How to teach Russian to foreigners. Russian language courses for foreign citizens Russian language classes for foreigners

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Can every Russian language tutor teach a foreigner to speak? Certainly,No. To do this, you need to know not only your native language, but also the language of your student. Besides,master teaching methods specifically for foreigners. We have selected useful tips and examples of techniques for beginning tutors.

Russian speech should surround your student everywhere

If you have not graduated from the Faculty of Russian Language Arts (Russian as a foreign language), then now there is an opportunity to fill the gap - complete courses or learn one of the techniques yourself using manuals and video lessons.

Many specific techniques have been developed, and, of course, not a single one can be fully described in the article: they are contained in “thick” manuals. Therefore, let us dwell on some teaching principles.

It is better to teach Russian to foreigners individually at first. After two months, you can move on to group classes: this will help your students quickly master speaking and build dialogues. If classes are held 3-4 times a week, you will need 120-160 hours.

The classical approach recommends that a Russian language tutor start with the alphabet. Having learned the letters and sounds, we move on to reading. At the same time, the student’s head needs to be “filled” with Russian words.
Whatever section of the language you study, pay maximum attention to spoken language: it is unlikely that a foreigner will need to write impeccably correctly, but his career will largely depend on correct speech that does not make others laugh.
Over time, your student should learn to recognize multiple meaning words whose meaning depends on context. For example, cream as a cosmetic product and cream as a confectionery product.
Watch films together in Russian, for example, the famous comedies of Ryazanov or Gaidai, because everything related to humor is easier to remember. If your student doesn't understand funny situations, explain them.

Examples of techniques

A good methodology course was developed by Moscow State University teachers. It’s called “Teaching RFL”. It can be learned remotely in 12 days, and after completing the course, the Russian language tutor receives teaching materials that will help conduct classes. The good thing about the course is that it excludes unnecessary theory and only provides knowledge that is specifically needed in practice.

Let’s take, for example, a topic such as methods of teaching cases to foreigners. In general, cases are the most difficult for foreigners. If Russian-speaking schoolchildren need to be explained the spelling of unstressed case endings (in the field, on the desk) - they hear “i” and write “e”, then foreigners need to be taught which case to use in which case.

For example, “I’m walking along the path” - dative case, “I’m walking without a coat” - genitive case, “I’m walking with a friend” - instrumental case, etc. This can only be practiced in speech, so a Russian language tutor should select as many more speaking exercises. You will find many different dialogues in the manual “My Friends Cases” (authors: Bulgakova, Zakharenko, Krasnykh).

The author of another method, Natalya Karapetyan, recalls that there is a State educational standard for RFL. According to this standard, the elementary level includes 800 words, the basic level - 1300, the 1st level - 2300, etc. Since it is important to choose the right words to study at each level, she developed selection criteria. There are three of them:

Frequency of use.
The possibility of including them in a particular topic (for example, “In the store”, “The road home”).
Compatibility (big - small, go - move away - move, etc.).

Based on these three principles, words are selected for each level.

And in conclusion - let the Russian language tutor not forget to put himself in the place of a foreigner, whose native language simply does not have some Russian letters and sounds, who is accustomed to the fact that every word in a sentence in his language has its own specific place. Don’t be surprised if he asks: “Why can’t you say I don’t have money? After all, they say, “I have money?” Explain everything patiently, and most importantly, encourage him to talk and talk!

Lecture by N.V. Kulibina “Practical course in teaching RFL”:

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“Walking with the dog”, “chewing his orbit without sugar”, “What is awesome?!” , - if you have heard such statements more often than once a day, then you have dealt with teaching a foreigner the Russian language.

This is not an easy task, but a noble one: sometimes you have to count to yourself to five, imagine how warm waves pleasantly roll onto the shore, calm down and continue learning, realizing that someday all this will end and bear fruit.

A Spaniard once had to go through “all the circles” of the Russian language when he connected his life with my good, but already foreign, friend Katya.

Here's her story:

I came to Barcelona 4 years ago. At the same time, my beloved Catalan husband and I had a magnificent wedding, after which a real surprise for me was the local dialect “Catalan”, which has nothing in common with the Spanish language, which I studied at the university for about 4 years. During two years of special classes, I also learned Catalan, which allowed me to speak with my husband’s family and the locals as if I were one of my own.

My husband practically did not communicate with my Russian relatives, since three words in English and “sign language” wildly tired both of them. “It’s a mess,” I thought, “where is the justice?”

