One of the ways in which my Soroka course helps you to teach Russian as a foreign language to children is through its use of the Oral Approach. The order of work that is followed is: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
In your letters you often write that it is very difficult for your students to repeat the same thing several times.
I understand them since I myself do not like doing it; therefore, we need to come up with something to make it exciting for them.
For example, I like to use toy people and animals as helpers and talk to them as if they are real and we’re having a conversation:
“Hi, Martha.“.
“Hi, Marianna.“.
Another toy I have is named Sharik:
“Hi, Marianna.“.
“Hi, Sharik! How are you?”
“I am good, thank you. How are you?”
Or I have another toy, named Fox:
“Hi, Fox.“.
“Hi, Marianna! How are you?”
“I am good! How are you?”
“I am good.“
Already, the student has heard the word “Hi” six times — three from me and three from the toys.
And it wasn’t boring at all, it was actually very interesting and funny.
We can use different phrases. We can use other phrases between the student and toys.
For example:
“Martha, do you have an apple?“
“No, I don’t.“
“Sharik, do you have an apple?”
“No, I don’t.“.
“Fox, do you have an apple?”
“Yes, I do have an apple.“.
Each phrase was used three times.
What happens here is that toys are helping us. They make our group bigger,
they widen our group. We repeat words and phrases often. We hear words and phrases often.
Toys help us to hide behind them. If we need to say something or read something, for example,
sometimes it is better done by the toy — if the toy makes a mistake, it is a mistake made by the toy and not by the child.
I highly recommend bringing toys to your classes,
and constantly speaking to the toys in Russian.
They can have name tags. You can give them different objects. They can have a particular age.
In other words, you can make millions of different exercises,
which will help you to reach one goal —– to teach a child to speak in Russian.
Watch my YouTube Video on this subject. English subtitles are available.
