Introduction

1. According to Swiss national statistical data, about 30,000 Russian-speaking people lived in the country in 2010. This is only equal to about 2% of all the foreigners currently living in Switzerland, but considering that many foreigners come from the neighborhood – Italy, Germany, France, Portugal, Spain and the former Yugoslavia – this number might be considered impressive. Moreover, Russian was the tenth most commonly spoken native language in the country: German French Italian Serbo-Croatian Albanian Spanish Portuguese English Turkish Russian Howevertheexactdatamightbe different: Manyofthosepeoplemighthavemorethanonenationality, whichis not reflected in thestatistics. Nevertheless, Russianmigrantsplay an importantrole in Swiss society: asbusinesspeople, creativepeopleandscientists. TherearemanyhighlyqualifiedRussiansemployedasengineers, including, forexample, manyoftheteammembersworking on the Large HadronColliderat CERN. Therefore, in almosteverycanton, therearemanyday-carecenters, kindergartensandelementaryschoolsofferingRussianas a heritagelanguageforchildrenandyouths. Only a feweducationalinstitutionshavetherighttoprovideRussianasHSK (Unterricht in heimatlicherSprache und Kultur, Engl.: Teaching heritagelanguageandculture) lessons, however. Oneofthereasonsforthisisthefactthatmanyteachersare not qualifiedfor such settings. WithRussianasHSKlessons, professional institutions not onlyhaveaccesstocantonalresources such astheuseofschoolrooms, but are also abletoteach a languagethatcanbeincluded in theschoolcertificateofstudentswithRussianbackgroundsandacknowledgedby all Swiss and international educationalinstitutions. Russian language instruction is offered in many schools throughout Switzerland. The subject was designed initially as a foreign language, but has come to encompass new dimensions in recent years: Swiss students learn Russian together with ‘native speakers’ – children and youth with Russian migrant backgrounds. This is an obstacle for all participants: for teachers, who are not educated for such settings; for domestic Swiss students, who do not feel comfortable in such classes; and especially for heritage Russian students, who are often under challenged and do not have a real opportunity to retain and improve their native language. The maintenance of heritage languages supports the learning of the state languages and thus furthers quick integration into Swiss society; moreover, this advances the study of other foreign languages and increases employability. There are many studies covering Russian as a heritage language (s. references), but there is a gap when it comes to describing and analyzing the teaching materials for this target group. The paper will try to fill this shortage. In my current research I concentrate on the demand for appropriate teaching materials covering both groups: 1) heritage learners studying Russian as a Foreign Language and 2) heritage learners studying Russian as a Heritage Language. My presentation shows some didactical concepts: Introduction Konechno!: Designed for Russian as a Foreign Language, but includes exercises for heritage learners: Elena Denisova-Schmidt (co-author) Konetschno!, Russisch als 2. Fremdsprache. Stuttgart, Leipzig: Ernst Klett Verlag, 2008. Storyline The book’s storyline includes a protagonist – Viktor Nauman – who lives in Russia, but has family in Germany. Viktor represents the Volga Germans, the German-speaking minority in Russia. Some Volga Germans moved back to Germany after collapse of the Soviet Union; some still remain in Russia. Alexander Nauman, now living in Berlin, visits his half-brother Viktor in Moscow. Both boys explore the city: Алекс, сводный брат Вити, живёт в Берлине. Алекс не часто летает на самолёте, но летать ему нравится. В Москву он летит в первый раз. Витя с бабушкой и дедушкой едут в аэропорт Домодедово. Дедушка Вити обычно не ездит на машине в час пик, поэтому они едут на метро. Алекс уже ждёт в аэропорту и ходит по залу. Наконец идут Витя с бабушкой и дедушкой. Витя: Эй, соня, уже 10 часов, пора вставать! Алекс: Что? Уже? Витя: