Find some advice for teachers about the Kazakhstan chapter on this page, organized by page of the lesson. Click the plus signs to open them.

You can also find some materials for use in the classroom in our Diverse Russian – Kazakhstan Google folder. There are some Google slides for teacher use (including a collection of Kazakhstan-themed memes at the end), as well as some Google docs that can be used as handouts. We also hope that if you have materials related to the book’s content that you are willing to share, that you will upload them to the “Sharing materials from users” folder as well.

General guidance and resources

Depending on your students’ level, you might want to spend 4-6 class periods on the chapter about Kazakhstan, though the material could also be used a little at a time if it is supplementing another intermediate textbook. However, if you only have a short time to spend, you could either focus on more general information about Kazakhstan (the first 6 pages of the lesson), or focus on the part of the lesson about music. Or you could skip certain pages to shorten the lesson for your own needs. Pages that can easily be skipped: Казахстан: язык, деньги, национальности; Этнический состав и религии Казахстана; История Казахстана; Казахстан – двуязычная страна; Интересные факты про Казахстан; Тойские песни; Казахские народные инструменты в популярной музыке; Реклама с народной музыкой; Популярные песни на казахском. The three pages that focus on Kazakh artists Jah Khalib, Dequine, and Молданазар could also be shortened – you could choose to focus on just one or two if you don’t have time for all three.

Resources

Quizlet sets – main vocabulary list

Quizlet sets – complete vocabulary list

Vocabulary list in Google Docs – main vocabulary list

Vocabulary list in Google Sheets – complete vocabulary list

Vocabulary list in Google Docs – complete vocabulary list

Speaking activities collected in one Google Doc

Texts collected in one Google Doc

Diverse Russian – Kazakhstan Google folder (materials that can be used in class)

Страница: Казахстан: основные факты

You may want to have students brainstorm about what they already know about Kazakhstan. It may be worth acknowledging that many people have heard of Kazakhstan from the film “Borat”, but that the portrayal of the country in the film is mostly not accurate. It might be interesting to look at the history of Kazakhstan’s relationship with the film, which has changed over time. Here are some resources on that topic:

English:

The Real Kazakhstan – What Does Borat Get Right and Wrong about his Native Land? – Slate
‘Very Nice!’: Kazakhstan, Outraged No More, Embraces Borat In New Slogan – NPR

Russian:

“Борат” – за или против? Опрос от Tengrinews.kz
Казахстан не смог победить Бората — и потому просто к нему примкнул – Медуза

Давайте почитаем!

Students do not need to understand every word to get some information out of this text. Encourage them to understand enough to answer the questions.

If you would like, you can provide your students with a paper version of the text. You can find a printable version at this link: Diverse Russian – Kazakhstan – Казахстан: основные факты text.

Remember that you can find the transcripts and texts collected into one Google doc.

Давайте послушаем!

If your students need a refresher of understanding years, you may want to remind them of this before they complete this exercise.

Страница: Казахстан: язык, деньги, национальности

Упражнение 3

In each group of words, the last one is the one that will appear in the text. Encourage students to start with the words that they know and then move to new words.

Давайте почитаем!

If you would like, you can provide your students with a paper version of the text. You can find a printable version of it here: Diverse Russian – Kazakhstan – Казахстан: язык, деньги, национальности text.

Упражнение 4

Remember that you can find the texts from the chapter on the page Тексты or in the text and transcripts Google doc.

Страница: Этнический состав и религии Казахстана

Давайте послушаем!

Remember that you can find the texts from the chapter on the page Тексты or in the text and transcripts Google doc.

Ethnicity and religion in Kazakhstan are topics that could inspire more discussion.

Страница: История Казахстана

If your students are working towards intermediate or at a lower level of intermediate, these texts may be difficult for them. You may want to have them skip this page, or work on the activity together in class, getting them to understand just enough to put the events in order in English. This will give them some barebones information about Kazakh history.

If you would like, you can provide your students with a paper copy of the text. Keep in mind, however, that the pictures may help them understand what they read. You can find a printable version of the text at this link: Diverse Russian – Kazakhstan – История Казахстана text in segments.

