Teaching Russian in Nicaragua:

Teaching and learning experiences of students and teachers at the Russkiy Mir Center

Abstract

The text compiles various perceptions of students and teachers at the Russkiy Mir Center at UNAN-Managua regarding the teaching and learning of the Russian language. The objective was to share the experiences and strategies of the participants in order to identify the weaknesses and strengths of students at levels A1, A2, B1, and B2. This is a qualitative study, and in-depth interviews were conducted with twelve students and three teachers. The results corroborate the need to make use of new technologies to update teaching materials, incorporate educational applications to promote metacognition, and implement direct, audiolingual, audiovisual, silent, and communicative methods to enhance Russian language learning. It also suggests improving the Center's infrastructure in order to optimize the learning environment for students. The relevance of the study lies in having systematized, for the first time, the teaching and learning experiences related to Russian language instruction in Nicaragua, as well as the future prospects for the quality of language education at the university.