Мы едем в центр. Алекс: В центр города? Неплохо. Кремль, Мавзолей Ленина ... Витя: Мавзолей? Кому это интересно? Алекс: Мне, и даже очень. У нас мавзолея нет. А на чём мы едем? Витя: На метро, конечно. Москвичи обычно ездят в центр города на метро. Алекс: На метро, здорово! Витя: Тогда вперёд, ребята нас уже ждут. This context makes students more sensitive to the history of the Volga Germans; they represent the majority of Russian-speaking immigrants in German-speaking Europe. Additional exercises Every unit contains a Reading page with more challenging exercises, which are developed for heritage students, but could be also used with high-performance students: Russian as a Foreign Language SkazochnaiaAzbuka: DesignedforRussianas a Heritage Language. Elena Denisova-Schmidt (co-editor) SkazochnaiaAzbuka2012 SkazochnaiaAzbukacontains Posterswith Russian letters showing characters from Russian fairy tales (might be used in classrooms and at home). A book for writing and reading exercises for kids (4-8 years) Как ты думаешь, какой звук произносят все эти люди? Если ты познакомился с новым человеком, то ты должен узнать его в любой одежде, в шапке и без, в пальто и в рубашке. Также и с буквой А – тебе важно научиться ее узнавать! Найди и обведи в кружочки все буквы А на рисунке! А Д Д а я М а а Д Д А М А Д М В Я А Д Я м л А Я В а Л Д А А Л Д А Л а Л А а Д в Я Л л Срисуй сюда ту букву А, которая тебе понравилась больше всех: ….. A book for reading exercises and games for kids and youths (5-12 years), presenting many fairy tales for each Russian letter 1. Приглашение в сказку 2. По дорожкам сказки 3. Работа над лексикой 4. Подвижные развивающие игры («Физкультминутка») 5. Мастерская 6. Я рисую 7. «Окружающий мир» Russian as a Heritage Language Conclusions Heritage learners are not homogeneous; this should be considered. It is a challenge to produce a textbook for Russians leaving abroad that adheres to the peculiarities of every country. Nevertheless, appropriate teaching materials designed for heritage learners studying Russian as a Foreign Language and heritage learners studying Russian as a Heritage Language are still in demand and need to be developed. References Bar-Shalom, E. and E. Zaretsky. 2008. Selective attrition in Russian-English bilingual children: Preservation of grammatical aspect. International Journal of Bilingualism 12, 281-302. Benmamoun E., Montrul S., and Polinsky M. 2010. White Paper: Prolegomena to Heritage Linguistics http://nhlrc.ucla.edu/events/institute/2012/ Comrie, B., G. Stone, and M. Polinsky. 1996. The Russian language in the twentieth century. Oxford: Blackwell. Denisova-Schmidt, E. 2009. Russkiiiazyk v Germanii. Russkiiiazykzarubezhom, 6, 61-62. Gupol, O. 2009. The acquisition of Russian verbal morphosyntax in Russian-Hebrew bilingual children. Ph.D. dissertation, Bar-Ilan University. Laleko, O. 2010. The syntax-pragmatics interface in language loss: Covert restructuring of aspect in Heritage Russian. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Minnesota. Montrul, S. 2012: Is the Heritage Language like a Second Language? EuroslaYearbook http://nhlrc.ucla.edu/events/institute/2012/readings.asp Polinsky, M. 1997. American Russian: Language loss meets language acquisition. In W. Browne et al. (eds.). Formal Approaches to Slavic Linguistics, 370-407. Ann Arbor, MI: Michigan Slavic Publications. Polinsky, M. 2006. Incomplete acquisition: American Russian. Journal of Slavic Linguistics 14, 191-262. Polinsky, M. and O. Kagan. 2007. Heritage languages: In the ‘wild’ and in the classroom. Language and Linguistics Compass 1/5, 368-95. Protassova, E. 2008: Teaching Russian as a Heritage Language in Finland. Heritage Language Journal, 6 (1), 127-152. Contact Dr. Elena Denisova-Schmidt The Department of Russian Culture and Society School of Humanities and Social Sciences University of St. Gallen (HSG) Gatterstrasse 3, 9010 St. Gallen, Switzerland elena.denisova-schmidt@unisg.ch University of St. Gallen (Switzerland) Elena Denisova-Schmidt Russian Heritage Leaners in Switzerland: Challenges and Opportunities