Упражнение 8

Be sure to let students know if you want them to do the English version of the activity or the Russian version, or both. You can also have them do it in person if you would like. You could cut the events out on strips of paper and have students arrange them in the correct order. You can find a printable version of the events at this link: Diverse Russian – Kazakhstan – История Казахстана – events.

Страница: Казахстан – двуязычная страна

Давайте послушаем!

Have your students listen to the text several times, and read the questions several times as well. If your students need further help with the listening text, you can have them looking at the words while they listen (find it on the Тексты page or in the text and transcripts Google doc.).

Давайте поговорим!

If your students need additional help getting started with their answers to the questions, you could give them formulas or sample answers to choose from.

Страница: Интересные факты про Казахстан

Упражнение 11

Students only have to understand a little bit of the text to choose the right photograph. If your students are at a higher level of intermediate, you might want to make sure they understand more, by having them do more with the text of the questions, like translating them or rephrasing them.

Давайте поговорим!

If your students are at a lower level, you might want to have them focus on the last part of this exercise and just talk about their own hometown.

Страница: Музыка: Слова, которые вы наверное уже знаете

Because we assume that students using this book are of varying levels, they may have a varying level of familiarity with the vocabulary presented here. If they know the majority of the words well, you can have them skip this page or complete it very quickly. If there are a good number of these vocabulary items that are unfamiliar to them, you might want to have them work with the words for longer. You also may encourage them to use the Quizlet sets that are available for these words.

The “Музыкальные инструменты” section features all Kazakh musicians. An interesting follow-up activity would be for students to try to find out more about these musicians.

Страница: Познакомьтесь с новыми словами

Again, the level of familiarity that students have with these words may vary. You can let that determine how long you spend on them and whether you do more activities to practice the words further. You may also want to invite students to use the Quizlet sets that are available for these words.

Страница: Музыка: грамматика

Давайте поговорим!

If your students need help getting started with their answers to the questions, you may want to provide them with formulas for how to answer. Some of the sections have “Подсказка” accordions that can be opened with sample answers.

If you would like, you can provide your students with a paper handout that has questions on it. You can find a printable version of it at this link: Diverse Russian – Kazakhstan – Музыка: грамматика speaking interview questions.

Follow-up activity

This uses an activity type called a “Documentation tool”. It allows students to go through a set of pages and write something on each page. At the end of the tool, they can download a Word document that collates together everything that they have written on each page. Then this document can be emailed to you or submitted via a course management system like Canvas.

Страница: Повторение: Кто играет на чём?

Упражнение 24

To make the photographs larger, students can click on the plus sign.

Страница: Казахская народная музыка

Давайте почитаем!

Students do not have to remember most of the words that they encounter in this text, though песня and исполнитель are from the earlier vocabulary lists.

If you would like, you can provide the students with a paper copy of the text. You can find a printable version of it at this link: Diverse Russian – Kazakhstan – Казахская народная музыка text.

Страница: Казахские народные инструменты

Упражнение 26

You could easily extend this activity by showing students pictures of various instruments and then asking them to tell you to which category it belongs.

Упражнения 27 и 28

It’s OK if students don’t remember all of the names of all of the Kazakh instruments, but домбра is well-known enough that it is worth remembering.

Страница: Казахские народные песни

Упражнение 29

If your students need help with the audio files, the text is provided in an accordion underneath that can be opened.

Translations into Russian of the folk songs are provided but the page does not ask students to engage with them unless they want to. If you wanted to extend work with this page and your students were of a relatively high level, you could have them reading and working with the Russian translations of the songs.

Страница: Тойские песни

If your students need help with the audio file, the text is provided in an accordion underneath that can be opened.

Students are not required to listen to the songs on the page.

Страница: Казахские народные инструменты в популярной музыке

Упражнение 31

Students should drag the Russian text over its corresponding English equivalent.

Students are not required to listen to the songs on the page.

