Russian 3305See the Course Description for a brief description of the work in this course.
This syllabus may be updated as we go. Always consult this Web page for assignments because they may change. All grammar/writing assignments and study materials will be posted here; reading assignments may be handed out in class.
Note: One of the course requirements is reading texts and taking tests on this site. Your Web browser will display and print the Russian text on this page and on linked pages if the browser's font is based on the Academic version of the Microsoft Windows Cyrillic 1251 character set. Click here, to get our fonts for Microsoft Windows. Standard Microsoft fonts do not include accented vowels while ours do. Follow the included directions to install one of the fonts with accented vowels and configure your browser to use it. As an alternative, please use the Windows computers in the language lab; log in as a Russian student. Font problems on your own computer cannot be used as an excuse for not doing your homework.
Early in the semester, you should learn basic Russian grammatical terms.
Throughout the semester use these Quick Links for review.
Each table row shows the work you should do in preparation for that class.
| Thursday | |
| Monday | |
| Tuesday (optional) |
| Thursday | Print this six-page handout in Acrobat (PDF) format: Page 4; Page 5; Page 6; Page 7; Page 8; Page 9. These pages describe the Russian alphabet and shows samples of cursive writing. Learn the alphabet and copy the writing on these pages. |
| Monday | Consult Letters and Sounds. Part 1. Write 30 Russian words that illustrate various points of this section. Indicate what your words/letters are examples of. You may pick those words from a book, newspaper, or Web site, or just look around and write what you see. |
| Tuesday (optional) | (See Course Description for directions on doing this homework.) Advanced Russian: From Reading to Speaking (disc handed out in class): Chapter 2. Interviews. Interviews 2-1, 2-2, 2-3.. (Михаил Мишин. Выступление, интервью). |
| Thursday | Read Очень ли трудно русское правописание? from «Слово о словах» Льва Успенского. Find and copy (in longhand) 30 words from this story that illustrate some of the points made in Letters and Sounds. Part 1. |
| Monday | Read Один за трех; Три за одного from «Слово о словах» Льва Успенского. Find and copy (in longhand) 30 words from this story that illustrate some of the points made in Letters and Sounds. Part 2. |
| Tuesday (optional) | (See Course Description for directions on doing this homework.) Advanced Russian: From Reading to Speaking (disc handed out in class): Chapter 4. Stories. Story 4-1. Pages 1-12. (Андрей Геласимов «Нежный возраст»). Don't forget to print the text from this Web page and bring it to class. Remember to also bring your four questions (in writing). |
| Thursday | Read Самая удивительная буква русской азбуки from «Слово о словах» Льва Успенского. Find and copy (in longhand) 30 words from this story that illustrate some of the points made in Letters and Sounds. Part 2. |
| Monday | Read Еще одна «редкостная» буква from «Слово о словах» Льва Успенского. Find and copy (in longhand) 30 words from this story that illustrate some of the points made in Letters and Sounds. Part 3. |
| Tuesday (optional) | (See Course Description for directions on doing this homework.) Advanced Russian: From Reading to Speaking (disc handed out in class): Chapter 4. Stories. Story 4-1. Pages 13-26. (Андрей Геласимов «Нежный возраст»). Don't forget to print the text from this Web page and bring it to class. Remember to also bring your four questions (in writing). (These reminders will not be repeated in the subsequent syllabus pages.) |
| Thursday | Read Било и крыло; За что бьют рынду? from «Слово о словах» Льва Успенского. Write 10 short Russian sentences with words from this story that illustrate some of the points made in Letters and Sounds. Part 4. |
| Monday | Consult again Letters and Sounds. Part 4. Write 10 short Russian sentences with words that illustrate various points of this section. |
| Tuesday (optional) | Advanced Russian: From Reading to Speaking: Chapter 2. Stories. Story 2-1 (A or B). Pages 1-20. (Михаил Мишин «История»). |
