ABOUT THE CLASS

“Однажды в городе” is a Russian-language course built around a series of adventures in an imaginary city. Each new location and situation becomes the starting point for conversation, reading, vocabulary development, grammar and creative language work.

Children explore different parts of the city and encounter new situations and problems to solve. They may visit a café, open a pet shop, have a picnic in the park or find themselves in an unusual school lesson. These imaginary adventures give students a meaningful reason to speak Russian, ask questions, explain their ideas and use new vocabulary in context.

The program goes well beyond conversational practice. Students work on reading fluency and comprehension, vocabulary, grammar concepts, parts of speech, synonyms and antonyms, descriptions, definitions, sequencing and cause-and-effect relationships. They learn to reason, explain their choices and find solutions to problems using Russian.

Reading and written language are also incorporated into the program through stories, text-based activities, language exercises and elements of creative writing.

WHAT CHILDREN DEVELOP

• Active and increasingly precise Russian vocabulary
• Reading fluency and comprehension
• Conversational confidence
• More complete and detailed sentence construction
• Recognition of nouns, adjectives and verbs
• Understanding and use of synonyms and antonyms
• Ability to describe and define
• Understanding of cause and effect
• Problem-solving and verbal reasoning
• Ability to explain and support an idea
• Creative oral and written expression
• Confidence using Russian for learning and communication

HOW WE LEARN

Each lesson becomes a new adventure in the imaginary city. Students work with specially designed cards, texts and language activities, explore a new setting, build vocabulary and solve problems connected with the story.

Children read, discuss, describe, compare, establish cause-and-effect relationships, work with parts of speech and vocabulary, create possible solutions and explain their reasoning.

The course is designed to bring vocabulary children may already understand into active use, while simultaneously strengthening reading, language awareness and the ability to formulate increasingly complex thoughts in Russian.