Readings in Russian. Leo Tolstoy (2).

Brief Summary

This course helps beginners read and understand short stories by Leo Tolstoy in Russian. With audio, subtitles, and fun exercises, you'll dive into Russian literature while improving your language skills—sounds cool, right?

About This Course

In just a week you will be able to proudly say: “I have read Leo Tolstoy in Russian!" Even if you are a beginner!

'Readings in Russian. Leo Tolstoy (2)' is the second pilot sub course in the series 'Readings in Russian' which is planned to be continued. The major goal of the series is to help my virtual students start reading classical Russian literature at the upper-beginner level.

You would say: ‘No, this cannot be true! Russian classical literature is too complicated and this is not something to start learning this terribly difficult language with!’ Well, of course “War and Peace” or “Anna Karenina” by Leo Tolstoy, “Seagull” or “The Cherry Orchard” by Anton Chekhov, poetry by Alexander Pushkin are not what I’m offering here.

For the series I have picked up well-known short stories for children by the Great Russian writers. In this second sub course you’ll read Five short stories by Leo Tolstoy: "Большая печка", "Царь и рубашка", "Лев и собачка", "Пожарные собаки", "Старый дед и внучек" . I am planning to continue with more texts by the author.

Every lecture contains an audio of one short story recorded at a slower pace, illustrated and/or subtitled for easier comprehension by the student. There are also some downloadable supporting materials, e.g. full texts of stories with and without word stresses, vocabulary notes, etc. Plenty of 'multiple choice', 'true/false', 'fill in the blanks' exercises with feedback are included. To get the maximum benefit from the course step-by-step instructions are provided. I also guarantee chat support in case students have any questions.

If you start right away then in just a week you will be able to proudly say: “I have read Leo Tolstoy in Russian!” – Я читал ЛьваТолстого на русском!

• This course is a logical continuation of “Readings in Russian. Leo Tolstoy (1)”. You will read and analyze five more short stories written by the Great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy. All lectures are sub-titled and recorded twice: at a slower pace and at a faster pace. Plenty of supplementary materials, exercises and step-by step instructions will help you improve reading, listening, writing and speaking skills. At the end of this course, you will be able to put word stresses correctly, imitate native speaker's intonation, recognize and understand old language forms and idioms, expand Russian vocabulary, improve grammar, and so forth. Last but not least is that you will be introduced to the phenomena of Russian culture and mentality discovered by Leo Tolstoy.