When our students are 7 to 9 years old, our task in the lesson is to introduce them to Russian graphics, to the Cyrillic alphabet. Our second task is to teach Russian spelling. I will tell you about the specific exercises that help us with this. This will be the first part of this article.

In the second part, I will show exercises for those who are starting to independently swim in written speech in Russian.

In the third part — i.e., at the end of the article, as I usually do — I will tell you a little about the theory. About what written speech is in general, not only for children.

First part

We study letters and spelling. This can and should be done simultaneously.

What writing exercises do we have at this stage of studying Russian as a Foreign Language with children?

Copying: You can copy both words and sentences. Everything that you study.

Dictations: This is generally a super exercise. An indicator of everything. Both the student is in good shape and the teacher sees growth points. I have both an article and a video about dictations.

For the video, visit https://youtu.be/ntWaLgullcQ.

For the article, visit https://sorokad.com/2020/09/24/zachem-nam-diktanty/.

If copying is difficult, work with crosswords. This is also an exercise in copying, and also an exercise in spelling. There are many programs on the internet that will help you generate your own crosswords. Use them to have your students write Russian words by hand.

Anagrams: Working with anagrams also helps work with spelling; we remember the order of letters in a word. I worked with two types of anagrams. The first type is when we assemble a word from letters from cubes or cards.

For shorts on this topic, visit https://youtube.com/shorts/MYTHvsLcYLU.

The second type of anagram is for some reason more difficult — this is when the letters are written on a sheet of paper or on a board. For some reason, it is more difficult for students to do this task, but the essence is the same: anagrams — we assemble a word from the proposed set of letters.

Another exercise is one I call Crocodile (in the adult version, Hangman). We indicate how many letters are in the word. We name one letter at a time, trying to guess the word. With each incorrect letter, the little man approaches the abyss.

A must!! When we do these exercises (or games, if you like), then the children must have a sample in front of their eyes. This is a must! We do not invent anything, and we do not take anything out of our heads. At least because the child has nothing in his head yet. When we study, we always copy someone. Copying is a mandatory stage in the learning process.

Secondly, we must first read all writing assignments aloud, and then do them orally. And only then we write them. Since we learn a language by ear, we need to connect what we hear with its graphic version. This is because they have words in sound separately, and their graphic version is also separate. If you give them an assignment right away, they will not do it.

Now I have shown you the exercises that we need to teach writing to RFL students — children 7 to 9 years old.

Second part

When our students have already grown up and learned to write Cyrillic letters, can write words in dictations without mistakes, and we can encourage them to start writing something on their own using a model. Why am I not talking about them starting to express their thoughts in Russian? Well, at least because we have children, they are not yet very good at expressing their thoughts in their native language. They are just starting to do it. That’s why I say that we start writing something in Russian using a model. This is, of course, not independent written speech.

We lead children into the world of writing very slowly.

I will talk about the exercises and show how we do them in the textbooks Soroka and Sarafan. Starting from the Soroka 3 level, we do written assignments. In them, we learn to independently formulate our thoughts in writing. We work on the statement.

In Soroka 3, we start with lists. This is the simplest; even a child who knows very little Russian can do it.

When we have learned to write lists, we gradually move toward independent writing: small sentences first and then a small paragraph.

Then we have a small text and a diagram for it. Empty spaces appear in the diagram. In the very last diagram, everything is empty and you must fill everything in yourself. We constantly have supports, doing everything step by step. (It is necessary to provide illustrations here, see the link to them above). The point of these lessons is to hold the student’s hand until he feels strong enough to walk on his own.

I have already written in detail about the writing exercises in the Soroka and Sarafan textbooks: visit https://sorokad.com/2023/02/10/pismo-v-sarafane/.

Third part

The third part is kind of “theoretical.”

What do speech and writing have in common, and how do they differ?

When we speak, we use intonation, pauses and gestures. When we write, we only have words. And the one who reads can understand these words in different ways. It happens that I read a text today, and I see one meaning in it. Tomorrow, I read the same text and I see a different meaning in it. The text has not changed! What has changed? Only my perception.

By the way, this is one of the reasons for conflicts in social networks. When one writes in one context, the other reads in another context.

What unites speaking and writing is that these are productive types of speech activity. This is the case when we ourselves must produce something. This is our work.

Listening and reading are reproductive types of speech activity — i.e., we perceive them. In this case, we are the passive side.

Every healthy child begins to speak at a certain age. But in order to learn to write, she must be taught separately.

When written speech is read from a piece of paper, it still remains written speech. This is immediately audible; listeners do not like it.

Oral speech is spontaneous, and has more rough edges, pauses and repetitions. But SMS (Short Message Service) is not written speech in the literal sense; it is oral speech, but recorded in a text message.

Actually, that is why people still prefer to leave voice messages — because when you write, you still have to stop and think about how best to formulate your thought. But when you speak a voice message, you don’t have to think about it.

In general, everything is complicated.

Write what you think about written speech, and what your students do to develop writing. All the best!