This webinar touches upon the methodology and pedagogical strategies ofCommunity-Engaged Learning (CEL), a powerful approach in moving L2 and Heritage speakers from performance to proficiency-based learning while fostering civic engagement. The presentation brings together two models of CEL implemented as the entire course “Russian in Boston” and through Project-Based Learning on the topic of “War in Ukraine.”  Presenters address all 5Cs of theWorld-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages, discuss the collaborative work done between faculty, students, and community, outline the language and culture learning objectives, as well as a range of strategies through which CEL can occur. Presenters also explore CEL opportunities for student engagement and address the challenges and benefits of CEL in various learning environments from high school to post-secondary with language proficiency ranging from novice to advanced.

 Dr Svitlana Malykhina is Lecturer in Russian and Coordinator   of Russian Language program at the World Languages and   Literatures at Boston University. Her research and teaching   areas include Russian and Ukrainian languages, cross-cultural   communication, media discourse analysis, and heritage   languages. Selected publications: Renaissance of Classical Allusions in Contemporary Russian Media (2014); Skaz: Masters ofRussian  Storytelling. The dual-language anthology (2015); Change and Continuity in the Urban Semiosphere of Post-Soviet Kharkiv (2020). 

 Elizabeth Lee Roby is an Upper School Russian Teacher and   Language Department Chair at Friends School of Baltimore. She   designs and implements the curriculum and co-curricular   programming for all levels of Russian, grades 9-12. She is the   author of “Designing and Integrating a Community-BasedLearning Dimension into a Traditional Proficiency-Based High School Curriculum” (2019).