ELEMENTARY RUSSIAN... Сегодня в кабинете... Unit 1, Week 4 Language lab (Alphabet and Unit 1)

Здравствуйте, ребята! Как дела? =How's it going, guys?

Уже сентябрь = It's already September... There's a lot of review... Typical for the lab before you turn in portfolios. 

First off, check out this week's Muzyka Monday. Что такое осень?

Сегодня на лабе... Today in the lab...

• Print out or grab at the lab our lab хендаут... INCLUDE THIS IN YOUR PORTFOLIO!
• Put on your наушники = your headphones... and do the listening exercise on the sheet (page 2), Addresses. Listening for numbers... FOCUS! Do you know how you get better at understanding Russian? Listening to Russian! (If you want to rehash your numbers 1-20, this page is pretty good!... They're also listed below.)
• THIS WILL HELP YOU ENORMOUSLY with your homework for the portfolio! Look through this PPP on the Prepositional case... Вот что важно... Here's a recap of what's important: [a] Don't forget to remove the ending. We add endings to stems! [b] The ending is usually -e, but when you try to add -e to any noun that ends in -ия, -ие, or -ий, you get -ии as the ending: Германия --> в Германии. [c] And don't forget that Russian treats all foreign toponyms (place names) that end in -о, -у, or -и/-ы as indeclinable, that is, they never change. Я живу в Орландо (NO CHANGE!).
  

Review of SUBJECT PRONOUNS (я, ты, он, она, мы, вы, они). What does it mean "to conjugate" a verb? 

Any single Russian verb has six different conjugation forms in the present tense, which is another way of saying something simple: There are SIX subject pronouns (like I, you, she, they....). In most Indo-European languages (NOT ENGLISH!) there are different verb forms that correspond directly to the subject pronoun.
Think of the English verb “to be”, which has three conjugation forms in the present tense (I am, you are, he/she/it is, we are, you are, they are). The English verb “to do” has only two conjugation forms in the present tense (do and does).

In this unit, we learned some of the conjugation forms of the Russian verb “жить”= to live. See its full conjugation paradigm below

(I) я живу́                                         (we) мы живём           
(you Sg) ты живёшь                        (you Pl) вы живёте
(he/she/it) он/она/оно живёт      (they) они живут

Now, do the written assignment 4 in the handout. Explain where each person lives. Remember to use the prepositional case, and remember that the verb form changes according to the subject! 

Some review....

The cardinal numbers again in Russian

1. один     ("a-deen")
2. два     ("dva")
3. три     ("tree")
4. четыре     ("chye-tir-ye")
5. пять    ("pyat")
6. шесть     ("shest")
7. семь    ("syem")
8. восемь     ("vo-syem")
9. девять   ("dyev-yat")
10. десять   ("dyes-yat")
11. одиннадцать
12. двенадцать
13. тринадцать
14. четырнадцать
15. пятнадцать
16. шестнадцать
17. семнадцать
18. восемнадцать
19. девятнадцать
20. двадцать

Вперед! Forward... MARCH!

Grammatical gender

Russian has three grammatical genders — masculine, feminine, neuter — and two “numbers”, singular and plural.

All nouns and modifiers have gender OR number. (All plurals in Russian are... I guess genderless?)

Nouns

Nothing new here, kids. We’ve always known what nouns are:
A noun is a kind of word (see part of speech) that is usually the name of something such as a person, place, thing, animal, or idea
Nouns have an “inherent” gender, they “always are” a certain gender: студент is always masculine, студентка is always feminine, etc. There are "markers" on most nouns that denote gender:

-а/-я is (almost always) feminine, -о/-ё is (almost always) neuter, -∅ (no ending) is masculine, and -ы/и usually marks the plural. (Recall that Russian "doubles" its vowels, so а and я both denote the same underlying phoneme or sound, /ah/.)

So, look at the words

• студентка (ends in an -a so it's feminine)
• студент  (ends in "nothing" so it's masculine)
• студенты (ends in -ы so it's plural)

Все так просто! Everything is SO EASY!

Some nouns that indicate a MALE are "marked" with a feminine ending... Take for instance папа, dad. Clearly, dad is a guy (well, at least to the Russian mind...). But the word папа is marked with a vowel (a) that indicates feminine. HOWEVER! The modifier "knows" the "real" gender of папа: Это мой папа. (The modifier is masculine!)... This is true for many male nicknames like Лёша, Ваня, Федя, Саша... If it's a boy, these nicknames are masculine and the modifiers would indicate that.  (See below for an explanation of how modifiers reflect the gender of the noun they modify.) 

Modifiers

These words reflect the gender of the noun they modify. You guys know this from basic Spanish: “el nino hermoso” and all that. Nino is masculine + singular, so you must use el. Nino is masculine + singular, so you must use hermoso. Everything reflects the gender/number of the noun. Most Indo-European languages work this way... except English.  

