On Monday, February 18, we had our first encounter with the classroom from Russia. We met in the global classroom, and I was impressed by the technology and how smoothly everything ran. I could hear all of the students on the screen well, and it seemed that they could hear us all as well. It was very interesting that so many of the students in Russia had such a strong grasp on English. I found this striking because I honestly think it would be very difficult to try and get a class of American students to all learn any new language, and I'm always impressed by students in other countries who have worked hard to learn and master our language. It seemed that many of the students in Russia were just as curious about our culture as we are about theirs. I feel that communicating with these students over the course of the semester will be very enlightening and we will learn a lot from them. I look forward to continuing to interact with the Russian global classroom in the upcoming weeks.
-Carissa Vinovskis