Russian in a Contemporary World Русский в современном мире Russian in a Contemporary World is an intermediate textbook with a focus on improving oral and written skills of the Russian language by encouraging students’ creative potential with their use of language in a contemporary society, such as media, TV, art and technology. Key features of the textbook include: • Use of original texts and application of material by choosing topics which refl ect the students’ general interests, according to a survey conducted among Humanities undergraduates, and which are essential for students of Russian language, culture and society; • Practical skills: the textbook allows students to process primary text sources, summarising, writing and expressing their views on certain sociopolitical issues; • Raises issues which are being widely discussed in present-day Russia and introduces trends in the development of modern Russian society; • Providing feedback: students can check their work against answer keys that feature in a number of exercises as well as fi nd discussions on different grammatical topics in the Appendix. A imed at B1-B2 and Intermediate-Mid students of Russian, this is the ideal textbook for those aiming to improve their Russian whilst gaining knowledge of contemporary Russian culture and society. With answer keys and grammar topics included, the textbook is also ideal for independent study. Elena Simms is Language Tutor of Russian in the University Language Centre and in the Department of Russian and East European Studies at The University of Manchester. She previously taught at Moscow State University where her academic career began in 1995. She holds a PhD in Russian as a Foreign Language from the Pushkin State Russian Language Institute in Moscow. Her current area of focus is the methodology of teaching Russian as a foreign language with an interest in communicative, innovative language teaching and learning at university level. Tatiana Romanova is Senior Language Tutor in Russian at RUDN University, Moscow, Philological Faculty, Department of the Russian Language and Teaching Methods. She is a graduate of Lomonosov Moscow State University and is the author of numerous textbooks on teaching Russian as a foreign language. Her main interests are linguistics, multi-culturalism and literature. Russian in a Contemporary World A Textbook for Intermediate Russian РУССКИЙ В СОВРЕМЕННОМ МИРЕ Пособие по русскому языку (средний этап) Elena Simms and Tatiana Romanova First published 2020 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2020 Elena Simms and Tatiana Romanova The right of Elena Simms and Tatiana Romanova to be identifi ed as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Simms, Elena, author. | Romanova, Tatiana, author. Title: 880-01 Russian in a contemporary world : a textbook for intermediate Russian = Russkiĭ v sovremennom mire : posobie po russkomu ︠ia︡ zyku (sredniĭ ėt ap) / Elena Simms and Tatiana Romanova. Other titles: 880-02 Russkiĭ v sovremennom mire : posobie po russkomu ︠ia︡ zyku (sredniĭ ėt ap) Description: 1. | New York : Routledge, 2019. Identifi ers: LCCN 2019026316 (print) | LCCN 2019026317 (ebook) | ISBN 9780367332181 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367332150 (paperback) | ISBN 9780429318542 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Russian language—Textbook for foreign speakers—English. Classifi cation: LCC PG2129.E5 S489 2019 (print) | LCC PG2129.E5 (ebook) | DDC 491.782/421—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019026316 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019026317 ISBN: 978-0-367-33218-1 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-367-33215-0 (pbk) ISBN: 978-0-429-31854-2 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Apex CoVantage, LLC Contents Содержание Acknowledgements vii Introduction viii I Глобальный международный язык 1 Урок 1 1 Урок 2 4 II Телевидение 11 Урок 1 11 Урок 2 15 III Субкультуры 22 Урок 1 22 Урок 2 26 IV Искусство. Граффити 33 Урок 1 33 Урок 2 37 V Судьба – это характер 44 Урок 1 44 Урок 2 48 VI Интернет 54 Урок 1 54 Урок 2 58 VII Наука И человек 65 Урок 1 65 Урок 2 69 vi Содержание VIII Гаджеты – лучшие друзья человека 76 Урок 1 76 Урок 2 79 IX Наше будущее 87 Урок 1 87 Урок 2 89 X Туризм 97 Урок 1 97 Урок 2 101 Appendices. Приложения 109 Answer keys. Ключи 119 Glossary of websites. Список источников 126 Glossary. Словарь 127 Index: Индекс 141 Acknowledgements Благодарность We would like to express our thanks to everyone who has been involved in the preparation of this book, in particular to Neil Hailey for his valuable input. Other people we would like to acknowledge are Svetlana Romanova and Maria Kostjukevich for their help, and Sofya Romanova who assisted us with the draw- ings for the book. Our special thanks to students at The University of Manchester, to the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia for their enthusiastic response to the book, and to the Routledge team who helped us to move this project forward. We would also like to thank the photographers who have given us permission to include their photos in the book: Dmitry Rozhkov (photo of V. Pozner, Lesson II and photo of I. Rodnina, Lesson V), Ilya Shurov (photo of David Yang, Lesson V), Aleksey Spiridonov (photo of Fedor Konyukhov, Lesson V). Introduction Введение The textbook R ussian in a Contemporary World has practical applications for UK Russian language university students in their second and third years (B1-B2 level) and is designed for short-term (24 contact hours per semester) tuition. T he book is aimed at improving students’ oral and written skills. It can also be used both as a core textbook and as reference material for other Russian language courses, as well as being useful for self-study learners who wish to improve their intermediate and advanced level Russian. It could be used as a textbook for Heri- tage Learners if other universities are able to offer such courses. T he textbook aims to enhance the students’ creative potential with particular emphasis on the use of contemporary media language. Special emphasis is given to Russian vocabulary and word formation. Students will also gain a better under- standing of the different linguistic varieties of texts which will help improve their ability to deliver oral and written presentations in a foreign language. T he textbook deals with original texts which refl ect the students’ general interests (according to a survey conducted among Humanities undergraduates at The Uni- versity of Manchester and the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia) and will help students to broaden their knowledge of contemporary Russian culture and life. As well as improving student language skills, the book also aims to develop learning strategies, such as predicting the content and extracting key information from individual texts; summarising and analysing the content, structure and style of texts; ensuring all these elements are incorporated into the students’ own writing, and to help them when choosing and preparing the content of oral presentations. Russian in a Contemporary World consists of 10 chapters of paired lessons which are thematically and logically interlinked. Each chapter focuses on a specifi c cultural theme. Chapters that include contrasting opinions and styles are inter- linked and may provide a different perspective on the same issues, thereby encour- aging discussion among students. The time allocated for individual chapters may vary from two to four hours of class time and will depend on the group’s language abilities and specifi c teaching goals. E ach lesson includes an original text on sociocultural topics and polylogues taken from the Russian section of the Internet. These are accompanied by a series of increas- ingly diffi cult reproductive/productive vocabulary and grammar exercises, i.e. get- ting the students to repeat what is said or heard. Creative reproduction is linked to a number of mental processes including summarising and synthesis abilities. The Введение ix vocabulary used in the texts meets the requirements of the Russian lexical minimum for Levels 1 and 2 of Russian language profi ciency and is equivalent to B1 – B2 levels under the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFRL). These 10 paired lessons are structured in ways that complement one another. For example, lesson 1 can be used in class sessions, while lesson 2 broadens student knowledge and is a logical extension of lesson 1, which can also be used for self- study at home, or as instructed by the teacher. W ord exercises comprise one of the principal elements of each chapter and are designed to train students in the correct use of the phrases used in each topic. This will be particularly important in helping students to assimilate and recognise topic-related vocabulary and so equip them with the necessary vocabulary skills to read Russian media sources, both in print and on the Internet. Each chapter has its own vocabulary list of key words for the topic which are included in the “З апомнить ” section. The “Г отовимся к тесту и эссе ” section is mainly intended for homework. It also aims to provide an understanding of the topic-related vocabulary used in each chapter, help students learn specifi c syntactic constructions and commonly used expressions in preparing oral summaries, as well as assist them in their essay writing. Additionally, it includes translation, gap-fi lling and discourse construction tasks (individually and in pairs). T he textbook assumes a knowledge of basic Russian grammar and therefore con- tains a series of complex exercises aimed at consolidating an understanding of lexical and grammatical topics such as the formation of verbal nouns; use of case variants; converting active constructions into the passive voice and forming present active and past passive participles; word order; use of the short form of adjectives, as well as paraphrasing, comparing and summarising in simple and more diffi cult sentences. Additional essential grammatical information is provided in tabular form in Appendix which also includes step instructions for essay writing (format, main text and conclusion, structures, useful phrases, words and linking words). Answer keys for several exercises can also be found inA ppendix . Special icons in the textbook indicate when students need to refer to: P re-text activities P ost-reading activities A dictionary A nswer keys to exercises A discussion activity E ssay writing The Appendices P ay attention M aterial for memorising