Modifiers: Anything that makes a noun more specific. Not just any car! That car. My car. My blue car. You get the idea. 

We start with simple possessive pronouns, “my car": моя машина. Feminine noun, so feminine form of the possessive. 

• мой 
• моя
• моё
• мои  

Hard and Soft Consonants (Review)

For almost every consonantal sound we have in English, 

Russian has two: a “hard” and a “soft”. Leave aside for a moment the actual phonemic difference: How do you know if a consonant is hard or soft? The default is always hard. That is to say, unless you have information contrariwise, assume that the consonant is “hard.” The consonant is “soft” if it is followed by the “soft sign” (мягкий знак) or if it is followed by a “vowel that induces softness in the preceding consonant” — aka, a “soft vowel.” (Note that the vowel itself isn’t soft—we just call it that because it’s easier than saying “vowel that induces softness in the preceding consonant.”)

Hard consonants +	а          о             у            э              ы
Soft consonants +	я        ё              ю            е              и

Second-Year Russian, Language Lab for Unit 1, week 4

Привет, ребята! Какая сегодня погода? Наверное, солнечно и жарко! Странно, что дождь не идёт... Лето во Флориде!

Сначала... Напишите, пожалуйста, тест! Take your QUIZ!

Then... Check out this fabulous PowerPoint!  (examine it carefully!)

Замечательно! = Awesome! Do you understand the difference between ли and если? Note particularly that most если clauses are in the future... Если будет тепло, то мы погуляем в лесу! If it rains, then we'll take a walk in the woods!

Now,  do ex. 18,19, and translation into English (see your assignment sheet here, print it out or just type in it).

А теперь... послушайте стихи Пушкина! Listen to a famous Russian actor Innokenty Smoktunovsky reading our poem "Зимнее утро": Make sure you add Russian and English subtitles. Read the whole poem for fun! You will need to recite the first three lines tomorrow during the oral exam (see your lab worksheet as well for the lyrics)

Listen a couple times, then read it to any of the tutors or professors. I want you to read the poem aloud so we can check your pronunciation (= произношение...). 

Моро́з и со́лнце; день чуде́сный!
Ещë ты дре́млешь, друг преле́стный
- Пора́, краса́вица, просни́сь!                                  (А.С.Пушкин)

Frost and sunshine – a beautiful day!
You are still half asleep, my lovely friend –
It’s time, my beauty, wake up!   

Finally, remember that your Oral Exam is  ЗАВТРА.  Practice your dialogue lines with your exam partner or with tutors and me. Don't forget to sign up for the exam!

Elementary Russian: Unit 1, LAB 3 week 3

DON'T FORGET: STUDY ABROAD AND IMMERSION LANGUAGE STUDY APPLICATION FOR SPRING AND SUMMER SESSIONS IS DUE OCT 1. APPLY WITH W.O.R.L.D. Here is some very important information about SPREES-related scholarships. Check it out! Muzyka Monday is totally cool... And see our tutors at SPREES during their work hours (see tutoring schedule on the right hand side of this page -> 
they, too, are класс.

ʕ·͡ᴥ·ʔ

ДОБРЫЙ ДЕНЬ! 

DO NOT RUSH!

I love this Russian saying, literally, "If you rush, you'll make people laugh":
Поспешишь - людей насмешишь
(Pospeshish – lyudei nasmeshish)
English equivalents: "Hasty climbers have sudden falls," or "Only fools rush in." 

Now see a lab handout or grab it in the lab!

1. Сначала do the quiz (only Dr. Zheltoukhova's section)!

2. Now, do два listening exercises on your хэндаут, check off the names you hear:
1-34
1-35

3. Грамматика:
Listen to Oral Drill 3. Write out either американец or американка next to each name...

На сегодня всё!

SECOND YEAR RUSSIAN: LAB 3 week 3

DON'T FORGET: STUDY ABROAD APPLICATION FOR SPRING AND SUMMER SESSIONS IS DUE OCT 1. APPLY WITH W.O.R.L.D.  Here is some very important information about SPREES-related scholarships. 

First, take the vocab quiz! Grab the quiz handout at the lab.

Now, let's discover the world of Винни-Пух по-русски...
PRINT THE HANDOUT or grab it at the lab! 

Давайте посмотрим мультфильм про Винни-Пуха.

1.  Watch the episode about the weather and the bees
2. Listen to all the three songs from this episode here (00:00-1:40) and get ready to sing your favorite one out of those three songs in class :)
3. Answer the questions in Russian (see the handout)

Давайте поработаем c тьюторами:

4. Read the text about Винни-Пух (вторая страница в хэндауте) and answer the questions in Russian.

Давайте вспомним ПАДЕЖИ:

5. Fill in the blanks (that is a part of your portfolio, which is due next Friday)

And, finally, a LINK to the signup sheet for the ORAL PERFORMANCE next Thursday. Please sign up in pairs or with Sofia (Stetson)!  МОЛОДЦЫ! СПАСИБО!

