Program Director
Dina Mokhnatkin, M.A.
Director of the Program, Professor Mokhnatkin, has an M.A. in Russian Language and Literature and was a Research Fellow in Art and Architecture at the St. Petersburg Museum of History. She has extensive experience in teaching Russian language, literature, civilization and cultural studies at all levels in both the United States and Russia. For the past 14 years, Professor Mokhnatkin has been the Director of two Russian Immersion Programs at CSUN – the summer STARTALK Russian Language and Culture Immersion Program and the year-long National Strategic Language Initiative Program (SLI). In addition, she has been the head of a study abroad program for 7 years in which students travel to Russia, organizing and coordinating an agreement between California State University, Northridge and the Russian State University for the Humanities in Moscow, Russia. Under her leadership, the program has become coveted throughout the United States and known for its focus, structure, and unprecedented results in achieving fluency in Russian language. Alumni of the program have gone on to employ the Russian language in their future endeavors, from translating at the Russian Winter Olympics in Sochi to teaching English in Russia at the University level while on Fullbright Scholarship to participating in the Peace Corps in Russian speaking countries.
Professor Mokhnatkin has also developed new curriculum for her Russian Studies program at California State University, Northridge utilizing her methodology and pedagogical skills. She has created new classes for the program, such as Russian Civilization, Russian Folklore, and Russian Business and Travel. Her topic of interest is the methodology of teaching Russian Language for non-native speakers.
She is very proud of the instructors who have worked with her for the past 14 years, as well as the several former participants of the program that also make up this year’s Teaching Assistant team.
Instructors
Irina Anokhin, Lead Instructor
A native of Moscow, Irina Anokhin is fully bilingual in English and Russian, speaks Norwegian, and is conversationally capable in Bulgarian. She is an expert, published author, and motivational speaker on lingo-cultural diversity. Irina regularly attends professional conferences and runs professional development workshops for her colleagues. Her training includes advanced degrees and certificates in Russian-English translation, teaching Russian as a foreign language, and teaching English as a second language. In addition to several years of teaching English as a second language to K-12 and college students in the U.S., for the past six years, Irina has been teaching Russian as a foreign language at STARTALK at CSU-Northridge and Kent State University, and at Concordia Language Village in Minnesota. Since 2018, Irina has been working as a Professor of Russian in California.
Mariya V. Prokosheva-Hole, Instructor
Mariya V. Prokosheva-Hoyle, MEd, Kiev State Linguistic University graduate. 19 years of combined experience teaching English and Russian Foreign Languages. In addition, she earned a training certificate in teaching foreign languages from STARTALK in 2014.
It’s a great honor for Mariya to share her passion and knowledge of Russian culture and language with her students.
Ksenia Pavlova, Instructor
Kseniia Pavlova, MA in Russian Language and Literature, CELTA (London). Kseniia has been teaching Russian to speakers of other languages for 10 years, has experienced different immersion programs (young learners, undergraduate students and adults) being a language instructor. She runs her private educational center during the year.
Teaching Assistants
Ruslan Abilkaiyrov
I was born and raised in Republic of Kazakhstan. I lived there for 17 years and then moved to LA to study Computer Science. In 2015, I got accepted to SMC (Santa Monica College). In 2018, I transferred to CSUN (California State University of Northridge), and planning to graduate in Spring 2020. I have met Dina Aleksandrovna when I took her Russian course in Fall 2018. After that I got an e-mail from Dina Aleksandrovna about Summer StarTalk program to work as a TA. I was very satisfied to work as TA and to help students to improve their Russian language skills. In this program, I have met so many talented people and I was surprised how passionate they were with their desire to learn and improve their Russian.
Amaliya Idzhiyan
Hello!
My name is Amaliya Idzhiyan, I am working as an Administrative Assistant for STARTALK 2019 program. I was born in Russia, Sochi and moved to California at the age of 14. After graduating from high school I got my Associates Degree in Accounting and Economics from Los Angeles Valley College. I’m currently working on my Bachelor’s Degree from California State University, Northridge and planning to get my CPA license after graduation.
Garri Mangasarian
I was born and raised in Russia. Almost six years ago my family and I have moved to the United States. At that time, I was 17 years old, but was already determined to become a lawyer. However, I did not know what kind of law I wanted to practice. After graduating Glendale High School in 2013 I decided to attend PCC (Pasadena City College). There I have met many interesting professors, but one of them stood out the most. Can you guess who that was? Of course, it was our beloved and most respected Dina Aleksandrovna. I am very glad that I have met her and she was the one who introduced me to the Startalk program. To be completely honest with you, in the beginning, I wanted to participate in the program as a student, but as the rules clearly state “Only non-native Russian speakers are eligible to be enrolled in the program as students.” Luckily for me Dina Aleksandrovna told me that I could become one of the TA’s (Teacher Assistants). In this short-term of only 5 weeks I have met many bright minds and enjoyed assisting both students and teachers. The program was really beneficial for me and I am pretty sure that all of the students have enjoyed this learning environment. Almost forgot to mention, not that long ago I have transferred to CSUN (California State University Northridge) and my major is Management. Thank you for reading my short bio и всего вам самого наилучшего (wish you all the best).
Naire Kazaryan
I am an undergraduate student at the California State University Northridge. As a student, I am working on my major in Sociology. I was recognized by the Dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences on the Dean’s List of Honor by achieving 3.6 grade point average. My academic success is an indicator of my hard work.
I know three languages: Armenian, Russian, and English. This year I participated in the CSUN STARTALK Russian Language and Culture Immersion Program. This unique program offers a great opportunity for college students to expand language skills in Russian. I worked as a Teacher Assistant. I am very glad to have this exceptional opportunity. I enjoyed working with students and sharing my knowledge about Russian language and culture.