In this presentation, Dr. Benjamin Rifkin, (Fairleigh Dickinson University) will argue for the importance and value of teaching language and literature through compassion.
In this presentation, Benjamin Rifkin, Professor of Russian and Provost at Fairleigh Dickinson University (NJ, USA and Vancouver, BC), will argue for the importance and value of teaching language and literature through compassion. He will provide a brief description of the theoretical framework he and his coauthor, Manuela Wagner, Professor of German at the University of Connecticut, used to analyze interviews with approximately 40 world language educators who teach a broad range of languages at every level from pre-school through graduate school, paying special attention to the definitions of compassion (especially Strauss et al.) and significant learning (Fink) in the context of challenges to the value of higher education (Kamisar), in general, and the humanities in particular (Detweiler). He will then describe the commonalities of the diverse activities conducted by the interviewees and their impact on learners. Lastly, he will share, in detail, a couple of activities from the Russian language and literature curricula that can be adapted for use in any world language or literature classroom.
This event is co-sponsored by French, Hispanic and Italian Studies as part of their Teaching and Learning Seminar series.
About the Speaker
Benjamin Rifkin
Benjamin Rifkin earned his bachelor’s and first master’s degrees in Russian & East European Studies at Yale University and his second master’s and his doctoral degree in Slavic languages and literature at the University of Michigan. He began his faculty career at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he earned tenure and promotion to the rank of professor while directing the Russian-language program. He has since held leadership positions at the Middlebury College School of Russian, Temple University, The College of New Jersey, and currently – Fairleigh Dickinson University, where he is professor of humanities (Russian) and university provost.
Rifkin is the author or coauthor of several Russian-language textbooks, including Panorama (at the intermediate level) and Advanced Russian through History (about to be published in its second edition), as well as dozens or articles (in Foreign Language Annals, Language Learning, Modern Language Journal, Russian Language Journal, and the Slavic and East European Journal) as well as book chapters in scholarly volumes.
He has held leadership positions in the boards of the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages (AATSEEL), the American Council of Teachers of Russian (ACTR), the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), the National Federation of Modern Language Teacher Associations (NFMLTA), and the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (NECTFL), and has won awards for teaching (the University of Wisconsin-Madison), service (AATSEEL, ACTFL, ACTR and the Islamic Center of Long Island’s Interfaith Institute), and scholarship (AATSEEL) as well as an honorary doctorate from Middlebury College.
