The process began 5 years ago and required extensive research and patience as demographics were compared to what other schools were using as curriculum. The school’s provider of text books stated there were no schools in Central Florida requesting material for Russian classes-Lake Howell was the first.

Today the class is comprised of less than 20 students, who’s reason for learning the language varies from curiosity and challenge, to a desire to retain what they may have learned from Russian speaking parents. Learning Russian is more complex than the other languages like Spanish, French or German because it uses a different and bigger alphabet (Cyrillic) with sounds not found in English. However, the students appear to have taken quickly to the task, according to Toomey, “They are already speaking complete sentences, writing and reading in Russian without hesitation”, she said.

As of the 2000 Census, Russian was spoken by 7% of the US population. This made it the second fastest growing language in the US at that time. It will be interesting to see the results from the 2010 census, which will hopefully incline more schools in Central Florida to follow Lake Howell’s lead. The Russian Federation has half the population of the United States (not including the other
Russian speaking countries of the FSU) but with twice the land mass-it’s obvious the future will have opportunity and value for those capable of speaking Russian both in the United States and abroad.

We applaud Lake Howell High School for bringing a long overdue element to our school system and have invited the teacher and students to be  our honored guests at any of our Society events. We also look forward to seeing more classes like this in our area.

***
Please complete the form below if you are an adult interested in learning Russian.  American Experience offers professional tutors, translators and interpreters as well as many foreign related services.

Name

Email

Phone

Morning

Afternoon

Evening

Any Time

Level of Russian You Wish to Learn

Beginner

Intermediate

Advanced

Comments

What to bring: This is a potluck so please bring a side dish large enough to share with others and whatever meat you wish to grill. Please remember to bring charcoal and grill utensils if you plan on making Shashlik.

When: Sunday, April 11, 2010. We will start at noon, and begin heating up the grills when we have enough people ready to use them.

The Society will provide water, soda, cups, plates, napkins and utensils. Alcohol is not permitted (to be seen) in the park so please plan accordingly.

Look for the Russian and American Flags when you enter the park, we usually select a pavilion near the playgrounds.

About Shashlik: Shashlik is a Russian tradition similar to what Americans call shish-ka-bob. Beef, pork, lamb or other types of meet are loaded onto skewers and mixed with spices, vegetables and then cooked over an open flame. The meat is usually marinated for several hours prior to being cooked. Each family has their own unique way of preparing shashlik making it important to explore the creativity of other’s recipes.

Location:
Bill Frederick Park at Turkey Lake
3401 S Hiawassee Rd
Orlando, FL 32819

On behalf of American Experience LLC we wish a Happy Women’s Day to our devoted interpreters, translators, tour guides, drivers and business consultants. We also want to extend greetings to our partners in Moscow, Yekaterinburg,  Kiev, Lioret De Mar, Jerusalem, Toronto, New York, Miami and San Francisco.

The daily podcast will reach into several web based venues including iTunes, Zune, RSS, Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed and the Society’s website.  You can view the daily postings by visiting OrlandoRussians.com.

The project is sponsored by American Experience to build awareness of its’ interpreter and translator services available at the linguistic portal InterpretOrlando.com

***

Founded in 2007, American Experience is an Orlando based travel and language company providing interpreters, translation, tours, IPTV set top boxes and business consulting to clients worldwide.
www.ax07.com

“The 5 year mark is a significant milestone for the Russian community and we wanted to see a lot of activity to commemorate the achievement.” said Jef Gray, director of the Society.

Months leading up to the anniversary were also active with additional service launches including IPTV services for Russian TV channels and complete interpreter and translation services in Orlando. The Society has two twitter accounts, one for events and one for the Russian Word of the Day, plus a website to broadcast activities to it’s 200 family membership.

“It will be interesting to see what lies ahead in future years. We’re definitely growing and discovering more ways to build the Russian community in Orlando.” said Gray.

To become a facebook fan of the Orlando Russian Culture Society,  point your web browser to:
facebook.com/pages/Orlando-Russian-Culture-Society/140689857464

###
American Experience is proud to be the corporate sponsor of the Orlando Russian Culture Society. We congratualte the membership for their energy and success in building the Russian Community in Orlando.