This is how I decided to start teaching my husband the great and mighty Russian language and at the same time fulfill my childhood girlish ambitions of becoming a teacher. I took the issue seriously, sifted through a bunch of information on the topic that I could find on the Internet, bought a special textbook, and we got down to business. And we immediately discovered that the Russian language is very difficult to teach to a foreigner, especially since in my case my idea of teaching consisted of writing “twos” in a diary in calligraphic handwriting (like Marya Vasilievna, the Russian teacher at my school).

Over the course of six months of classes twice a week for an hour, we learned the basic verbs like “want”, “go”, “eat”, etc., learned how to conjugate them (I’m especially proud of this achievement!), learned to read, really , the letters “ш”, “з” and “ы” are still difficult for my husband, we were wildly tired of these same classes twice a week for an hour and decided that the academic path was not for us. Therefore, “the concept has changed” (c), we switched to the practical path.

Russian pop music training

Since then, on all our car trips, instead of the radio, CDs with Russian pop music were turned on. Why with pop music? Yes, because, as a rule, the lyrics in such songs are simple and uncomplicated, they are easy to remember, and the same words are repeated in this case with pleasing frequency. Very soon the first results appeared: the husband began to sing along with the performers, although not yet understanding what exactly he was singing. Gradually, understanding and awareness came, and my trips turned into hell! They constantly tugged me and found out: what does it mean “I won’t give it to anyone”, “let me go”, “my only one”? Why is it sung here “you love” and not “loves”? How would it be the same thing, only in the feminine gender? And in men's? What about on average? Oh, on average people don’t sing to themselves? And if they sang, what would it be like? To my requests to “leave me a little alone today,” I received: “What are you doing? Would you like to help me learn Russian??” Yes I want, I want!
The reward for my suffering was my husband’s solemn performance of the chorus of Valeria’s song “The Clock” on New Year’s Eve in Moscow for my parents:

Call me your girl,
And then hug, and then deceive,
And the little clock laughs: tick-tock,
Don't regret anything and love for nothing.

Stormy applause. But that was later. In the meantime, we continued to study.

Teaching "pleasant" words

I simply told my husband about myself and very soon he began to report to my Russian friends and acquaintances: “Katya is beautiful, kind, smart, slim, good” - and the list goes on. Very quickly (probably from my frequent checks - didn’t I forget, it took an hour!) I also learned the words: goddess, queen, princess, darling, beloved.

Walking with the dog

It must be said that by that time, the husband had already mastered the genders of nouns and adjectives and verb conjugations very well. There were more problems with cases. It was very difficult for the Spaniard, like, I think, for any other European, to understand why it is possible to say “coffee with sugar”, but not “coffee without sugar”. One friend once told me that her husband, who was also studying Russian, could not get used to our cases for quite a long time and went “for a walk with the dog.” But this is all nonsense! In fact, whether your husband says “no sugar” or “no sugar” - you will still understand him!

It is much easier for Russians to learn Spanish than for Spaniards to learn Russian, I realized that you don’t need to strive to teach him to speak correctly, you just need to teach him to speak. The grammar of the Russian language is very complex, and if you strive for the absolutely correct use of its rules in colloquial speech, everything will stall, and your husband, frightened by the difficulties and lack of results, will change his mind about studying the language at all. So for breakfast we drank tea “without sugar” and continued to learn the language.

Children's habits

By the way, now my husband understands cases better, at least “with butter” - “without butter” - this bounces off our teeth. In the process of continuing the study, another side effect was discovered: when we came to Moscow to visit our parents and went for a walk, my husband, with the spontaneity of a child, walking next to me on the street, loudly read all the signs, tablets and inscriptions that came across him on the way. And he inquired whether he had read and pronounced the sounds correctly. He especially liked to “read” the map of metro stations in the carriage. The metro, by the way, is a very fun place; we often rode it from one end of Moscow to the other, and my husband learned the names of almost all the stations along our route. And not just station names. He still really likes to scare me, telling me in a sepulchral voice for no apparent reason: “Be careful. Doors are closing. The next station...” is the one that comes to mind. This is also our most “ancient” pearl, along with the “Watch”.

Be careful, curse words!

Now I want to make a lyrical digression. There is some joke, the meaning of which I don’t remember, but there was this idea: if you buy a parrot that lived in someone’s family, then you can form an opinion about this family. Naturally, we are talking about a talking parrot. Why am I saying this? And to the fact that, to my shame, I must admit that I very quickly taught my husband many swear words that I knew. It's really fun to hear him say them in his childish accent (by the way, I still can't understand why he sounds absolutely like a child learning to speak??), without having a particularly clear idea of their meaning. It was fun and funny exactly until the moment when the well-known Russian curse words were solemnly pronounced by my husband in the presence of my parents. Thank you for not being in front of your grandparents. Of course, in response to the question “Who taught him this?” I had to roll my eyes and say, “Oh, my God, really, who?”

