Language and Section: Russian – PO Russ 13.1

Date: 26 January 2012

Class theme/topics discussed: Home Sweet Home

Goal of the class:

To practice speaking skills; to exchange opinions on the topic; to learn new vocabulary connected with Russian homes

Structure of the class (unless you attach your lesson plan below):

1) Discussion: i) where does your family live? ii) where do you live here? iii) where do you like it better and why? iv) how do you choose your dorm and roommate here?
2) Where did you live in Russia? What is your impression? What home customs were unusual for you? What did you like better/worse then here? What do you think about “pod’ezd” (entrance)? Was it scary in your house?
3) Have you ever been in “kommunalnaya kvartira” (shared apartment)? What do you know about it?
4) Watching a video about a bathroom in “kommunalnaya kvartira” (see an attachment). Answering questions (Кто такой Ян и что с ним случилось? Почему в ванной окно? Что случилось со старой ванной? Когда мылись ванной? Почему мылись в тазах? Что делал квартирный пьяница? Кого еще приводили жильцы? Как определялась очередь в ванную? Что происходило с горячей водой? Где она нагревалась? Если человек долго мылся, что делали другие жильцы?)
5) Learning new specific Russian words re home (see an attachment)
6) Follow-up: next time students should tell everybody about the house of their dreams.

What technology, media or props did you use? (satellite tv, internet resources, playmobiles, etc.)

Laptop ; TV set

What worked well in this class? What did not work?

Students seemed to really like this class and were very excited to talk about their homes in college and back at home. They also were very enthusiastic about an idea of a house of their dreams.

How could this class be improved/ modified?

This class took almost two classes in my class with three students. If you want to squeeze it to one class, it’s probably worth to eliminate cultural part a little bit, because it seems that students liked discussing questions more than a video (though they still liked it because it’s quite shocking).

Please attach your lesson plan and handouts for this class below – if you used any.