Bishkek: Russian as a Second Language

Class size is very small in this program. During the semester, you may be studying primarily one-on-one, perhaps in groups of two or three in some electives. Peer tutoring and other activities are an integrated part of your curriculum and intended to introduce you to the culture and community in Bishkek.

RUSS 193/293/393/403 Russian Language Study
Small, intensive classes focus on reading, writing, grammar, speaking, comprehension, and phonetics for 20 hours per week.
Fall/Spring: 18 credits; Summer I (10 weeks): 16 credits; Summer I (8 weeks): 12 credits; Summer II (6 weeks): 9 credits.

Elective Language Options
If you are at an intermediate language level (at least 300 level, meaning you've taken 4 semesters of Russian) or higher you can replace some of the above credits with any of the following Russian language electives:

• Political and Economic Language (3 credits)
• Literature and Film (3 credits)
• Russian in the Media (3 credits)
• Regional History (3 credits)

It is also possible to replace some Russian language credits with the following Central Asian Language electives, available at all levels:

• Kyrgyz (3 credits)
• Tajik (3 credits)
• Uzbek (3 credits)
• Turkmen (3 credits)
• Kazakh (3 credits)

The cultural program in Bishkek is designed to augment your language and cultural education. You will be given extensive background information on each event, encouraged to make notes or recordings, and will discuss the excursions afterwards in class and with your peer tutors. These fully integrated excursions will give you more real-world experiences from which to hear and absorb vocabulary, grammatical structures, and cultural information. Excursions have included:

1. Weekend trip to a Kyrgyz village for a yurt building ceremony
2. Walking tour of the city
3. Ata – Beiit Memorial to the Stalinist purges
4. Burana Tower (ruins of the medieval Karakhanid city of Balasagun)
5. Manas Ordo (memorial park to Manas, a Kyrgyz national hero)
6. Master classes (traditional crafts and/or cooking)
7. Seminars in Understanding Central Asia (various locations and topics)
8. Ala-Archa National Park
9. Museum of Fine Arts
10. Frunze Museum (Bolshevik military leader)
11. Historical Museum (ancient to modern local history)
12. Barskoon Waterfall

Optional travel opportunities are available for additional cost. Students may need to either rearrange or drop language hours. Inquire with your SRAS representative if you are interested.

Horse Trek. Students participating in Summer I (8 or 10 week session) may join an optional one-week horse trek into the mountains of Kyrgyzstan to directly introduce students to modern nomads and their way of life. The trek package includes a short introduction to Kyrgyz.

Central Asia. RSL students may join trips offered as part of our Central Asian Studies program to countries such as Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

--Housing

Dormitories: LSLC has two dormitories. One is attached to the classroom building. The other is a 15-20 minute walk or short bus ride from class.

Home stays are anywhere from 15-50 minutes commute from class, but this commute itself can provide an opportunity for learning. More than in other SRAS locations, host families in Bishkek are larger, with more children and, at times, extended family living under one roof, meaning you have more extensive opportunities for language practice and cultural interaction.

Home stay supplemental costs in Bishkek: $12 per day, inclusive of breakfast and supper.

• Fall Semester: $1,270
• Spring semester: $1,355
• Summer I (10 weeks): $850
• Summer I (8 weeks): $685
• Summer II (6 weeks): $515

--Location

Bishkek is a dynamic and constantly evolving city with a rich history dating back to the 6th century. Situated in the Tian Shan Mountains in the heart of Central Asia, Bishkek is perfect for those students seeking outdoor adventure and/or to travel the Central Asian region more extensively while abroad. Bishkek is an excellent example of the lingua franca nature of the Russian language in this region and Bishkek stands out as having adopted the Russian language as a primary language in higher education and business. Bishkek is also a highly affordable location, with students often spending just $30-35 dollars a week in living expenses.

Click here to read a short history of Bishkek up to the present day from GeoHistory.
Click here to read more about what our students do while in Bishkek.

SRAS supports focused research and projects, such as for a capstone project or graduate studies. Support may be in the form of advising sessions, assistance navigating archives or other resources. In many cases this is at no additional cost, but eligibility requires submission of a research or project proposal, and expectations are that output or a modified version/extract of it will be in a form available for publishing in the SRAS Family of Sites. Minimum stay of 8 weeks required.

Informal volunteer opportunities are also possible if you want to be more involved with your local community abroad. We can connect you with opportunities to pursue independently at no cost.

This program is hosted by The London School of Languages and Cultures (LSLC) in Bishkek in cooperation with SRAS. LSLC was founded in 1998 and has a strong, internationally-recognized reputation. The School of Record for this program is University of Montana (Montana, USA).

Credit transfer to your home institution is usually possible. Additionally, a US School of Record means that your program is supported by and documented by an accredited US university. The School of Record will issue an American transcript, making credit transfer relatively routine.

For more on transcripts, credit transfer, and other academic issues, click here.

SRAS Home and Abroad Scholars can recieve up to $10,000 toward fall and spring sessions of this program.

SRAS Challenge Grants are stackable grants that can provide up to $3,500 toward this program.

SRAS Online Courses will earn you SRAS Learning Credits (topics range from language courses, culinary studies, international relations/regional studies, literature, and more!).

Other, non-SRAS funding sources may also be applicable to this program. SRAS provides a wide list of possible outside funding sources.

* Students who study for a full academic year in any location receive a $1000 discount applied to the second semester. For academic year students the cost breakdown for the second semester is $7,520 for education costs; $1,400 for housing (which includes dormitory stay during the interim period between semesters), and $275 for insurance (which also covers the period between semesters). For academic year students, the total program cost for the second semester is $9,195. Other estimated costs typically would be reduced by not including airfare or another visa, and a good estimate is ~$2400.
** Housing costs above are based on dormitories. See the "Housing" section above for the supplemental home stay cost. In that case, you would be provided breakfast and dinner, so your "meals not included" cost would be reduced by 70 percent.
*** Insurance is based on a Saturday departure. If you depart after Saturday, an additional week of insurance will be added.
****Estimate is based on r.t. US East Coast departure.

For more detail on living expenses in Bishkek, click here.

The first step is to complete our application (click the Apply now button to create your SRAS account - you will be able to return to the application later). If you are currently a student you should inquire with your home university about next steps for study abroad. This will help ensure that all goes smoothly with credit transfer and financial aid, plus some universities have deadlines for study abroad that are much earlier than SRAS deadlines. They may also be able to point you to additional funding sources. In short, involve your home university's study abroad office in the process as early as possible!

You will find important information about academics, health and safety, and more on our Getting Started pages.

If you are still unsure this is the right program for you, feel free to schedule an advising session with us to discuss your goals and needs!