Dr. Kudyma is an excellent teacher who is clearly very passionate about teaching students Russian language and culture. My impression of this class is that it is very easy for native speakers and moderately difficult for those not quite yet fluent in Russian, but Dr. Kudyma makes an effort to grade each student on the basis of their individual skill level. The assignments and exams strike a good balance between teaching new information about art history to speakers who are already native, and teaching both information and Russian speaking, reading, writing, and listening skills to speakers who are not native. All in all, Dr. Kudyma is the best language teacher I have ever learned from, and her dedication and compassion is partly why I continue with the eternal struggle that is learning Russian.

Amazing teacher! Always such a pleasure taking classes with Professor Kudyma! I love learning new things with her in such a welcoming and friendly environment!

Professor Kudyma is by far one of the best professors I have had at UCLA. She is truly so dedicated to helping her students succeed and always comes up with interesting material for us to study. Not only does she try to always keep us engaged, but she also always corrects our speaking skills to make everyone fluent speakers. I am currently pursuing a Russian language minor here, and I look forward to taking more classes with her. You will learn so much in her class and enjoy your time as well! Also, it's always a pleasure to attend the quarterly events she puts on for the department! She honestly doesn't have any weaknesses I can think of! Take her if you can!

Selling the required textbook (which is used in every class) almost as good as new at a discounted price.

Find me on Instagram, soniuh.

The department is full of passionate teachers. The class is great but it does go pretty fast.

Phenomenal instructor. Admittedly, I chose this seemingly random language since everything else was full, but I am totally engaged in Russia and I changed my major to Russian Studies after this class. At the end of a single quarter I am able to converse and write detailed blog entries about my life, and I learned more than I did taking four years of another language in high school. I am definitely continuing beyond the university requirement and will take all her available classes. She teaches most Russian classes, and is also a Ukrainian teacher.

Grading is almost a non-issue, because you will know the material so well it's impossible to get a bad grade.

Russian is actually her second language, yet she got a MA in it. Amazing.

THIS IS FOR RUSSIAN 1 and 2:

I am currently taking Russian with Naya Lekht, and she is amazing. Probably one of the best teachers I've had here at ucla thus far.

If you're looking for a foreign language requirement, and can't get into spanish cause of sucky enrollement times, this would be the class. It's easy as the class stresses more of participation and showing up to class rather than tests and quizzes. I got an A+ in Russian 1 and probably will get an A in Russian 2.
This is for Naya Lekht as I couldn't find her on here. Take Russian with Naya if you can!

This class is designed to help native Russian speakers improve their literacy. If you are a native speaker, I think you'll find this class reasonably easy. The class itself had less than 20 students which really made the class more engaging. There is a decent amount of work, but it's not unreasonable, and you will improve drastically in terms of reading and writing. The class itself is taught by Ms. Skudskaia who is super nice and helpful. I would definitely recommend this class if you qualify for it. The class was a fun way to get your language credit done and improve literacy in Russian.

I don't even know what Slavic 241B is; I just put that because the site wouldn't let me submit it without picking a class.
I have taken Russian 20 (Equivalent of Russian 4,5,6) and am now in Russian 102 with Professor Kudyma. She is an excellent instructor and you will learn a ton. But if you are planning to do Russian 102, be prepared to devote yourself 100% to that class! It has to be your top priority to do really well. To be honest, you can probably get at least an A- without putting in all of the effort, but if you want to get the most out of it, there are constant presentations, quizzes, tests, and passage memorizations which suck up you life. But it's great if you love Russian! Professor Kudyma really does care about the students, and she tries successfully to accomodate both native and non-native speakers in this class.

I took her for 103ABC AND SHE IS SIMPLY AMAZING.
HIGHLY RECOMMEND HER.