Tatiana Mikhaylova

First Russian Reader. Twenty Letters from Russia. (Easy Stories for Beginners)

This book is not a grammar tutorial and does not offer any grammar exercises. It does not have parallel translation into English. It is designed for beginning readers who already know or are studying declension of nouns, pronouns and adjectives and conjugation of verbs. The students will learn how to introduce themselves, talk about their family and friends, describe their daily activities, as well as how to ask another person questions and have an engaging conversation. All verbs are in the present tense. Vocabulary is basic, commonly used in a variety of typical everyday situations, such as studying, watching TV, eating, cleaning one's room, helping other people, and many more. Each of the stories describes some common situation in simple words and expressions. Each story is followed by a set of questions to help students better memorize the material and use it to describe similar situations from their own lives. Several "Letters" use many comparative forms of adjectives and adverbs; two types of negative words; words of need; verbs "to help," "to give" and many more. The book is written as twenty letters from a Russian boy named Nikita to his pen pal in America. In those letters Nikita tells his friend about himself, his family, friends, neighbors and their daily activities. Nikita also asks him questions about his life and sometimes needs his advice and opinion.