| Thursday | Consult Letters and Sounds. Part 5. Write 10 short Russian sentences with words that illustrate various points of this section. |
| Monday | Read section Suffixes in Letters and Sounds. Part 5, then take as much of this online Self-Test 1 as you have time for. If your computer doesn't play the sound correctly, use any PC in the language lab. Compare your results to the provided answers and analyse your errors, if any (click the links in the answer page). Take the test again if you feel you can do better the second time. Bring your first version to class. We will use this dictation to review everything that has been covered this semester so far. |
| Tuesday (optional) | Advanced Russian: From Reading to Speaking, Chapter 3. Stories. Story 3-1 (A or B). Pages 1-31. («Сергей Довлатов о времени и о себе») |
| Thursday | Take the rest of the online Self-Test 1. Compare your results to the provided answers and analyse your errors, if any. Use the answer page and Quick Links to review everything that has been covered this semester so far. In class, you will write a dictation that is similar to Self-Test 1. |
| Monday | Осенние каникулы |
| Tuesday (optional) | Осенние каникулы |
| Thursday | Read Анатомия слова from «Слово о словах» Льва Успенского. Summarize it in 10 short Russian sentences. Bring 5000 Russian Words to class. |
| Tuesday (optional) | Chapter 3. Stories. Story 3-2 (A, or B), Story 3-3 (A or B). (Сергея Довлатова «Предисловие», aka «Холодильник» и «Остров») |
| Monday | Read Глокая куздра from «Слово о словах» Льва Успенского. Summarize it in 10 short Russian sentences. As you read, note the case forms of nouns. Bring 5000 Russian Words to class. |
| Thursday | Read Два слова о суффиксах from «Слово о словах» Льва Успенского. Summarize it in 10 short Russian sentences. In each sentence, mark the case, number, and declension class of every noun. Use the terms in grammatical terms and on pp. 310, 311, 312, and 317 of 5000 Russian Words. You should read the above pages carefully and also consult the Web pages listed below. Note that for reading these Web pages you must follow the directions regarding Russian fonts at the top and bottom of this page (or use the Windows computers in the language lab). Consult these Web pages: The four declension classes of nouns, Gender classes, Case of nouns: form and function. Bring 5000 Russian Words to every class. |
| Tuesday (optional) | Chapter 1. Stories. Story 1-1 (A or B). Pages 1-24. (Михаил Мишин «Счастливый») |
| Monday | Write 10 Russian sentences to show the use of various case, gender, and number forms of nouns. In each sentence, mark the case, number, and declension class of every noun. Use the terms in grammatical terms and on pp. 310, 311, 312, and 317 of 5000 Russian Words. You should read the above pages carefully and also consult these Web pages (some of them are a review from the previous class): The four declension classes of nouns, Gender classes, Case of nouns: form and function. The chart from p. 317 of the dictionary is also shown at this Web page, where you may find the format easier to use. Don't miss the variants for the Genitive plural endings, the special spelling of -ия and -ие nouns in the Dative and Prepositional cases, and the animacy rule. Bring 5000 Russian Words to every class. |
| Thursday | Read Слова и словари from «Слово о словах» Льва Успенского. Summarize it in 10 short Russian sentences. Note that for reading the Web pages below you must follow the directions in Russian Fonts at the top and bottom of this page (or use the Windows computers in the language lab). In all sentences, mark the case, number, and gender of all pronouns and adjectives. For reference, use pp. 313, 314, and 315 in the dictionary. If you want an introduction to these classes of words, read these Web pages: Adjective-noun agreement, Ordinary and Special adjectives. If you need a reminder of the effect of spelling rules (p. 309 in the dictionary) on endings, read The effect of spelling rules and The effect of stress in Nom. Sg.: adjectives in -ой, -ий, and -ый. Read also about comparisons so you know that a comparative form never ends in -и even though many sound as if they do. Bring 5000 Russian Words to every class. |
