Raven Miller

Raven Miller participated in the 2022 CLS Spark Russian Program, the 2023 CLS Russian Program hosted by the American University of Central Asia in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, and the 2024 CLS Russian Program hosted by Ilia State University in Tbilisi, Georgia. She recently graduated with a BA in linguistics from the University of Tennessee. Raven's professional goal is to teach English abroad in Central Asia.

Why Russian?

I grew up playing the violin and enjoying classical music from Russian composers such as Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, and Shostakovich. Though my knowledge of Russian culture was largely surface level, my interest was piqued when I started reading more about these composers, their lives, and the world they lived in. This interest quickly grew into fascination with Russian culture and the culture of other former Soviet countries, and that interest combined with my love for linguistics led me to begin studying Russian.

A Favorite Idiom

My Russian teacher in Georgia taught our class the idiom "без царя в голове (byez tsarya v galavye)". This idiom literally means "without a ruler in the head", but it's used to describe someone as foolish or reckless in the sense that they lack a wise leader in their mind to guide their thoughts. My classmates and I loved this phrase as a lighthearted gibe, and whenever I forgot a vocabulary word on a test, I often thought to myself that I clearly lacked a ruler in my own head for having not studied harder the night before.

Career Goals

I plan to teach English abroad in Central Asia, using my Russian language skills and my cultural knowledge from my time abroad in Kyrgyzstan to connect with my students. After teaching English for a few years abroad, I hope to continue my education and improve my skills as an educator by pursuing a master's degree in teaching English as a second language. Being able to speak Russian will be crucial to my role as an educator, as it will allow me to more effectively teach a foreign language. By knowing my students’ native language, I will have better awareness of their linguistic strengths and weaknesses.

CLS’s Impact

Prior to pursuing language study through CLS, I didn’t have easy access to Russian language classes at my community college. As a full-time student with a part-time job, self-study was unrealistic for me as a means of learning Russian.

CLS Spark, however, changed everything—I was able to easily fit the virtual classes into my busy schedule as a working college student, while still benefiting from an intensive language course. My subsequent overseas CLS experiences in Kyrgyzstan and Georgia further allowed me to improve in an immersive environment, and I became an Intermediate-High Russian speaker in less than a year.

Beyond my linguistic growth, my knowledge of post-Soviet culture had previously been limited to borscht and Russian nesting dolls. However, CLS ensures that participants attain a well-rounded understanding of the host country’s culture, teaching everything from the region’s literature and cinema to its history, conflicts, and native languages. I came to see that the beauty of these cultures extends far beyond Moscow, and this realization has inspired me to teach English in Central Asia and to pursue deeper connections with Russian-speaking communities.