Russian

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Though Russian was not taught in Charlotte Mason’s schools, I have listed below resources that could be used in teaching according to Charlotte Mason’s philosophy.

Vocabulary

In the early years, vocabulary is developed through pictures and objects around the student’s environment.  Below are resources you could use for vocabulary.  The key here is to remember that the students are not to see the words.  In some cases, you may need to find a way to cover the words.

Songs

Stories

  • The Beelinguapp is a new app that reads aloud stories in a variety of languages along with side by side text of the native and target language!
  • The Bible in Russian–with audio
  • Librivox hosts a collection of audiobooks in Russian, including poetry
  • A website hosting not only many classic Russian short stories, but translations of other classics by Mark Twain, James Joyce and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; appropriate for older years
  • This YouTube channel has a collection of fairy tales in Russian.  This resource should be used for its audio only in the early years.
  • Russian Folk Tales by Alexander Afanasyev; a free version in English, here
  • Russian Fairy Tales by Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin; AND on Audible unabridged, here
  • The Tales of Mother Goose by Charles Perrault English/Russian
  • Aesop’s Fables by Jean de la Fontaine English/Russian
  • Aesop’s Fables on Librivox
  • Project Gutenberg has a number of stories in Russian, in print and audio
  • A site recommend to me with Russian folk tales, poetry, audio and video.  This is for the teacher who knows Russian!

Poems

 

M. Gouin’s Series

Still searching for a resource here!  If one knows enough of the language, one could make up their own simple series, following a stream of thoughts and actions.. such as, “I wake up in the morning.  I make my bed.  I get dressed.  I brush my teeth.”

Formal Lesson Books

Formal Lessons books are teacher resources for vocabulary, poetry, conversation, grammar and short stories.  Mason used similar books for lessons in her programmes.  Teachers were required to read the preface to educate themselves and did not use them exhaustively.  These are not for the student to see until they are far along in their practice of the language.

 

Curricula Choices/Online Programs

  • The Learnables: an immersion-based program for older students that begins with listening and speaking before moving on to reading and writing.