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Tag: russian

RU F21 ADV: Russian Folktales

Language Resident: Aleksandra Bystrova

Date: 09/16/2021

Class theme/topic discussed: Russian Folktales

Goals of the class :

  • Learn about Russian folklore and rules of creating a traditional fairytale
  • Practice storytelling

Class structure:

  1. Warm-up.
    I ask my students to discuss the following questions:
    1) What is “сказка” (traditional Russian verbal fairy tale)?
    2) Did you like reading fairy tales or listening to them when you were a kid?
    3) Do you know any Russian fairytales?
  2. Activity 1. Reading a fairytale “Сказка об Иване-царевиче, жар-птице и о сером волке” (The fairytale of Ivan-tsarevitch, a firebird and a grey wolf) (one and a half page, adapted, with vocabulary).
    Students seat in a semi-circle. We read the text aloud making stops at the end of each paragraph. I make sure they understand everything by asking them questions. I draw a plan of a fairytale on a board while they are reading. At the same time, I have a powerpoint presentation opened with drawings of this fairytale, so students have a visual image of what is going on.
  3. Activity 2. Analysis of a fairytale 
    I ask students to name all characters from the fairytale (7). Then, I ask them about the role of those characters. What do they do? We do it on purpose, so later we could discuss the thesis from the book “Morphology of the Folktale” by a Soviet folklorist and scholar Vladimir Propp. After we wrote all characters and their role (functions) on the board, I present my students Propp’s concept and give them a handout with a plan of creating a folktale.
  4. Activity 3. Create your own fairytale!
    I ask students to use the Propp’s concept of creating a folktale (7 main characters and 31 functions, which constitute the plot). They can choose any quantity of characters and functions to create a folktale.

What worked well in this class? What did not work?
While reading the folktale in the class, I tried to use visual materials, gestures and paraphrasing as much as possible. Students seemed interested in the plot, because they laughed when something funny happened and answered context questions. The fairy tale was not long (adapted 1.5 pages), but it took almost 30 mins to fully analyze it (which was more, than I expected). Students seemed overwhelmed with Propp’s concept, but I was ready for it — I simplified the functions, put pictures to them and printed it out in a handout. We did not have time to complete the last activity (composing a folktale), but when students discussed their plots, they were very engaged and came up with really funny ideas. We will continue talking about it next class.

How could this class be improved/ modified?

I would devote two classes to this topic. I would spend more time reading and analyzing a folktale and explaining to students the Propp’s concept, and during the next class I would ask students to create a folktale and present it (in a form of a performance).

PowerPoint Presentation:

RUS SP21 ADV/INT: Untitled Goose Game

Conversation Class Lesson Summary

Language Resident Name:

MARIA GLUKHOVA

Day and Date:

Thursday, 04/06/2021 and Thursday, 04/08/2021

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class):

Russian, Advanced

Class theme/topics discussed:

Untitled Goose Game

Goal of the class:

To play Untitled Goose Game together, practice imperatives, and have fun.  

Untitled Goose Game for Nintendo Switch - Nintendo Game Details

How did you structure the class?

  1. Greetings, announcements, general questions.
  2. In advance, create a vocabulary list with necessary words (especially verbs). Work on this list together with your students and ask them to make imperative forms of verbs: run! swim! etc. It’s also helpful to talk about directions: go left, jump on, etc. 
  3. Open the Untitled Goose Game on your computer and share the screen. Most likely, you can change the settings and choose your target language as the language of the game.
  4. Explain the rules. You’ll be the one playing, but your student will have to tell you what to do.
  5. Show them the “To-Do List” for the first episode. Read it together. You can also play it together for a few minutes to give students an idea of how the game works.
  6. Divide students into groups. In the break-out rooms, each group has to come up with instructions for you to complete one of the tasks from the “To-Do List.” For example, one group can think about hiding the food, while the second group has to steal the key. They can brainstorm for 5 minutes or so.  
  7. Once everyone has a strategy, open the game again. Each group has 3-4 minutes. They have to guide you and tell you what to do to complete the task: “Run up, hide in the grass, wait until the farmer can’t see you, grab the carrot,” etc. 
  8. Have fun! 🙂

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

Untitled Goose Game, Zoom

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

The class worked out great, we had a lot of fun! I did two classes on this game because it takes time to work on vocabulary, explain the rules, etc. Also, make sure you know how to play this game first because it’s not always intuitive.  

How could this class be improved/ modified?

I would leave it as it is.

