Nachalo When in Russia, Book 2

I have used several introductory texts in my tenure as a Russian instructor at Colgate University, most of which have been very unspectacular. I had lost all hope of an engaging, informative and reasonably paced introductory Russian text until I used the Nachalo books this past semester. I will, indeed, never go back to anything else. The grammar is presented cohesively with interesting dialogues that present functional material at a pace that students can both comfortably ingest yet does not make them feel as if they are failing to learn the language. This is the first time that my first-semester students have not questioned me during the final week of classes as to whether or not they could truly function in the language. Normally, one or the other is the problem. I give my loudest applauds to the authors, and I look forward to using the books in upcoming years.