Serhij Žadan in Russian Lessons

Abstract

The article gives some suggestions on how the book Himmel über Charkiw (Sky Above Kharkiv) by the Ukrainian musician and poet Serhii Zhadan can be used in Russian lessons at school and university. This is a response to the special situation of Russian language teaching after February 24, 2022. To strengthen the role of teaching second and third foreign languages, it is proposed to teach comparative competence, i.e. special competences in comparing languages and cultures. Comparative competence has a special significance for contemporary Russian language teaching, where the distinction between Russian and Ukrainian should be addressed. Using the spelling of the author’s name and some selected examples, the language comparison Russian – Ukrainian and the conventions of transliteration and transcription are introduced. Serhii Zhadan received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade in 2022. Examples from Himmel über Charkiw show what constitutes peaceful communication. The book Himmel über Charkiw is based on Facebook entries by the author and is therefore suitable for comparing different forms of media communication.