Educating Gen Z: Russian Language and Culture Instruction in 2020

A 2018 Chronicle of Higher Education special report on educating the new generation of students revealed several striking features of Gen Z’s expectations and preferences as students. This webinar will examine the profile of the Gen Z learner (born 1996-2015) against the backdrop of the proficiency-oriented classroom and suggest ways that instructors at the secondary and post-secondary level can make their programs more relevant, attractive, and meaningful to our newest cohorts of learners. Based on the findings of the Chronicle report, the webinar will also discuss the place of international education and study abroad programs in the next decade of the 2020s. 

About the presenter:

Thomas Jesús Garza is Distinguished Teaching Associate Professor in the Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies and Director of the Texas Language Center at the University of Texas at Austin. He is also currently the president of the American Council of Teachers of Russian (ACTR). He teaches courses on the Russian language, language pedagogy, and contemporary Russian culture. He has received numerous prizes for undergraduate and graduate teaching. He has published numerous language textbooks, book chapters and articles on Russian language and culture, and online resources on language and culture. His current research is on reverse design and intensive language instruction, and on comparative portraits of machismo in contemporary Russian and Latino popular cultures.