Golosa: A Basic Course in Russian

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Speakeasy
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Golosa: A Basic Course in Russian

Postby Speakeasy » Thu Jan 11, 2018 4:43 am

Introduction
I recently came across an offer on eBay for a used set of "Golosa: A Basic Course in Russian" materials at an attractive price and, wishing to learn a little more about the series before plunking down my virtual cash, read through a large number Customer Reviews on Amazon and, ultimately, decided to let this opportunity slide.

Golosa: A Basic Course in Russian
Golosa, A Basic Course in Russian by authors Richard Robin, Karen Evans-Romaine, and Galina Shatalina, published by Prentice Hall / Pearson Education, is a series of textbooks, workbooks, supplements, audio recordings, and online activities for the teaching of Russian in a classroom setting up to the A2 level. First published in 1993, and now in its 5th edition, the series has been widely adopted by American colleges and universities.

Academic Endorsements
The publisher reports the following editorial reviews:

Benjamin Rifkin, Temple University
I would like to single out for attention the sequencing of the presentation of verbs of motion, which is particularly successful in comparison with that in other textbooks. What distinguishes Golosa's presentation of the verbs of motion is the principle of presenting on the basis of actual usage, rather than linguistic convention that would give equal weight to every form. I think the explanations are excellent ... The vocabulary selection in each chapter is excellent. The authors have done a great job selecting a first vocabulary in Russian for beginning students and the Scope and Sequence proposes to eliminate words that have faded from use (e.g., who refers to a black & white or color television anymore?) and introduce words that have become important (including references to SMS and cell technology). What swayed me definitively to the adoption of Golosa for our program was the vast amount of listening comprehension that comes with the book and the improved (and expanded) reading comprehension texts and tasks. The increased number of reading comprehension texts and tasks, especially the genre of the extended e-mail exchange, is an important advantage of the fourth edition over previous editions of Golosa. The texts in the textbook are typical of those that our students will need to and want to read and write.

Mary Helen Kashuba, Chestnut Hill College
Golosa covers all the topics necessary for understanding basic Russian, and gives more than ample practice. I like the readings and authentic texts you have chosen. The dialogues, which you have used in all the editions of your text, are very fine ways of showing the vocabulary in context, and leading to the grammar presentations. I have always enjoyed working with them...

Charles L. Byrd, University of Georgia
I like the balanced attention to the development of all four major language skills. The attention to comprehension of authentic Russian handwriting and e-mail communications is especially beneficial. With its inclusion of a sustained, compelling e-mail correspondence and sophisticated accompanying website, this is the textbook series for English-speakers which best combines the electronic, cyberspace norms of Russian usage with traditional pedagogical emphases on the four basic language skills. The regular inclusion of a variety of authentic handwritten texts for students to read and discuss is extremely valuable and unique.


Amazon Customer Reviews
There are numerous reviews on Amazon by students who have used these materials during their college/university Russian courses. The ratings range from 1-star through 5-stars, with the average of 3-stars. The 5-star reviews are full of praises for the materials and seem convincing. And then, there are these (there are others):

1-star: Amateurish, careless, European-type teaching – Peter Oliphant, October 2017
I am now in my 5th week of a college course that uses this typical terrible European approach to language "teaching," where academic prejudices interfere with any learning. I am an adult student, who has taught English in Central Europe (among other languages elsewhere). My private students got reasonably communicative in 3 months, because I used English-only materials with them. But students in the government language school where I taught had great difficulty with the text books with "Oxford" and "Cambridge" in the titles, which are books like this Голоса monstrosity. (1) Such books impose long lists of obscure vocabulary, the words in which they introduced once and rarely use again or they repeat the exceptions to spelling PATTERNS that they never teach. So, (for instance) prepositions come willy-nilly; personal and interrogative pronouns and adjectives are confused, and topics are introduced in "conversations" one before the other with no rhyme or reason. (2) Poor books like Голоса insist on translation into English, so the student never learns to think in the new language but simply practices his own language. (3) The accompanying Student Activities Manual provides "exercises" that are not systematic reinforcement of patterns, but tests in random lists. (4) Carelessly designed but plenty colorful tables provide incomplete information. (5) Text decorations, cartoons, and occasional photographs occupy the space that should be for SYSTEMATIC practice of declension and conjugation. (5) The CD's ramble likewise, and leave little silence for imitative practice.

1-star: Harmful for students, torture for teachers – zu zu, November 2011
Stay away from this book. Ask any Russian language teacher and they will tell you the same. (1) The textbook is full of mistakes of all kinds - even on the fly-leaf map they managed to make three mistakes (and they keep repeating them in one edition after another!). (2) Bad and sometimes simply erroneous grammar explanations. (3) The order in which the grammar topics are presented is arbitrary. It is obvious that the authors never took the trouble to think it out clearly - they were preoccupied with wrongly understood communicative approach. However, they did fail in this area too. Because (4) their textbook is just plain boring! I could go into details but do not want to waste my time on this... thing. Just stay away.

1-star: a terrible textbook – billybillyjim, October 2013
I got this book for a russian class that I'm taking at my college. It's incredibly expensive for being so pathetic. The author touts some sort of "better" learning method that I've never seen in any of the other language classes I've taken. (This is my 5th language class with my 11th teacher.) Since my teacher is a lazy bum I have to most of the learning on my own, which is incredibly difficult thanks to this book. It describes many things using terms it explains once, so if you forget the meaning you have to find it again. It teaches parts of grammar in chunks. Want to learn the prepositional case? We'll cover some of it now and the rest of it in three weeks. The art looks like the author drew it to save money. Did he use paint? There is a large discrepancy between the vocab at the end of each chapter (which we are tested on) and what the book actually teaches us. It took ages for the book to actually get to useful grammar, such as verb conjugation, and when it did, it BLASTED present and past tense at the same time, while teaching the prepositional case for all three genders for adjectives and verbs. It feels like a rollercoaster as the first two chapters were husks with almost no difficult to learn grammar. This is clearly a book written by a professor at Berkeley who wasn't satisfied with his incredibly high salary but also did not want to actually put any effort into making a good text book. If you are a teacher looking for a new text book please avoid this one for your student's sakes.


They’re not Getting my Money!
Over the past decade, I have developed a strong aversion to language textbooks published since the mid-1980’s for the use in colleges and universities. Despite the academic endorsements and the glowing reviews of Golosa by a significant number of students who took the time to post their comments on Amazon, I have decided to give credence to those who counselled extreme caution.

Your Comments?
Have you used Golosa and, if so, what are your views on the matter?

IMAGE:
Golosa Book 1
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Arnaud
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Re: Golosa: A Basic Course in Russian

Postby Arnaud » Thu Jan 11, 2018 6:40 am

There is a webpage where you can access the audio and the video accompanying the book.
I didn't use it...so no view on it.
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