Ekaterina Tsvetkova - Instructor
Course Name: Conversational Russian (Beginner to Intermediate Level)
Course Learning Objectives
This is an introductory course for students with no prior knowledge of Russian.
This course aims to:

develop your ability to comprehend Russian in a variety of social situations and to have a casual
conversation

develop your ability to read and write in Russian, as well as expand the vocabulary

develop insights into the culture and business traditions of Russian-speaking countries
Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this course, students are expected to be able to:

write and read simple sentences and paragraphs in Russian

pronounce Russian words accurately

communicate using basic Russian expressions

express basic ideas and emotions in simple sentences and dialogues, e.g., introducing people,
inquiring about their work and professional life, asking them about their interests etc.

ask and answer questions on a variety of practical topics, e.g. pastimes, jobs, everyday life in
Russian-speaking world, food, entertainment, family life etc.

understand certain cultural differences and similarities between Russian-speaking countries and
North America
Course Outline
Week
1
Content
- Basic greetings and introductions, good-byes in Russian; common phrases like
“Good morning/afternoon”, etc.
“My name is …” etc. Russian names and patronyms
- Cultural note: how to address people; formal vs. informal communication
- Watching a short video about Russian culture
- Introduction to the Russian Alphabet, letters and sounds. Vowels and
consonants. Nuances of pronunciation. Syllables, learning to read
- Simple vocabulary; intonation in statements and questions
- Reading practice: “Anglophone” words in Russian
- Overview of learning resources and tips
- Assigning homework
2
- Reviewing previous lesson’s material
- Practicing mini-dialog in pairs
- Continue with the Russian Alphabet and reading practice; work on
pronunciation
- Watching a short video about Russian gestures and body language
Possessives “my, mine” etc.
- Greetings and Introductions in Russian – continued: introducing professions
and titles; more introduction questions
- Reading practice continued: airport vocabulary
- Simple negation; creating a sentence using simple expressions like
“This is/these are” and “Here is/Here are”
- Overview of learning resources and tips
- Assigning homework
3
- Reviewing previous lesson’s material
- Practicing mini-dialogs in pairs
- Continue with the Russian Alphabet and reading practice; work on
pronunciation
- Grammar: Nouns and gender overview; practice: reading and identifying the
gender of the words (using Airport vocabulary list)
- “Job” vocabulary review using personal and possessive pronouns (“he is an
engineer”, “his title is” etc.)
- Watching a short video about Russian work culture
- Grammar: Personal and Possessive Pronouns.
- More “business” vocabulary and introductions (“His/her/their name is”,
“my/our company name is” etc.)
- “Job” vocabulary continued: reading and practicing in pairs
- Overview of learning resources and tips
- Assigning homework
4
Review of Russian alphabet; Intensive reading practice; review of Russian
vowels and their correlation; soft and hard signs and their functions; Russian
“o” in a weak position.
Grammar: review of genders in nouns, personal and possessive pronouns;
introduction to verbs: «не работает» phrase; Positive/negative answers.
Vocabulary: “Family”
- Overview of learning resources and tips
- Assigning homework
5
Pronunciation: Voiced and voiceless consonants. Intonation in statements and
questions. Reading and oral comprehension practice. Answering questions.
Grammar: Nouns in plural; intro to verbs: the infinitives and conjugations. First
category verbs; numbers 1-100
Vocabulary: “In and around town”; phrases: “Tell me please”, polite “getting
attention”.
Russian culture: holidays and seasonal greetings; Russian names and
patronymics, how to address people; business cards practice
- Overview of learning resources and tips
- Assigning homework
6
Practice reading. Reading short texts, comprehension. Answering questions
based on the reading. Mini-dialogues.
Grammar: “Where?” – orientation; “in”/”on”. Use of Prepositional case –
endings of nouns; continuing with verbs: Second category verbs. Present
tense. Dialogues. “What are you/they doing?”
Vocabulary: “In the office”; seasons, months, days of the week; time of day
Russian culture: telephone etiquette; business meeting etiquette
- Overview of learning resources and tips
- Assigning homework
7
Review and mini-dialogues. Oral comprehension: listen and answer questions.
Grammar: Expressing modality: Russian equivalent of “I can” and “I must.”
Short dialogue practice using the verbs. When? “On Monday…” etc. What are
you doing on that day? What do you want/can/must do?
Vocabulary: “In a hotel / apartment”; countries, languages, nationalities.
“Where are you from?”
Russian culture: A guest at a Russian home
- Overview of learning resources and tips
- Assigning homework
8
Oral translation of short sentences into Russian. Working with passages of text.
Grammar: Nouns – use of Accusative case, Direct object – introduction. “I
like…”/”I want”. Adverbs.
Vocabulary: food, restaurant/café
Russian culture: toasting; “What’s for lunch?” – typical meals
- Overview of learning resources and tips
- Assigning homework
9
Reading, oral comprehension, translation into English.
Grammar: “to go” – идти/ходить, ехать/ездить; adjectives: “Which”, “What
kind?” Difference between them.
Vocabulary: “At the airport / train station”
Russian culture: Russian geography: the largest country in the world
- Overview of learning resources and tips
- Assigning homework
10
Practise exercises, mini-dialogues.
Grammar: review
Vocabulary: geological and mining vocabulary
Russian culture by regions and areas
- Overview of learning resources and tips
- Assigning homework
11
Reading short texts, reading comprehension, translation into Russian.
Grammar: Past tense of verbs – introduction; “I was”.
Vocabulary: review
Russian culture: Russian geography: Moscow and Saint-Petersburg
- Overview of learning resources and tips
- Assigning homework
12
Russian-English translation; practice in mini-dialogues.
Grammar: Continue with adjectives: plural forms. Conjunction “that.”
(«чтобы»). Possessives: “Whose?”
Vocabulary: “Doing Business in Russia”
Russian culture: Russian economy
- Overview of learning resources and tips
- Assigning homework
Course Duration:
1-3 hours per week, over 3-4 months
Fees:
$30 an hour
© 2015 Ekaterina Tsvetkova