A group where all the students are of different levels: How should you work in such an environment?

Let’s talk about this, but let’s narrow the topic. I will talk about the age range of 7 to 9 years old, and about working in a weekend school with a group of Russian as a Foreign Language, or bilingual, students.

For those who don’t know — a weekend school is a place where immigrants gather to teach their children Russian. This is not a state school with programs, requirements and final exams. Classes are usually held on Saturday and Sunday, hence the name.

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How can you teach children RFL (Russian as a foreign language) without explaining grammar to them?

This is a very easy question; it is very easy to answer, because this topic has been developed for a very long time and everyone is very interested in it. Moreover, I will say that this is the topic that led me to study the methodology of teaching foreign languages.

We have three sections.

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What is better, an app, video lessons or a textbook?

All of the above are good. Each solves its own problems.

Video lessons. It is very good to watch them, especially at a young age. If you trust the channel, you can turn it on so that the child can watch and go do other things. Passive can easily become active, and that is how it should be. Language comes in through the ears. When there is a lot of language input in the environment, it is great. Video lessons are just language in the environment. Convenient for parents. Convenient for teachers to give homework: “Watch a video.” A very good option. A small note. If it is only watching a video, then this is passive perception. To turn passive into active, I would add some active forms of work: questions or discussions.

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Teaching RFL without textbooks

How do I feel about this? Absolutely positive.

For those teachers who know the methodology; the technology; in what order to give lexical topics, grammatical topics, phonetics — for those who know all these, they don’t even need a textbook.

I’ll show you how I can conduct an RFL (Russian as a foreign language) lesson without a textbook.

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Working with vocabulary in an RFL (Russian as foreign language) lesson using numerals as an example

First, a definition: Since many beginning teachers of RFL (Russian as a foreign language) read my blog, I will explain to them that all words of the language can be called by one word — vocabulary. Therefore, sometimes I will write “working with words,” and sometimes “working with vocabulary.” Beginners, get used to the terms, because they will come in handy.

We have two parts. In the first part, I will tell you about the procedure for working with vocabulary in practice.

In the second part, we will get acquainted a little with the theory of the methods of teaching RFL.

Part 1

Stage one:

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Grammar of RFL (Russian as a foreign language)

Today the topic of our conversation is the grammar of RFL (Russian as a foreign language). Today we have three sections:

1. Why does a native speaker need RFL grammar (and what surprised me personally)?

2. I will show how I teach RFL grammar to children 7 to 9 years old (of course, using my textbooks).

3. What do the classics say in the book “Learning to Teach” by A.A. Akishina and O.E. Kagan?

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Speaking in Russian as a foreign language lesson with children

So why don’t they speak? I will talk about the main mistakes teachers make and show how I solve the problem of speaking in my Russian lessons.

The entire lesson should be focused specifically on speech. You need to perceive all exercises precisely as preparation for speech, as steps to conversation.

It is absolutely not necessary to be able to read and write to have a conversation. At all! To have a conversation you just need to be able to:

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20 listening exercises for the Russian lesson

Today we will look at specific examples of exercises and types of listening tasks. As usual, we are helped by A.A. Akishina and O.E. Kagan’s book “Learning to Teach.” The book has already become a classic. If you haven’t read it yet, be sure to read it and use it in your work. So, what should you do in class to develop listening skills?

1. Understand the teacher’s commands that must be followed: слушай, читай, повтори, скажи, подними руку.

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7 mistakes teachers of Russian make when working with listening comprehension

Today I will talk about the main shortcomings when working with listening in an RFL (Russian as a foreign language) lesson, and what needs to be done to avoid them. At the end, we’ll see what happens with listening in the “Soroka” and “Sarafan” textbooks (especially in “Sarafan,” where there’s more listening).

Today the book “Learning to Teach” by A.A. Akishina and O.E. Kagan will help me. This book has long been a classic for RFL teachers. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it. Now let’s start with the shortcomings.

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7 Games for Your Russian Class

Games in lessons of Russian for children and adults — what are they for, what is their advantage, when and how to play? The topic about games is a difficult one. Later I’ll tell you why.

Let’s start with how to play

In the Teacher’s Book for Soroka 1, there are games for studying numerals in Russian.

Game 1. Drumroll

The teacher taps a pencil on the table or claps his hands, the students listen carefully to how many times the teacher knocks, and they call out the number in Russian. For example: the teacher claps five times, and the students respond with “Five!” We achieve spontaneity of speech; this is our goal in this case.

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