The RAILS: Russian Advanced Interactive Listening Series Project, funded by a generous grant from the U.S. Department of Education, has developed a series of 30 online, interactive video-based listening comprehension lessons for intermediate-advanced level students of Russian.

The RAILS lessons are based on excerpts from the films Solovky Power and Children of Ivan Kuzmich by Marina Goldovskaya, and on original, video-taped interviews with prominent Russians such as Irina Khakamada, Sergei Khrushchev, and Veniamin Smekhov. Click on the links above and to the left to learn more about the RAILS project and the lessons, and to download the lessons to use in your intermediate-advanced Russian language courses.

Check out our online demo for a quick overview of how the RAILS lessons are organized.

The RAILS project was a collaborative effort of faculty, staff and students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Slavic Languages and Literature, the Language Institute, Letters and Science Learning Support Services, and the Division of Information Technology, under the directorship of Professor Benjamin Rifkin at Temple University.

RAILS lessons are available through the University of Wisconsin-Madison for educational use at institutions across the United States.