Struggle goes on to bring a Russian revolution to Scots classrooms

Published on Tuesday 9 February 2010 19:05

JENNY Carr knows the value of a taster class. One she attended at the tender age of 18 has shaped her life.

Indeed it has brought her to the role she holds now as chairwoman of the Scotland-Russia Institute. And it has imbued in her a love which has endured through to today - a passion for a country and a language often mysterious, sometimes feared and regularly misunderstood.

Russia is a nation too often perceived as distant and alien. Its language uses an unfamiliar Cyrillic alphabet and its people have, in the past, been our enemy as much as our ally. Tensions indeed often still ride high between this sprawling and powerful nation which spans eleven time zones, and ours.

It is a perception, Mrs Carr is keen to dispel. Sitting in what acts as both classroom and meeting room in the Scotland-Russia Institute in the heart of Edinburgh's university district she explains: "People have got to realise that Russian is interesting and important, that Russia is a very influential part of the world and we need to understand it."

She believes it is the equivalent of German in terms of difficulty and is more easy to learn than many assume. The Institute evolved in 2003 from a previous organisation which had emerged in the 1960s called the GB-USSR Association. After the collapse of communism and the Soviet Socialist Republic that was phased out. But now the independent Scotland-Russia Institute has 300 full paid-up members, thousands more on its database and is of similar size to its London counterpart - an impressive feat given the population of London.

Mrs Carr and her colleagues at the Institute originally operated from home, sending out email bulletins, newsletters and organising talks around once a month.

Now the Institute has its own premises on South College Street although that is soon to run out and Mrs Carr hopes a new funding source can be found to maintain the centre. It has a classroom for its recently started language classes, offers regular talks and exhibitions and has a nascent library

"It is hard to find books," she admits. Publishers want to supply books on a bulk sale or return basis within a certain timescale.

"That's the problem for us - we cannot afford to hold books and keep sending them back so we are not selling as many books as we like."

You might expect Dostoevsky, and Pushkin who indeed line these small walls, but Walter Scott, Robert Burns and Robert Louis Stevenson, translated into Russian, are also here alongside popular paperbacks by both English writers in translation and Russian writers.

Opened formally in September 2008 the Institute began adult evening classes for beginners up to advanced last autumn. And is in the process of completing the paperwork for a 17,500 grant from a Russian foundation dedicated to promoting the language. It is hoped the funding from Russkiy Mir will help expand teaching of the language in Scotland.

Currently, almost no school in the country has the language on the curriculum, although some do have lunchtime or after-school classes. The grant may be used to create new teaching materials, perhaps even with a view to setting up resource centres similar to the Chinese "Confucius classrooms" created across Scotland.

Already the Institute is helping Scottish youngsters discover a love for the language through their own taster sessions. In May a Russian teacher will visit six West Lothian primary schools offering children from P2 up a taste of Russian.

A West Lothian Council spokeswoman said: "Research shows that knowledge of different languages makes a significant contribution to the development of literacy across the curriculum. In line with Curriculum for Excellence, the teachers hope to engage the pupils by using music, technology, Russian dolls, role play and active learning. As well as spoken Russian, the children will see how Russian is written and learn to spell their own names using the Cyrillic alphabet."

The problem is that there may be little opportunity for those youngsters to build on any enthusiasm engendered. There are few qualified teachers of Russian in Scotland. However, one school which is lucky enough to have such a rarity is Fortrose Academy on the Moray Firth.

French teacher Anne Boyer, is also a Russian speaker, and offers classes in the language where she can drum up enough interest.

This year seven pupils from the schools' sixth year are taking the Intermediate 1 course and in previous years she has run exchange trips with Russian children in the city of Perm.

She said: "The problem is getting enough kids to see the value in Russian. Yet we have two former pupils of the language who have gone on to work for the UN.

"It is a crying shame so few pupils learn Russian - there are so many options to use it. It is a very misunderstood language - you ask kids what their impressions of Russia is and it is all bad - we would like to change that."

The Scottish Qualifications Authority does have a Standard grade, Intermediates and a Higher in Russian although the Advanced Higher was scrapped last year because barely a handful took it each year. Uptake of the remaining qualifications is tiny. Last year only 22 were taken: 13 Highers, seven Intermediates and just two Standard grades. And many were taken at independent centres such as the Russian Edinburgh School. Although independent, it holds Saturday lessons at the council's Drummond High to teach around 100 children aged 2- 16 Russian language, history and literature. However, almost all are the children of native Russians or have close family links with the country.

Ilia Kuznetsov of the school has a four-year-old daughter he wants to ensure speaks Russian. He explains parents are often university staff or professionals in Scotland for work, sometimes in banking or technical industries and are keen to maintain a link with their culture and language.

He said: "Parents found they had a problem with their children learning Russian and there is not a lot available in Scotland. Every year we get more and more children - there used to be very few Russian people in Scotland but now there are quite a lot."

The Russians are coming and it might be time for us to try to speak their language.