Кто там? – Кот!
Stand up! Say yesterday's words with the gestures: ПРИВЕ́Т 👋 · КО́ФЕ ☕ · МЕТРО́ 🚇 · ТЕА́ТР 🎭
- Don't read anything yet. Tap and listen. Watch what Natasha's hands do. 🚪✊ knock-knock!
- Six letters today. They look like English letters and sound almost the same: a, k, m, o, t.
- One small trap: Е says ye, as in yes. КОМЕ́ТА = ko-MYE-ta.
- Small letters look the same, only smaller: а к м о т е.
Say every word aloud and do the action. The action falls on the loud syllable: МА-ма – the photo goes up on МА; ка-КА-о – you sip on КА; ко-МЕ-та – you throw on МЕ.
🧠 Scientists: people who move while they say a new word remember it better. Feels silly? Do it anyway! 😄
- ТУТ and ТУК-ТУК have a letter you don't know yet (У). Today they are picture words, like ПРИВЕ́Т.
Read alone. Guess, then tap. Only the six letters you know.
🐈 КОТ · КТО · ТАМ · ТАК · КАК
☄️ КОМ · КОМО́К · МОТО́К · КОМЕ́ТА · АТА́КА · А́ТОМ
☕ КАКА́О · МО́ККО · КЕ́ТА · МАК
👩 МА́МА · ТЕ́МА · МЕ́ККА
- Write three words in big letters: КОТ, КОМЕ́ТА, АТА́КА. Say them.
Say the story aloud, with the actions. Then play: do the action – say the word. Mix them up!
Ма́ма – так? 🙃 – Не так!
Как? Так? – Не так!
Вот так? – Так! Вот так! 👍
Кака́о? – Кака́о! ☕
Тук-тук! Кто там? … 🤷
Ком… комо́к!
А вот мото́к! 🧶
Мото́к тут. Комо́к тут.
Коме́та! Коме́та! ☄️
… 😮
Мото́к там… – Ата́ка!
Комо́к там… – Ата́ка!
Там кот! 🐈 Кто там? – Кот!
- Hold a photo or a book upside down. Ask: Так? Someone answers: Не так! Turn it… Вот так? – Так! 👍
- Crumple a sheet of paper: комо́к! Put it on the table with a ball of wool: мото́к тут, комо́к тут. Throw them: коме́та! коме́та! Point: мото́к там, комо́к там! 😄
- Knock on the door: Кто там? Someone at home answers: Кот! or Ма́ма!
- Be the teacher: say кто, кот, ма́ма, тут, там, как, так, кака́о – someone at home does the action.
Can you do it without the video? – Молоде́ц! Go to the quiz.
Ма́ма – так? – Не так! Как? Так? – Не так! Вот так? – Так! Вот так! Кака́о? – Кака́о! Тук-тук! Кто там? … Ком… комо́к! А вот мото́к! Мото́к тут. Комо́к тут. Коме́та! Коме́та! … Мото́к там… – Ата́ка! Комо́к там… – Ата́ка! Там кот! Кто там? – Кот! Молоде́ц! Пока́!
Mum – like this? – Not like this! How? Like this? – Not like this! Like this? – Yes, like this! Cocoa? – Cocoa! Knock-knock! Who's there? … A lump… a little ball! And here is a ball of wool! The wool is here. The paper ball is here. A comet! A comet! … The wool is there… – Attack! The paper ball is there… – Attack! There is a cat! Who's there? – A cat! Well done! Bye!
- А К М О Т – like English a k m o t.
- Е – ye as in yes: коме́та.
- ТУТ, ТУК-ТУК, НЕ, ВОТ – picture words for now: you hear them and know them; their letters come later.
- Every new word has two links: tap the word to hear it 🔊, tap the picture to open it in the dictionary 📖.
ударе́ние – stress – shows the syllable you say louder and longer, just like in English: LUN-dun (London), TEL-ih-fohn (telephone).
ЛО́НДОН – the stress is on the first syllable, as in English. But Russians say a real, round о: LON-d’n, not LUN-dun. The second о comes after the stress, so it is short and weak (like the a in sofa).
ТЕЛЕФО́Н – not like the English TEL-ih-fohn: the stress is on the last syllable: ti-li-FON (е without stress sounds like a short и). That is why we mark the stress.
🎯 Why does о sound like а?
🔬 Почему́ так · Why this way
- Six easy letters first. They look and sound like English, so on day one you read real words. The US Foreign Service Institute Russian course starts the same way (FSI FAST Russian, lesson 1).
- Letters, then real words at once. Adults learning Russian letters one by one, and reading them straight away in real words, matched letters to sounds best. Study with adults – Brennan & Booth 2015.
- Move while you say it. Adults who acted out Russian words remembered far more than adults who only listened. Studies with adults – Asher 1968.
- The action on the loud syllable. A hand beat on the stressed syllable helps adults pronounce new words. Studies with adults – Prieto's group, Barcelona.
- Our own method. Natasha's Language Aerobics – tested for many years with her students.