A look at the background, language,

values and beliefs, and teaching strategies

of Russia.

Взгляд на фон, язык, оценивает и

верования, и обучение стратегий России.

By Chris Farley, Dorothy Rock, Tiffany Lacroix, Andy Young

Background - Фон
 Language - Язык
• Slavonic Branch of Indo-European Language
– Closely related to Polish, Czech, and Serbo-Croation
• Spoken by about 150 million people in Russian and
former republics of USSR
• Russian is a phonetic language
– Pronunciation can be determined from spelling and vice-
versa
• Formed using the Cyrillic Alphabet
– 33 letters (21 consonants, 10 vowels, 2 without sound –
soft sign and hard sign)
– Some letters similar to Latin Alphabet
– Consist of 5 vowel sounds, no differentiation between
long and short vowel sounds
 Language Difficulties –
языковые трудности
• Uses a punctuation system said to be one of the most
difficult to learn
• Russian consists of 5 vowel sounds, with no
differentation between short and long vowels. English
has 12 vowel sounds (5 long, 7 short), plus 8
dipthongs.
• Grammar systems show significant variations
– English has a fairly fixed word order and meaning changes by addition of
words; Russian conveys meaning largely through changes in the composition
of words and word order is very fluid

• Russian has no articles. This causes significant

problems because the whole concept of article use is
alien to Russian learners of English, and the English
article system itself is extremely complex.
 Values and Beliefs –
Ценности и верования
 Teaching Ideas or Strategies –
Обучение Стратегий
• In Russia, hand shaking is a very important custom. This
bean game could be incorporated into a math lesson:
Bean Activity
 Resources For Teachers –
Ресурсы для Преподавателей
• http://eslgo.com/ - Site devoted to teaching English as a
second language and for teachers with ESL students.
• http://bogglesworldesl.com/ - Jobs, Worksheets, and
Flashcards for the ESL and TEFL Teacher.
• http://www.eslmania.com/ - Bright ideas for teaching ESL.
• http://www.csun.edu/~hcedu013/eslplans.html - ESL Lesson
Plans and Resources
• http://bensguide.gpo.gov/3-5/symbols/index.html - Guide to
US Government for Kids
• http://www.starfall.com/ - Where children have fun learning
to read
• http://eslbears.homestead.com/ - Guide to ESL activities
and exercises
 Bibliography
ESL.fis.edu (n.d.). The difference between English and Russian. Retrieved May
25, 2009, from http://esl.fis.edu/grammar/langdiff/russian.htm