Thomas Garza

Interests

Russian language teaching methodology/Applied linguistics/Contemporary Russian culture/The Chechen wars and the media/Post-Soviet youth culture/Language teaching pedagogy/Russian popular culture/Modern Russian language/Contemporary Russian media

Biography

Courses taught:

Russian Language: All Levels

The Vampire in Slavic Cultures

The Russian Fairy Tale

Russian Youth Culture

Chechnya 360º: People, Power, Politics

Vysotsky: Life and Work

Russian Sci-Fi in Literature and Film

Russia at the Movies

Bulgako's "The Master and Margarita"

 

Awards/Honors

"Regents' Outstanding Teaching Award" (2009)

'' Elected to the Academy of Distinguished Teachers, University of Texas" (2003)

'' Silver Spurs Centennial Teaching Award, University of Texas" (2003)

'' National Award for Post Secondary Teaching, American Association of Teachers of  Slavic and East European Languages" (2001)

'' Harry Ransom Teaching Excellence Award, Liberal Arts, University of Texas" (1999)

'' President's Associates Teaching Excellence Award, University of Texas" (1995)

Publication

Books:

 “Breakthrough! American English for Speakers of Russian, Level 1, with  Lapidus, Barchenkov, and Tolkacheva, Russian-American Collaborative Project on  the English Language, D.E. Davidson and I.I. Khaleeva, series eds.,  Vysshaja shkola,  Moscow, 1995, 350 pp.  

“Fundamentals of Russian Verbal Conjugation for Students and Teachers: A  Dictionary/Handbook of the One-Stem System with Commentaries”, Kendall/Hunt  Publishers, Inc. and ACTR Publications, 1994, 235 pp.

Articles: 

''€Privilege, or Noblesse Oblige of the Nonnative Speaker of Russian? A Response to Kramsch's 'The Privilege of the Nonnative Speaker,’”€ in The  Sociolinguistics of Foreign-Language Classrooms, C. Blyth, ed. Boston: Heinle and  Heinle, 2003 pp. 273-276.   

''€Russian Music and Dance,''€ [invited book chapter] in Russian Common Knowledge,  Genevra Gerhart and Eloise Boyle, eds., Bloomington: Slavica Publishers,  2001. 62  pp. 

''€Getting from Gorbachev to Grunge: Constructing Ethnographic Portraits to  Introduce Contemporary Russian Culture,''€ The Learning and Teaching of Slavic  Languages and Cultures: Toward the 21st Century, Olga Kagan and Benjamin Rifkin,  eds.  Bloomington:  Slavica Publishers, 2000. pp. 61 - 80.  

''€Articulation, Assessment and Accountability,''€ ACTR Letter, vol. 26, no. 4, Fall 2000,  pp. 1-3.  

“Ne trosh’ molodez!”: Youthspeak and the Russian language in the 21st century,” Russian Language Journal, vol. 58, 2008 pp. 11-29. 

“From Aga Khan to dim sum: New Russia’s Asian appetite,” Ulbandus: The Slavic Review of Columbia University, vol. 11, 2008 pp. 1-22. 

“Conservative vanguard? The politics of New Russia’s youth,” Current History, vol. 105, no. 693, October 2006 pp. 327-333.