RUS F20 Adv/Int: Rooms and their inhabitants

Language Resident Name:

Maria Glukhova

Day and Date:

Wednesday, 09/16/2020

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class):

Russian, Advanced

Class theme/topics discussed:

Rooms and their inhabitants.

Goal of the class:

Speaking: To work on describing one’s living space and to speculate on who might live there

Grammar: To practice «где» vs. «куда»

Vocabulary: furniture, design/style, colors, character.  

How did you structure the class?

  • Greetings, announcements, general questions.
  • Warm-Up [PowerPoint]: An LR shows a picture of a room and asks who the students think might live there and why. Together we describe the room (высокие потолки, окна во всю стену, персидский ковер на полу, etc.) and the people who might own the apartment (обеспеченные, с отличным вкусом, предпочитают жить за городом, etc.)   
  • Activity 1: Following the same idea as before, students get pictures of different apartments. In pairs they should describe both the rooms and the owners (it is better to choose interesting pictures where there are many things to talk about: дом русской бабушки в деревне, дом из золота в стиле барокко, избушка на курьих ножках, etc.).
  • Activity 2: A Detective game. Students work in pairs. A teacher prints out the pictures (6 rooms and 8 people), and the students have to detect who lives where and to find one character who doesn’t belong to the house.

The game is from here: https://www.adme.ru/tvorchestvo-reklama/najdite-hozyaina-kazhdoj-kvartiry-i-vychislite-cheloveka-kotoryj-voobsche-ne-zhivet-v-etom-dome-1712565/

Answers:

  • Conclusion. We check the results and discuss how they understood [or didn’t understand] who lives where.

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

PowerPoint, Zoom

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

Students love the detective game! Sometimes it takes them almost the whole class to figure out who lives where.

How could this class be improved/ modified?

The class was a lot of fun, I would leave it as it is.

RUS F20 Adv: Happiness Checklist

Language Resident Name:

Maria Glukhova

Day and Date:

Wednesday, 10/21/2020

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class):

Russian, Advanced

Number of people:

1-2

Class theme/topics discussed:

What makes me happy in the Corona time?

Goal of the class:

To make a Happiness Checklist to understand that there are actually many things that bring you joy.

How did you structure the class?

  • Greetings, announcements, general questions.
  1. Find a nice website where you can make checklists and download them for free. For Russian, I used https://my.365done.ru/. Ask your student to make a list of things/activities that bring them joy in the Corona time (or in a normal time, depending on where you are). I asked my student to come up with 33 points because we have an expression “33 pleasures” in Russian (все 33 удовольствия). It is quite tricky, and people usually get stuck after they write 10-15. But then they start thinking and write the rest, which is simple: to light up candles, to watch a Harry Potter movie, to buy a new plant, etc. It helps people to see that there are things that they can do to feel better, even at this time. 
  2. Ask a student to share the result and then compare what you have.

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

Zoom, a Checklist Design website

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

In this class, I only had one student, and we talked a lot about what we both put in our checklists. Although it’s better to check in advance if you can download checklists for free from the website you use!

How could this class be improved/ modified?

I would leave it as it is.

RUS F20 Adv: Children’s Literature

Language Resident Name:

Maria Glukhova

Day and Date:

Wednesday, 10/14/2020

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class):

Russian, Advanced

Number of people:

1 (or any)

Class theme/topics discussed:

Children’s literature

Goal of the class:

To work on translation skills and storytelling

How did you structure the class?

0. Greetings, announcements, general questions.

  1. Warm up questions:

On a scale from 1 to 10, how much did you enjoy reading as a child? Why?

What books did you like the most when you were a child?

What are the five (+) main differences between adult and children’s literature?

Do you think parents should read books aloud to their children? Why?

2. Activity: Find a short picture book that has no words, only images. Ask a student to look at it first. They should then come up with a text that describes what is happening as if it was written on these pages. Then you can do a slide show, and your student should pretend that they are narrators, and you are their child who is listening to a story. As a child, you can ask questions!

3. Activity: Find a short picture book with English text (I used “The Snowy Day” by Ezra Jack Keats). If you only have one student, you can work on translating it into your target language together. If you have a group, students can work in pairs, and then you can compare different translations. Students should convince others that their translation is the best. 

4. Conclusion and a follow-up discussion.

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

Zoom, prepared picture books

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

In this class, I only had one student, and we had a great time working on translation together.

How could this class be improved/ modified?

I would leave it as it is. If you have more people, for the first activity, they can do one page each. Or you can also find a couple of books.

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