EARLY START RUSSIAN 5. how old are you? Сколько тебе лет? In your lessons with this chapter, children will bring together things they have learnt previously (numbers, saying your name) with some new phrases. After the “warm up”, it is best to start by giving each child the opportunity to say their own ages. We suggest ways of giving them practice saying and hearing other ages, which you could bring in earlier if there is a very limited range of ages in your class. As soon as they are familiar with saying their age in Russian, try activities that develop a bit more of a conversation.
Activities
WARM UP ❑ Before watching film 5 A1, have a brief “warm up” session session to practise the numbers 1-12, such as one of the games from Chapter 4. ❑ Watch film 5 A1: “How old are you?” Children aged 5-12 say how old they are. We Film 5 A1: “I am 8” - “Мне 8 лет” see their ages superimposed on the screen as they speak. Some of the children then introduce themselves by name and say how old they are. This time the ages are not shown on screen. Question and answer Children reply to the question, “How old are you?”. Some of the children respond to a series of questions, “How are you? What’s your name? How old are you?” We then see the children from the opening sequence saying their ages again; this time in random order with no figures representing the age on the screen. Birthday song At the Russian School, a group of children and their teacher are wishing a classmate a “Happy Birthday”. They form a circle and as they join hands and walk around the child who’s birthday it is, they sing a traditional Russian birthday song: “On Gulia’s birthday, we baked a special bread; it’s this high, it’s this wide! Bread, bread, choose anyone you want!” When the song comes to an end, the “birthday child” brings her teacher into the centre of the circle. The teacher pulls the birthday child’s ears 12 times (she is 12 years old today) as the other children count to 12. The words of the song are intended for “gisting”; pupils can work out what is happening from the images presented on screen. The birthday child then tells the viewers that she is 12 years old. Film 5 A1: singing the birthday song The film finishes as one of the children asks the viewer “How old are you?”
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14. As-tu des frères et des soeurs?
5. how old are you?
GET USED TO THE SOUNDS - online flashcards with sound and optional text
SHOW 05 FLASHCARDS: How old are you? ❑ Echoing: Select ‘How old are you?’ on the online flashcards. Show each filmclip and pupils echo the words, e.g. “Мне 7 лет”. Either now or later, discuss the Russian phrasing (see ‘How Russian works 1”)
online Teacher Preparation
NEW WORDS AND PHRASES
Сколько тебе лет?
❑ Echoing: Draw a birthday cake with 3 candles on the board. You say “Мне 3 лет”. The pupils echo the phrase. Add another candle and say “Мне 4 лет”. Continue until there are 12 candles on the cake.
How old are you?
Мне (11) лет - I'm (11) lit. to me (11) years
Click the online Teacher Preparation section which
presents the pronunciation of all the new words and RESPOND WITH UNDERSTANDING phrases - together with simple language awareness ❑ Play “How old are you?” points. The teacher calls out, e.g. “Мне 10 лет”, and the pupils who are ten years old stand up. Adjust to suit the ages of children in your class. Repeat this for eleven year olds and so on, until you have covered all the ages of your class. You can make this into a game to encourage pupils’ listening skills by speeding up the pace at which you say each phrase and varying the number of times you say “Мне 10 лет” / “Мне 11 лет” etc. in succession.
❑ The pupils form a circle. One pupil starts by saying their age, e.g. “Мне 9 лет”. This pupil does the same to the next pupil, e.g. “Мне 10 лет”. When everyone has had a turn, repeat the activity adding “Сколько тебе лет?” ❑ Everyone stands in a circle with you in the centre. Throw a soft ball to different pupils. Each time you throw the ball ask, “Сколько тебе лет?” The pupil replies, “Мне (10) лет” , and throws the ball back to you. ❑ Play the “question and answer game” Vary the questions you ask as you throw the ball to include asking, “Hello! How are you?” “Привет! Как дела?” and “What’s your name” - “Как тебя зовут?” as well as “How old are you?” - “Сколько тебе лет?” Pupils reply to the question as they throw the ball back to you. This will develop their listening skills and reinforce familiar vocabulary. ❑ Play “musical ages” Everyone moves around the room with Russian music playing in the background. When the music stops, each pupil turns to the nearest person and asks their age. ❑ Play “question and answer” and “musical ages 2” To give children practice in saying and hearing ages other than their own, give each pupil a slip of
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EARLY START RUSSIAN paper with an age on it. Ask them to choose a Russian name for themselves from the names they know from Ch. 3. They use their new identity to play “question and answer” and “musical ages”. You may find it helpful to replay Film 3 A1 or show the flashcard film clips from Ch. 3 again to help pupils choose a name for themselves. ❑ As the class grows in confidence, the conversations could be extended. When the music stops, pupils greet each other and swap names and ages, perhaps using imaginary identities to add variety to the conversations.
CROSS CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
❑ Drama: If pupils have already designed and made their “Russian” puppets, these can be used to act out extended conversations. This is also a good opportunity to revise vocabulary from earlier sections. Pupils work in groups of three with their puppets. You can either suggest a setting yourself in which children might meet each other, or ask pupils to choose their own setting, e.g. a new pupil arrives in the class; playing in the park; at the skate park or sports centre. Encourage pupils to develop their puppets’ characters in the way they behave and speak. One of the puppets might be shy, another might be a bit nosey, and so on.
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