Russian language for men.

But I made a conclusion for the future. Although it was late. Because my dad decided that my son-in-law already speaks Russian quite well so that he could start helping him take it to the next level. In my dad’s understanding, “another level” meant teaching my husband all sorts of “manly” words. Thus, in the vocabulary of my beloved, the word “leave me alone” and the word “jeeeeeeenschina” appeared, pronounced necessarily in a dismissive tone with an accompanying roll of the eyes under the forehead.

As was written above, the letter “sch” is still difficult for us, so in fact, it sounds like this: “jeeeeeensins,” but it’s still offensive.

The apotheosis was when my husband became acquainted with the classics of Russian literature and cinema, namely, with a quote from the book and, accordingly, the film “Heart of a Dog”: “Get off, you nit!” It is not difficult to guess that in this case my dad was also the teacher. My husband sings this phrase as an encore with special pleasure. "Geeeeensins" are outraged.

Lost in translation

One fine day, the moment finally came when my husband felt the strength to communicate directly with my relatives and friends. Surprisingly (though why is it surprising, we tried so hard!), but they understood him, and he understood. True, at first the problem arose of people not realizing that in front of them was not a Russian person, but a foreigner trying to speak Russian. They spoke to him absolutely the same as to any other Russian person. For example, my grandmother. To my husband’s joyful question: “How are you?”, the answer was: “Well... my lower back is aching, the weather is not clearing up, but how are you?” The husband did not understand anything. I had to explain to my grandmother that I had to say the same thing, but clearly and clearly: “My back hurts, the weather is bad, how are you?” When people grasp this idea, things go much better. It is very important to keep in mind that they will have to help the person (my husband) understand themselves (grandmother and everyone else).

Sometimes he puts them in the wrong place

Over time, my husband got used to the verb “to live” and often “complains” about me on the phone to my mother: “Do you see how I’m doing?” I learned some of our phraseological phrases like “like clockwork” and uses them with or without reason. "Do you want to eat?" - “Like clockwork!” Very believably he sighs from time to time: “Gosss...”, sometimes he is indignant: “Yoklmn!” The most important thing is that he can communicate with our Russian relatives and friends, even over the phone, this is especially important and valuable in the case when people do not speak English.

My husband even downloaded it from the Internet and read Chekhov’s stories! I would like, of course, not to add anything more to this, but I’ll add it anyway: not in Russian, but in Spanish. I made an attempt to read “War and Peace” in the same Spanish. Yeah, of course, I didn’t master it entirely in due time. But together we watched my dearly beloved film “Girls” and the cartoon “Hedgehog in the Fog.” Of course, I had to help with the translation, but only help, and not translate everything!

Conclusion

Now my husband speaks Russian quite confidently, notice that I said “confidently” and not “good”. And I'm glad about it. I am happy when we talk to someone in Russian in the presence of my husband, I try to translate to him what we are talking about, and he says: “No need, I understand!” - as in “Juno and Avos,” a play, the recording of which, by the way, we also watched together. I’m happy when he snatches the phone from me when I’m talking with my parents and says to my mother: “Mother-in-law, mother-in-law, do you see how I’m doing??” I even rejoice when he once again quotes “Heart of a Dog” to me! Although I swear a lot.

Now at home I never speak in Spanish those words or phrases that I know for sure that he can understand in Russian. In everyday life, kitchen and culinary topics, Russian even prevails over Spanish. I can proudly say that my husband and I speak Spanish and RUSSIAN. This is true! He recently changed jobs, sent out his resume, and I was surprised to find that in the “Language knowledge” column he wrote: Russian - entry level. Perhaps it's time for us to move to the advanced level?

Teaching Russian to foreigners

The complexity and beauty of the Russian language attracts many foreigners. It is one of the largest global languages, spoken by almost 300 million people around the world, including in the CIS and Baltic countries, the USA, Canada, Poland, Bulgaria, Turkey, Germany and Mongolia.

The Russian language is popular among expats and top managers of companies, since the full presence of global companies in the Russian market without knowledge of the Russian language is impossible.

Russian as a foreign language, contrary to popular belief, with the right teaching methods is not at all a difficult language to learn. On the contrary, it is a living, vibrant, phonetically beautiful language. And for foreign citizens living in a linguistic environment, this is an additional opportunity for intensive study of RFL.

At the ACCENT Center for Foreign Languages there are several programs for studying the Russian language:

General course
Business course
Conversation course
Intensive course

We are also pleased to offer you special courses in the Russian language, focused on specific goals and period of study, for example: Course of the Russian language, Language minimum in Russian (Survival Course of Russian).

