November 18, 2005

Language-Immersion Houses Expand to Serve More Students, Cultures

By JAMIE SCHUMAN

A sign in Cyrillic letters stands beside one entrance to St. Mary's Hall at the University of Maryland at College Park. To those who know how to read it, the message is: "Russian is spoken here."

Inside, Ukrainian flags hang from the walls, Russian-language magazines sit on coffee tables, and a Russian newscaster talks on the television.

"The idea is that out there it's America," says Peter Voitsekhovsky, a graduate student and a mentor for the seven students in the Russian wing