| Tuesday (optional) | Chapter 2. Stories. Story 2-2 (A or B). Pages 1-25. (Михаил Веллер «Тест»). |
| Monday | Read Словaрь Пушкина from «Слово о словах» Льва Успенского. Summarize it in 10 short Russian sentences. In all sentences, mark the tense and conjugation type of all verbs. For reference, use pp. 318 in the dictionary. You'll also find these Web pages useful: The two verb stems (including the links to irregular verbs and consonant alternation), Past tense endings, Non-past tense endings and The two conjugations. If you need a reminder of the effect of spelling rules (p. 309 in the dictionary) on verb endings, read Spelling rules for verbs. |
| Thursday | Read Лазея в прошлое from «Слово о словах» Льва Успенского. Summarize it in 10 short Russian sentences. In all sentences, mark the aspect, tense and conjugation type of all verbs. For reference on aspect, use these Web pages: Aspect: Perfective and Imperfective verbs (including the links to взять/брать and пойти/ходить), How to express past, present, and future, Prefixed and unprexifed verbs, and Aspect partners with different roots. |
| Tuesday (optional) | Chapter 2. Stories. Story 2-2 (A or B). Pages 26-51. (Михаил Веллер «Тест»). |
| Monday | Read One-Way and Non-One-Way verbs of motion on the Web and write 10 short Russian sentences using various verbs of motion in various situations that illustrate the difference in their meaning: Round trip vs. one direction and other similar distinctions. You will find these Web pages useful for reference: Six sample verbs of motion, Expressing "go", Пойти vs. ходить, Prefixes, More prefixes, and More examples. Use the dictionary to verify spelling and conjugation. In class, we'll also talk about deverbal and imperative forms. |
| Thursday | By now, you should be able to spell all forms for pronouns, nouns, adjectives, and verbs without consulting any tables. (This does not include deverbal forms--participles and deverbal adverbs in the last two columns of the dictionary entries.) Take as much of this online Self-Test 2 as you have time for. If your computer doesn't play the sound correctly, use any PC in the language lab. Compare your results to the provided answers and analyse your errors, if any. Take the test again if you feel you can do better the second time. Bring your first version to class. We will use this dictation to review everything you have learned about pronouns, nouns, adjectives, and verbs in the recent weeks as well as the earlier material. |
| Tuesday (optional) | Chapter 6. Stories. Story 6-1 (A or B), Pages 1-30. (Людмила Улицкая "Явление природы") |
| Monday | Use your corrected homework and answers to Self-Test 2 again to review. In class, you'll write a dictation similar to the one in Self-Test 2. |
| Thursday | Read about Prepositions, Particles, and Conjunctions. Write a short letter to a friend or family member using as many of these rules as you can. |
| Tuesday (optional) | Chapter 6. Stories. Story 6-1 (A or B), Pages 31-53. (Людмила Улицкая "Явление природы") |
| Monday | Read Место вашего рождения from «Слово о словах» Льва Успенского. Write a short essay about your family: where did you come from, what language(s) did you, your parents, and your grandparents speak before coming to the US, how did you all learn English, how English and your earlier languages co-exist in your family, and anything else that might occur to you in this respect. |
| Thursday | Thanksgiving |
| Tuesday (optional) | Chapter 6. Stories. Story 6-1 (A or B), Pages 54-77. (Людмила Улицкая "Явление природы") |
| Monday | Use this Review Guide in Acrobat (PDF) format as you review the material of the entire semester. In class, you will write a practice exam that is similar to the final exam. |
| Thursday | Review everything, come to class with questions. |
| Tuesday (optional) | study period |
| Monday | study period |
Russian 3305
The Russian Language Program
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Russian Language Program Department of Russian 226 Morrill Hall, Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853-4701, USA tel. 607/255-8350, fax 607/255-2044 email russlang@cornell.edu |
This Web site uses custom RUSSIAN FONTS with accented vowels.
Web site by Slava Paperno |