The Society will provide Plates, Cups, Utensils, Ice, Soda and Charcoal for the grills. The event is open to members and guests who have an interest in learning more about the Society. The party begins at 11:00am and will continue until 4:30pm on Sunday, September 27, 2009.

For more details and RSVP opportunity please visit the Society’s website:
www.orlandorussians.com/5-year-anniversary-picnic-in-the-park/

***About the Orlando Russian Culture Society***

Started in 2004, The Orlando Russian Culture Society is a group of Russian and English speakers who meet monthly at events throughout the Central Florida area.  The focus of all events is to make friends, socialize and speak in Russian. Members are not required to know the Russian language and can speak in English as much as they like. There are several conversations going at any one time making the events pleasant and interesting for all.

The Society’s corporate sponsor and owner is American Experience LLC, an Orlando based company specializing in foreign language and travel related services. Featured products include tours, excursions, interpreters, document translation, Foriegn IPTV services and self help visa kits.

Jef took the advice of a friend and joined meetup.com, a website for groups who have meetings and events. There he found listings for several languages including Russian but only a few people had joined the mailing list.  “Back then the meetup software scheduled events and locations automatically, so I went to the first meeting and realized why the group was small—no one showed up!” said Gray. “When I asked to change the location of the next meeting, Meetup.com suggested I become the organizer for the group. I accepted and have been directing the group ever since.”

One month later, in September 2004 the next meeting was scheduled for a more enjoyable location–the Cheesecake Factory at Millennia Mall in Orlando, 7 people attended. Each meeting afterward attracted more members and interests. Some were native Russian speakers; others had adopted a Russian child or were marrying a woman from a former Soviet Union country.

The idea of meeting Russian speakers quickly grew and established a Russian Speaking Community in Central Florida with hundreds of families in its membership. The intrigue continued with the addition of OrlandoRussians.com, the Society’s official website. The site averages 100 views per day with over half the visits coming from other countries.

Search results show that foreign visitors are planning upcoming trips to Orlando or simply exploring the Russian speaking community in Central Florida.

“To those unfamiliar with Orlando there is a perception that the Russian community is a place where Russian people live, work and shop–similar to Brighton Beach in New York. But the reality is we’re a community that meets in various locations with members who live throughout Central Florida.” Said Gray.

The meetings are upbeat and extremely social in nature, each month the location and venue is different than the last. Guests are greeted as they arrive and given a name tag to help others learn their name. Occupations of the members include professionals, artists, authors, retirees and students making it easy to find something in common within minutes of arriving.

New Years Eve is the biggest celebration of the year and carries many traditions similar to how American’s celebrate Christmas. Other monthly venues include bowling parties, ice skating, restaurant dinners, museum exhibits and picnics at local parks. “Our most requested and popular event is when we have a “Shashlik” (Russian for Shish-ka-bob) in the park. Everyone brings food for a potluck style picnic and we all share the grill which gets loaded from edge to edge with kabobs!” said Gray.

Members are not required to speak Russian and some of the American members state they are still learning the language. During the meetings there are several conversations going at once, some in Russian and some in English. The most impressive is the children who can talk to their parents in Russian then turn around and speak fluently in English to others. Natalya Illarionova, the Society’s official interpreter explained, “This is one of the benefits many parents seek in trying to keep their home language alive for their children. Obviously if the children hear  Russian in a group setting they are more likely to apply and understand it.” Illarionova is also co-owner of the Society’s corporate sponsor, American Experience.

For information on meetings and membership, visit www.OrlandoRussians.com

For Comments or Questions please contact American Experience using the form below:

Details can be found at the Orlando Russian website.

A brief summary follows:

From the moment you arrive, the talking is non stop!  You might also find someone from the same town as you. RSVP’s are very helpful with our reservation requirements but last minute arrivals are also welcome.

The cost of the event is $10 per bowler which covers the cost of shoe rental and two games. If you do arrive late, we will have to wait until the next set to fit you in to the game, so please keep this in mind.

Boardwalk Bowl
10749 E Colonial Drive | Orlando, FL 32817

407-384-0003

TO RSVP please visit our scheduling portal here

Interested in joining the Russian Culture Society?

Signing up is easy and membership is optional for the first 30 days. You will receive notices of all upcoming events, see who is attending and also view previous events and photos. Visit our listing on meetup.com for more information.