We will help you not only learn the Russian language, but also better understand and get to know Russian history, culture and mentality.

General course has several levels:
- Course for beginners includes basic knowledge of grammar and phonetics; skills in writing simple sentences and a minimum conversational level.
- Course for intermediate students consolidates and develops speaking and writing skills, actively uses various grammatical structures and increases vocabulary.
- Course for high level students allows you to structure knowledge and fill gaps in certain aspects: grammar, pronunciation, fluency; dives deeper into the culture and history of the country of the language being studied.
Business course implies a certain synthesis of general knowledge of language and business terminology and accepted grammatical structures. This course helps you learn the necessary vocabulary for negotiations, presentations and business correspondence.

Conversation course is specially designed for students who primarily need conversational skills, the ability to maintain a conversation on general topics and express their point of view.

Intensive course the shortest but intense training cycle, including the development of all main speech skills, perhaps even with an emphasis on business vocabulary.

RFL training levels

Level designation	RCT level name	Skills and abilities
	Elementary	Understanding and using expressions and basic phrases from everyday use. The ability to introduce yourself and others, the ability to ask personal questions. Mastering the three main grammatical tenses. Free use of monologue and dialogic forms of speech within the scope of conversational topics being studied.
		Understanding sentences and frequently used expressions from the immediate environment (me and my family, shopping, work). Ability to communicate in simple everyday situations that require direct exchange of information on familiar topics. The ability to describe in simple words your origin, environment, needs.
		Communication skills, constructing simple coherent statements on familiar topics. The ability to describe an event and briefly explain your point of view. Possession of the skills of constructing sentences using verb forms, the ability to communicate on more serious topics. The skill of reading newspaper articles that are short in volume and accessible in content using a dictionary.
	Intermediate-advanced	Understand the main ideas of the text, including technical discussions in the student's area of specialization. Fluent communication with native speakers. Construct clear messages on a wide range of topics. The ability to describe details, explain your point of view on the issue under discussion, indicate the advantages and disadvantages of different views. Ability to communicate and express opinions on complex topics. Each student gives a presentation prepared at home on a topic at least once instead of the teacher in class.
	Advanced	The ability to speak fluently without difficulty finding expressions. Ability to construct clear, detailed messages and write essays on various topics. At this stage, reading lessons use newspaper and magazine articles on cultural and educational topics, as well as short stories and excerpts from literary prose in Russian.
		Easy understanding of everything seen and heard. Ability to synthesize information from various sources into coherent statements. This stage includes improving students’ written and spoken language, as well as intensively expanding their vocabulary in Russian. The lessons focus on speaking practice.

RFL exams

The Russian examination system has been officially adopted by the European Association of Linguistic Testers of Europe.

International classification - Russian system:

A1 - Elementary level (TEU)

A2 - Basic level (TBU)

B1 - First level (TRKI-1)

B2 - Second level (TRKI-2)

C1 - Third level (TRKI-3)

C2 – Fourth level (TRKI-4)

Knowledge of Russian language level A2 allows you to obtain Russian citizenship.

Successful passing of exams level B1 provides an opportunity for admission to Russian universities.

To study in technical and specialized universities, knowledge of Russian is required not lower than B2.

A diploma in the humanities requires high Russian language skills C1.

Tutorials

At the ACCENT Center for Foreign Languages, teaching Russian as a foreign language is carried out using manuals from the best publishing houses. Our teachers select the most appropriate textbook for a particular group, taking into account the wishes of students and learning goals.

In addition to textbooks, each lesson is also supported by additional materials that the teacher selects specifically for the new lesson. These are tests, crosswords, special exercises to practice past knowledge, audio recordings, video clips, pictures, stories, etc.

At higher levels, students show presentations, organize debates and competitions, our teachers always come up with something new, maintaining the tone and motivation of students.

Discover a new linguistic world with the ACCENT Center for Foreign Languages!

Russian language ranks 6th in terms of prevalence in the world.

This is the most widespread language of the Slavic group. The number of people for whom it is native is 137.5 people. There are 260 million speakers in total.

Russian is the official language of the Russian Federation, as well as countries such as Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, etc. Thousands of tourists visit these countries every year.

RCT training price

The price indicated is 1 month of classes (16 academic hours) twice a week.

Cost of corporate training in Russian as a foreign language

The price is per group.

Video message from RFL course teacher Mariola Okhotnikova

Teacher of Russian language courses Mariola Okhotnikova

The number of foreigners who want to study at Russian universities is growing every year.

