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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How to choose a textbook of Russian for children: 12 questions

There are a lot of good Russian textbooks for children on the market. How can you choose the one that is right for you and your students?

I can already hear the exclamation: Well, since she is an author, she will now start promoting her textbooks! But I won’t start; later I’ll explain why. And now back to the topic. In the first part, I will tell you about selection criteria, how I personally would choose a Russian textbook, what questions I would ask during the selection. In the second part, so be it — we will talk a little about my books, and decide for yourself whether the textbook Soroka is suitable for you, or you need to look for something else. But first, how to choose a textbook.

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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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Jacksonville, Florida

I invite everybody to meet in Jacksonville, Florida.

Just to talk about our work, and have some tea.

When: May 10, 2024, 3-4 pm

Where: Panera Bread at 35 Capital Green Drive, Ponte Vedra, FL 32081
Call me if you have any questions (855) 765-1265; 9am-5pm CST

Where can I buy the Soroka Russian for Kids course and other questions

First, decide which version you need: print or electronic. A printed book is an ordinary book. Electronic access to documents is through files on the SorokaM.com website; these files can be viewed and printed. The site is American, and works all over the world. (People buy from us in Vietnam, Uzbekistan, the USA, and other countries.) We accept payment by credit card and PayPal. The electronic version offers savings on shipping, for sure; but savings on printing are doubtful — printing on a printer, especially color, is very expensive. Calculate how much it will cost to print the entire book yourself vs. buying printed copies, especially considering that in some countries, delivery is free (to the USA, for example). But choose for yourself. I personally love regular books.

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Playing Bingo in Florida

What: Playing the games from the Soroka course. The special focus is on the Bingo game.
Where: Miami, Florida.
When: February 25, 2024, from 3–5 p.m.

We meet at Hotel Marriott lobby

the address is 2051 S Le Jeune Rd, Coral Gables, FL 33134

This is the number you can call if you have any questions of get lost (855) 765-1265.

Please be aware that online broadcasting and video recording are not provided.

London, UK

I invite everyone to meet in London on Mar. 8–10, 2024.

On Mar. 9, 2024, I will speak at the conference of Russian language teachers. Come to join us!

Some photos from previous meetings with colleagues can be found on this page: https://sorokad.com/en/seminars/

NEWS and SPECIAL DEALS at Asordi.com and Soroka Digital YouTube Channel

1. Maria Goncharenko’s books for teaching bilingual children are now available at asordi.com.

2. A big summer sale has started at asordi.com. Get a 20% discount on the books of the Soroka and Sarafan Courses, including the book “Vassily the Cat”.

3. A new section titled “Samizdat” (SELFPUBLISHED) designed specifically for teachers who want to publish their materials but, for some reason, are unable to work with established publishers, was introduced on the YouTube channel.

The subjects we have already covered and to which I’d like you to pay attention are:

An interview with Olesya Baltak – how many words per line, lines per page, and chapters a graded reading book should have;

A presentation of Tekstometr, a tool that allows you to independently analyze the text and determine whether it meets the specified level;

Technical aspects of publishing on Amazon and Teachers Pay Teachers;

Publishing your own magazine for bilingual children.

The Three Rules of Mine

I have been studying languages for almost all of my life. It started with Spanish in Cuba, where my whole family lived for two years when I was 10. In addition to Spanish, which attracted me, I was lucky with my teacher of the Russian language. She never stopped telling us about the origin of the words, which was both fascinating and useful for learning the spelling. That’s how it all started. For all of my conscious life, I was surrounded by dictionaries and books in different languages. Some languages were managed to be learned to a decent level, like English. Some languages turned out to be forgotten because there was nowhere to use them, like French. But I still learn languages with alternate success, and at the time of writing this text, I’m studying — or rather revising — my Spanish, which I only spoke a little bit of about 40 years ago.

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What Language Do We Learn?

The immigrant’s language differs from the language they speak in their historic homeland. You might have noticed it before, or you might haven’t noticed it at all and have found out about it only now.

For us immigrants, the language hasn’t changed since we left. It remained the same as when we brought it from the motherland.

Some words transformed their meaning right before my eyes. For instance, at the time when I was leaving Russia, visitors were invited to sit by the word садиться. Now people are more likely to say присаживайтесь. The next example is about the word задний. For me, задний means someone standing at the back. Nowadays, in Russia, this word has acquired the meaning of последний. In my girlhood, the word касаемо apparently meant что касается. It sounds rough to me now as it referred to spoken language. I’m not criticizing; I’m just stating the fact that my language is becoming archaic. I simply can’t keep up with it.

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