ELEMENTARY RUSSIAN: Сегодня в кабинете! Today in the lab... (Unit 1 Week 2 Numbers and reduction)

Welcome back to the lab!

Здравствуйте, студенты! Вы знали, что первое сентября - День знаний в России? = Hello, students! Did you know that the first of September is Knowledge Day in Russia (when the school starts)...

Q. Where is День знаний celebrated?
День знаний по-прежнему отмечается в разных странах: в Белоруссии, Казахстане, Кыргызстане, Армении и Латвии. (See if you can figure out the countries where it's still celebrated as it was in the USSR.) I don't think most schools for most grades have classes, per se. It's more of a party: The kiddos march in groups, the teachers get flowers, fireworks, speeches are speeched. That sort of thing. The event figures large in the imaginations of children, to be sure.

This short video is a glimpse of how they celebrated the first of September 2021 in one of the Moscow schools. Can you hear the name and the patronymic of the teacher? Ask me about this video if you have any questions ...

Can you read the cursive below? It says ВСЁ БУДЕТ ХОРОШО! = Everything will be OK!

Сначала! First: Grab a LL хендаут!  here is the handout.

1) Work on vowel reduction (the first bit on your LL handout). Read the handout carefully and practice saying the words. The rule: Generally speaking, you pronounce the grapheme O when it's NOT under stress as /ah/ (that's the "pure" /a/ sound, like the first vowel in the word "automobile"). 

So the word хорошО is pronounced /kharashO/. 

Yes, there are more complicated systems of reduction, but if you only ever reduced the o to /a/ when not under the stress mark, then you'd sound like a Russian. Good enough! 

3) On a computer or heck even your PHONE, listen to & start learning the cardinal numerals 11-20. The numbers (Числительные) exercise is on the LL handout. If you're feeling confident, try to write the numbers out in words, not figures! (Links are below.) 
11 Одиннадцать 
12 Двенадцать 
13 Тринадцать 
14 Четырнадцать 
15 Пятнадцать 
16 Шестнадцать 
17 Семнадцать 
18 Восемнадцать 
19 Девятнадцать 
20 Двадцать 

Listen to the Числительные (Numbers) exercise here. 

Write down the numbers you hear here on your handout.

4) Now, listen to the three “разговоры” (conversations) and answer the questions. (Links below.) Don't worry that you cannot understand everything!!! Get used to it. Just jot down the responses, to the best of your ability, directly on the LL handout wherever there's room next to the corresponding questions. Remember: We listen to a lot of Russian in this class to train your ear. How can we train your ear if we only listening to stuff you understand? Here are some suggestions how to proceed:

• Read the questions in the hangout first
• Listen to the whole conversation to get the gist of it.
• Look out for words that sound familiar (the names of the US states for instance)
• Keeping the questions in mind, listen to the conversation again for more details.
• Listen one more time (3-4 times would be enough). Don't worry if you don't understand everything. (This cannot be overemphasized! 

Listen to the разговоры here: 

Разговор 1 Здравствуйте! | 

Разговор 2 Добрый день! | 

Разговор 3 Вы канадец?

5) With a partner (or me! Or the tutor! or by your lonesome dove!) read the Доброе утро dialogue on the LL handout. 

Can you read cursive above? :) It says:

лишишься... 

 

SECOND YEAR RUSSIAN Unit 1 LAB 2

ЗДРАВСТВУЙТЕ! 

ДАВАЙТЕ ПОРАБОТАЕМ!

Now, Возьмите хендаут ЗДЕСЬ! = Get today's  handout  HERE or grab a printed copy from us!

OK... Давайте послушаем! Two SHORT listening exercises о погоде в Москве и о погоде в Петербурге. Listen to these forecasts (just half of the recording!) и ответьте на пару вопросов... Answer a couple of questions on the worksheet... (That's 1-50 and 1-51 on the handout.)

Now, let's work a bit. First, I'd like you to choose any dialogue and read it aloud... then translate... then read it again. Mark the one of your choice, we'll work on them more on Tuesday.

Then there are a couple brief grammar exercises. 
1) The first involves the first-person imperative (Let's!) The point here is that the "shortcut" to such commands is to use the PERFECTIVE form of the first-plural (мы)... Поработаем! Let's work a bit. Поговорим! Let's have a talk. See, no need for the Давайте (Let's) imperative... But you COULD say Давайте поговорим! Давайте поработаем! It's just that you don't HAVE to say "let's" in these commands. Просто как репа! Simple like turnip!

2) The second exercise trains your use of the preposition к + датильный падеж (dative). The combo means "go to someone's house": Куда ты ходил? Я ходил к Давиду. Wheredya go? I went to David's house.

СПАСИБО ЗА ХОРОШУЮ РАБОТУ!!!!