn.livejournal.com]

Oh, I see a bit better now. If she does perk up when she talks about home, then yeah, Russian poetry would certainly be a way to use her as the "expert" for the hour and get her to lead the discussion rather than relying on her friend? I mean, I don't think the situation will be worse off for trying. It depends on your teaching style, but you might confer with her briefly before actually springing it on her.

It is indeed Rachel Maddow spreading out papers on the floor of her office. (I snagged it from her show's Flickr stream.) I am madly and quietly in love with her... just like every other queer-identified woman I, um, know. :)

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's possible not to be in love with her, she's just so awesome. ♥

Yep, letting her be the expert for the hour was what I had in mind, and this seemed to be a good way of doing it. Since they arrive together I can't talk about this with her alone, but I thought about offering it to them as one of the things they are supposed to do - I usually let them choose which of the things they're supposed to be doing they want to focus on since they know best what they've already covered in school, so this will be one of those things.

[onthetide.livejournal.com]

It might be a comfort to her, though, to read her native writers. Plus it might get her more interested in poetry!

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

That's what I thought, and also it might be a good and motivating thing to actively incorporate her native language in class, too. it's so rare that that happens in German schools where speaking foreign languages other than languages that are considered hip often gives people a kind of outcast status.