Dr Olga Sobolev PEL 6.01a and Mrs Larisa Leifland Berntsson

No previous knowledge of Russian required, but students should: demonstrate commitment to regular attendance, completion of homework and all assessments; dedicate at least two hours per week for coursework in addition to classes. Students are expected to be experienced language learners and/or to have a good command in at least two foreign languages.

Course Aim:

• To bring students’ knowledge of written and spoken Russian up to low intermediate level, corresponding to level A1/A2 of CEFR. Students will be ready to take exams (at the end of the Lent Term) and obtain the International TORFL Certificate (Test of Russian as a Foreign Language).
• To develop an ability to use Russian effectively for the purposes of practical communication in familiar work and social contexts.
• To deal with a variety of predictable simple language tasks (using limited vocabulary and linguistic structures) to meet the needs of everyday situations and topics.
• To familiarise students with the background to Russian speaking countries, including culture and civil societies.
• To establish linguistic skills and attitudes required for promoting and facilitating further study of Russian..

Communicative Content: The course is focused on the following aspects:

• Exchanging personal information, including studies, daily routine and outside interests;
• Interpreting documents and data, containing some topical facts and figures of a country/place;
• Expressing preferences and intentions;
• Giving advice; giving simple descriptions of people, objects places and weather;
• Demonstrating awareness and ability to use formal and informal registers in a limited social context; handling a variety of survival situations at a elementary linguistic level.

Structural Content: The course covers elementary vocabulary required for communicative functions and focuses on the following linguistic structures (the command in these areas is expected to be appropriate to the level and task with differentiation of recognition and active usage):

• Gender of nouns; nouns & personal pronouns;
• Adjectives & possessive adjectives in singular in all cases;
• Formation of plural; expression of possession;
• Basic usage of short adjectives;
• Present, past & future tense of the verbs;
• Imperative; reflexive verbs; basic verbs of motion;
• Cardinal & basic ordinal numerals;
• Wider range of adverbs;
• Simple impersonal constructions;
• Expressions of time.

24 hours of classes in the MT. 33 hours of classes in the LT. 3 hours of classes in the ST.

This is a 60 hour-course. Please refer to the LSE timetable for course teaching arrangements.

• Course Book - Svetlana Le Fleming & Susan Kay, Colloquial Russian, London: Routledge, 2017, ISBN-13: 978-1138208520
• Optional - N. Bitekhina et al, Living Russian Grammar, Moscow: CREF, 2003, ISBN-13: 978-0954433307

Continuous assessment (70%) in the MT and LT.
Oral examination (30%) in the LT.

Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.