Even for those who speak Russian from birth, by the end of school they will have to write the Unified State Exam. Therefore, graduates also have to improve their knowledge of the Russian language.

The difficulty is that in Russian grammar, and in particular in spelling and punctuation, there are many exceptions. To understand the logic of the Russian language, you need to learn to feel it.

Let's look at what those who start from scratch and those who speak Russian have to face.

The Russian language is distinguished by complex word formation, pronunciation, and has a complex system of noun declension and verb conjugation, so it is difficult for foreigners to learn it on their own.

Grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation in Russian.

The Russian alphabet, based on the Byzantine Greek alphabet, includes 33 letters. The writing system is Cyrillic.

Stress in Russian is variable - there are no specific rules for its placement.

One of the difficulties for foreigners is that words are not written as they are pronounced. For example, the letter "o" in unstressed position is read as "a".

The vocabulary is mostly native Russian, but in the modern language there are a large number of borrowings from English, German, Greek, French, etc.

The language has a lot of slang words that are especially difficult for foreigners to understand.

From a morphological point of view, all words are divided into three types: significant (this includes verbs, nouns, adjectives, etc.), auxiliary (prepositions, conjunctions, particles) and interjections.

The adjective agrees with the noun in all its categories. There are seven types of pronouns.

A verb can express only 3 tenses - present, past and future. But besides this, it also has the following categories - aspect, voice, mood, tense, number.

Another difficulty is the word order - it is free. All parts of speech can be swapped. Therefore, it is difficult for foreigners to understand Russian by ear.

Pronunciation in Russian is much softer than in other Slavic languages, but harder than in languages such as Spanish, Italian, and French.

Those who already speak Russian should also recheck their knowledge from time to time. This is especially true for schoolchildren. They often pronounce words incorrectly. For example, not “calls”, but “calls”, “understood”, not “understood”.

In the Unified State Exam, they have to face tasks such as placing commas, writing the correct endings of verbs, and writing nouns and adjectives correctly.

But the student receives the largest number of points for the essay. Here you need to have extensive knowledge, both in Russian itself and in Russian literature.

Adults also need to speak Russian well. Especially if they get a job in a large company.

The most difficult thing is that it is very difficult to create a training program for both foreigners and native speakers, since Russian grammar is extensive and includes many rules, most of which simply need to be memorized. Therefore, more and more people are enrolling in special language courses that help them learn a language from scratch or improve and update their existing knowledge.

Russian language courses for beginners and advanced levels.

a three-month program of intensive study of the Russian language (48 academic hours; classes are held three times a week for four academic hours).
a one-year program for studying the Russian language (140 academic hours; classes are held twice a week for two to three academic hours);
two-year program for studying the Russian language (280 academic hours; classes are held twice a week for two academic hours);

Course programs are intended for interns, graduate students and businessmen working in Moscow.

Classes are held individually and in mini-groups(2-4 people).

Programs are compiled taking into account the interests, goals and level of training of students.

Intensive Russian language program

The program provides for the primary development of speaking skills on sociocultural, business and socio-political issues. The priority is to master the norms of the literary language.

To communicate effectively, you need, at a minimum, to understand the speech of your interlocutor - what he is saying, why and what emotions he has - in order to solve your own problems and achieve your goals. The ability to understand the general content of what is heard, extract specific information, highlight significant facts, and interpret the message heard is the key to effective communication.

During the training process, students learn to write formal and informal letters, reports, essays, and articles on a given topic.

Duration of the course is 100 academic hours/hour. Classes are held 3 times a week for 4 academic days. hours in the evening.

One-year Russian language program

In this program, teachers of Foreign Language Courses at the Trade Union Committee of the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation focus on developing speaking skills in compliance with the norms of the Russian language and speech etiquette.

At the end of this program, students can quite freely conduct conversation and correspondence on a wide range of problems, including sociocultural, business and socio-political, read newspaper and magazine articles, and understand the language of radio and television broadcasts.

The classes use courses by Russian authors, teaching aids developed by the Institute of Russian Language named after. A.S. Pushkin, Moscow State Pedagogical University.

Two-year Russian language program

The goal of the program is to primarily develop speaking skills.

After the first year of study, students acquire basic knowledge in the field of phonetics, grammar, acquire a lexical minimum that allows them to conduct a conversation on everyday and sociocultural topics, read fiction and newspaper and magazine articles, write informal letters, summaries and short essays.

At the end of the second year of study, students master communicative grammar and the norms of Russian speech etiquette and therefore can freely conduct a conversation on a wide range of problems, read fiction, popular science literature, journalistic articles (highly specialized literature - at the request of students).