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Renáta Kamenárová

  • Teaching Associate Professor, Director of Slovak Studies Program

Renáta Kamenárová is the Director of Slovak Studies Program, the only university program in North America where students can take Slovak language and culture classes and opt to receive a Minor in Slovak Studies. She also teaches Slovak language at the Summer Language Institute at the University of Pittsburgh.

Courses Taught

  • Beginning, Intermediate, Advanced, and 4th year Slovak
  • Introduction to Linguistics
  • Slovak Morphology
  • Dialectology and Slovak Language History
  • Historical Grammar of the Slovak Language
  • Proto-Slavic and Old Church Slavonic
  • Introduction to Slavic Philology
  • Czech language for Slovak students

    Education & Training

  • PhD in Slovak Language, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia, 2006
  • MA (combined) in Slovak Language and Literature – History, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia, 2002
  • Visiting Researcher, Institute of Slavic Languages and Literature, School of Languages, Literature, and Cultures, University of Regensburg, Germany, Fall term AY 2004-2005
  • Visiting Researcher, Institute of Sorbian Studies, School of Philology, University of Leipzig, Germany, AY 2003-2004
  • Visiting Scholar, Institute of Polish Philology, School of Humanities, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Poland, Fall term AY 2000-2001
Awards
Consulate General of the Slovak Republic New York’s Collective Plaque Award for an Excellent Instruction at the Slovak Heritage Language Weekend School in Boston, MA 2020
Indiana Army National Guard’s Certificate of Appreciation for Dedication, Patriotism, and Support of the 1-152nd Cavalry Squadron readiness for Slovak Shield 2019
Medaglia di cammino Recognition & Appreciation Award Medal for the Exceptional Teaching at the University of Bologna by the Honorary Consulate of the Slovak Republic in Forlì, Italy, 2016
Award In Recognition of Excellence in Education and Outstanding Dedication to the Slovak Studies Program at the University of Bologna (2012-2016) by the Embassy of the Slovak Republic in Rome, Italy 2016
European Language Label (ELL) Collective Award of the European Commission in the Development of Innovative Language Teaching Techniques for Studia Academica Slovaca’s team at the Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia 2007
Representative Publications

(Teacher’s guide, Lead author) Krížom-krážom: Metodická príručka: Slovenčina A1 + učebnica A1. Bratislava: Univerzita Komenského, 2018.

(Textbook, Lead author, Second edition) Krížom-krážom. Slovenčina A1. Bratislava: Univerzita Komenského, 2018.

(Textbook, Lead author, Second edition) Krížom-krážom. Slovenčina A2. Bratislava: Univerzita Komenského, 2012.

(Textbook, Lead author) Krížom-krážom. Slovenčina B1. Bratislava: Univerzita Komenského, 2011.

(Textbook, Author) Krížom-krážom. Slovenčina B2. Bratislava: Univerzita Komenského, 2014.

(Exercise book, Author) Krížom-krážom. Slovenčina A1+A2. Cvičebnica. Bratislava: Univerzita Komenského, 2009.

Conference Presentations and Publications

Problematica dei realia nella didattica della lingua slovacca. In: Castillo Peña, Carmen; San Vicente, Félix (a cura di), La oralidad. Recepción y transmisión, monografico di Orillas. Rivista d'Ispanistica, 5, 2016 https://www.orillas.net/orillas/index.php/orillas/article/download/358/356/1094.pdf

Innovative and Creative Solutions in Educational Programmes of Studia Academica Slovaca. In: The Future of Education. 4th ed. The conference proceedings. Florence: Pixel, 2014 https://conference.pixel-online.net/FOE/files/foe/ed0004/FP/0741-ITL489-FP-FOE4.pdf

Substantívne vzory a deklinačný systém v slovenčine z lingvodidaktického hľadiska. In: Studia Academica Slovaca. 44. Prednášky 51. letnej školy slovenského jazyka a kultúry. Ed. J. Pekarovičová – M. Vojtech. Bratislava: Univerzita Komenského 2015, s. 197-217. https://zborniky.e-slovak.sk/SAS_44_2015.pdf

Gramatické kategórie maskulín a ich vplyv na vývin západoslovanských jazykov. In: Prirodzený vývin jazyka a jazykové kontakty. Jazykovedné štúdie. 32. Ed. K. Balleková – Ľ. Králik – G. Múcsková. Bratislava: Veda 2015, s. 195-202.

Research Interests
  • Slovak studies — Linguistics (Etymology, Historical grammar and Morphology), History, Literature, Culture
  • West Slavic Languages and Cultures (Slovak, Czech, Polish, Upper and Lower Sorbian)
  • Second Language Acquisition – Methodology and Communicative Language Teaching
  • Bilingualism and Minority-Language Children, Development of instructional materials and workshops for Heritage-Language teacher
Research Grants
  • Recipient of Hanns-Seidel Foundation Scholarship:
    • Visiting Researcher, Institute of Slavic Languages and Literature, School of Languages, Literature, and Cultures, University of Regensburg, Germany, Fall term AY 2004-2005
  • Recipient of Foundation for the Sorbian People Scholarships:
    • Visiting Researcher, Institute of Sorbian Studies, School of Philology, University of Leipzig, Germany, AY 2003-2004;
    • Summer School of Upper Sorbian (Aug 2002) and Summer School of Lower Sorbian (Aug 2004), Sorbian Institute, Bautzen, Germany
  • Recipient of Slovak Academic Information Agency (SAIA) Scholarships:
    • Visiting Scholar, Institute of Polish Philology, School of Humanities, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Poland, Fall term AY 2000-2001
    • Summer School of Slovene language (July 2007), Centre for Slovene as a Second and Foreign Language, School of Arts, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
    • Summer School of Russian Language (July-Aug 2005), Pushkin State Russian Language Institute, Moscow, Russia