The Cactus Course Outlines provide a learning framework for the Cactus Foreign Language Evening Courses. They are designed to provide you with a good idea of what you might cover over a 10-week period, and include typical themes, grammar and vocabulary fields. They are flexible rather than prescriptive, in that our teachers may decide to adapt their learning plans to the specific level, aims and interests of their classes. Use the tabs below to view the relevant Russian course outline for your level.
Russian Beginner 1
Topics & Vocabulary:
- Name, profession and personal information
- Greeting and parting.
- What are they doing?
- My Family.
- Who and What?
- Introduction
- Eating out
- Talking about places and things
- Numbers (1-100) and mathematics
- Telling the time
- Asking directions
- Talking about position (где, в, на)
- Describing things and activities
Grammar:
- Gender of nouns.
- Personal pronouns.
- Personal pronouns in the Nominative and Accusative case.
- Verbs in the present tense: 1st and 2nd group conjugation.
- Plural of nouns. Possessive pronouns.
- Consonants: hard and soft; voiced and voiceless.
- Vowels: reduction of о, е, я.
- Intonation of a question and a statement. Accent (stress).
- Reading rules. Voiced and voiceless consonants combinations
Cultural Content:
Skills Work:
- Alphabet
- Pronunciation: key sounds and intonation
- Reading rules
- Speaking and understanding
- Writing simple words
Russian Beginner 2
Topics & Vocabulary:
- Describing people
- Work and activities
- Weather & climate.
- My day
- Getting around the city.
- Clothes, Food & Shopping
- Home & Accommodation
- Languages & Countries
- Reading rules and intonation.
- Difficulties of pronunciation.
Grammar:
- Nouns in the Prepositional case. Prepositions “ в”, “на” in the Prepositional and Accusative case.
- Verbs in the past tense.
- Numbers.
- Adjectives.
- Adverbs of time and quality.
- Irregular verbs вставать, давать, продавать. Accusative case inanimate and animate.
- Demonstrative pronouns это, эта, этот, эти in the Nominative and Accusative case.
- Verb “хотеть”.
- Prepositional case with preposition “about”.
- Impersonal structures.
- Personal pronouns in the Prepositional case.
Cultural Content:
- Russia: geography and history
Skills Work:
- Reading and listening
- Speaking and understanding (dialogues and role plays)
- Writing
Russian Beginner 3
Topics & Vocabulary:
- Cities & Streets
- House & Flat, Rooms & Furniture
- Dates, Week agenda. Planning your week activities
- Summer holidays & Travel
- Cultural aspects, music, films, television, books & theatres
- Positions & Directions
Grammar:
- Adjectives and Possessive pronouns in the Prepositional case.
- Irregular verb of 1st group conjugation “брать”.
- Irregular verbs of 2nd group conjugation: просить, платить, видеть, ненавидеть, переводить, любить, спать, готовить.
- Days of the week in the accusative case. When did you have a meeting?-On Monday.
- Verbs with suffixes “-ова-, -ева-»: e.g. планировать.
- Structure “У меня был…”
- Reflexive verbs of type “кататься»
- Verbs “мочь and уметь»
- Pronoun “свой”
- Conjunctions: because, that is why (потому что, поэтому)
Cultural Content:
- Russian holidays / festivals and traditions
Skills Work:
- Reading and listening
- Speaking and understanding (dialogues and role plays)
- Writing
Russian Elementary 1
Topics & Vocabulary:
- Possessions, positions, the genitive and dative
- Transport
- Travel & Travelling
- Directions
- Travel tips
- Staying in hotels
- Restaurants, local & International cuisines and customs
- Describing processes, activities and states
- People in the World
Grammar:
- Verbs of Motion.
- Nouns and adjectives in the Genitive case singular and plural
- Genitive and dative cases
- Prepositions (в, на, из, с, к, у, от)
- Genitive case with numbers
Cultural Content:
- Reading papers and magazines
- Common idioms and proverbs
Skills Work:
- Reading and listening
- Speaking and understanding
- Writing
- Discussing
Russian Elementary 2
Topics & Vocabulary:
- Introductions, self, job and family
- Time and Time zones
- Daily activities
- Health
- Vacation and Travel
- Sightseeing
- My hobbies, sports and free time activities
- Eating out (Cafés, restaurants and markets)
Grammar:
- Verb aspect: Non-perfective and perfective verb pairs.
- Dative case.
- Category of state: стоять, лежать, висеть, находиться.
- Modal words (Мне нравится… Надо, нужно, можно)
- Verb aspect: Imperative.
- Instrumental case.
- Comparative and superlative structures.
- Verbs of motion with prefixes.
Cultural content:
- The world of work and leisure
Skills Work:
- Reading and listening
- Speaking and understanding
- Writing
- Discussing
Russian Elementary 3
Topics & Vocabulary:
- Talking about yourself
- Shopping, Souvenirs ; Money and Buying things
- Food and Drink, Products.
- Clothes
- Health, Tastes and Diet – Healthy way of life.
- The body
- At the doctors.
- Dining out-menu, ordering, deciding what to eat
- Talking about work and professions; how to choose an employee; how to judge a person by his/her CV
- My day.
- Time
- Everyday activities. How to start a new life.
- Hobby and entertainment. Sharing your experiences.
Grammar:
- Mastering vocabulary and functional grammar necessary for communication and skills
- Verbs of Motion, all aspects
- Verbs of Motion with prefixes such as “идти, прийти, пойти, войти, выйти, зайти, подойти, перейти”
- Other verbs with prefixes such as “читать, прочитать, перечитать, зачитаться, вчитаться”, etc.,
- Participles and Gerund
Cultural Content:
- Russia in the World
- Russian baths.
Skills Work:
- Reading and listening
- Speaking and understanding
- Writing
- Discussing
Russian Advanced
Topics & Vocabulary:
- Talks and discussions on economic and cultural issues.
- Reading and analysing Russian literature: poetry and prose.
- Watching and discussing films.
- Reading and analysing newspapers.
Grammar:
Cultural Content:
- Russian and international society – social issues
- Famous people
- Russian Media
- Russian Business and Economy
Skills Work:
- Reading and listening
- Speaking and understanding
- Writing
- Discussing
Russian Proficiency
Topics & Vocabulary:
- Talks and discussions on economic and cultural issues.
- Reading and analysing Russian literature: poetry and prose.
- Watching and discussing films.
- Reading and analysing newspapers.
Grammar:
Cultural Content:
- Russian and international society – social issues
- Famous people
- Russian Media
- Russian Business and Economy
Skills Work:
- Reading and listening
- Speaking and understanding
- Writing
- Discussing
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