Страница: Реклама с народной музыкой

You might want to discuss with your students (possibly in English, depending on their level) the reasons behind the popularity of Kazakh folk music in advertisements. It might be interesting to talk with them about which industries are more likely to use these types of strategies in their advertising.

Упражнение 34

The drag and drop exercise might be difficult for those with screen readers, so an alternate version of the activity is provided in an accordion below the activity.

Страница: Популярные песни

This page asks students to choose just one of the songs provided and listen and fill in some blanks. We tried to provide a variety of genres so that students could choose one according to their own taste. The activity does not ask them to fully understand the songs that they listen to, though this could be a follow-up activity that you ask them to do if you wish. The difficulty of the lyrics varies quite a bit in these songs. If you have students at a lower level of intermediate, you might want to encourage them to try these songs that have simpler lyrics:

• Вечерний звонок
• Мой Казахстан
• Жёлтая
• Улетаю

Students should not worry too much if they miss some of the blanks, but if they do miss some of them, they should listen to the song again with the correct answers showing so that they can hear the word that they missed.

Before having them do this activity, you might want to do an activity together that is similar to that on the next page (Популярные песни – ваше мнение).

Страница: Популярные песни – ваше мнение

You may want to choose one of the songs on the previous page and then complete this activity as a group based on that song, to give students an example to follow as they tell their partners about one of the other songs. They could also talk about their own favorite song using these formulas, either before or after they talk about the song that they listened to. Remember that a printable version of the speaking activities can be found at the following link: Давайте поговорим! Google doc.

Страница: Казахская популярная музыка: Jah Khalib

Упражнение 35

When the video starts playing, buttons appear that allow students to jump to the various clips in this activity.

Remember that you can find the texts from the chapter on the page Тексты or in the text and transcripts Google doc. You could provide the transcript to students if they need assistance with their understanding of the clips.

Страница: Казахская популярная музыка: Dequine

Давайте почитаем!

Students do not need to understand every word to complete the activity.

If you would like, you can provide your students with a paper copy of the text. You can find a printable version at this link: Diverse Russian – Kazakhstan – Казахская популярная музыка: Dequine text.

Упражнение 37

If you prefer, you could have students do this activity in class. You could print out the advice and English equivalents, cut them into pieces, and then have students match them. You can find a printable version of this activity at this link: Diverse Russian – Kazakhstan – Казахская популярная музыка: Dequine advice matching.

Давайте послушаем!

Students do not need to understand every word to complete the activity. Remember that a printable version of the speaking activities can be found at the following link: Давайте поговорим! Google doc.

Страница: Казахская популярная музыка: Молданазар

Упражнение 38

The process of elimination can be helpful in this activity.

Давайте почитаем!

The slideshow can be opened up in full screen by clicking on the arrows in the bottom right.

If you would like, you can provide your students with a paper version of the text. You can find a printable version at this link: Diverse Russian – Kazakhstan – Казахская популярная музыка: Молданазар text.

Страница: Популярные песни на казахском

This page does not have specific language content since the songs are in Kazakh, but at the end of the page students are prompted to talk about listening to music in other languages. To extend this page, you could have students find out more about these artists and report on them in Russian. Remember that a printable version of the speaking activities can be found at the following link: Давайте поговорим! Google doc.

Страница: Поиграем: что вы помните о Казахстане?

This page is mostly for fun and to encourage students to remember what they learned about Kazakh culture. You could have students complete this in groups and see which group could do it in the fewest “lives” as a friendly competition.

Страница: Поиграем: что вы помните о Казахстане?

You could have your students play as a whole class or in teams, or individually as homework.

Страница: Music: Vote for your favorites

On this page, students are prompted to vote for a favorite song from a particular country or region. Some are in Russian and some are in a local language or languages. When students vote, they have the option of clicking a button that will show them which songs other learners voted for.

You can use this activity in a variety of ways. Here are a few ideas for what you can do with it:

• Have your students listen to the songs and then cast secret ballots for their favorites. Then they have to guess which songs their classmates like the most.
• Have your students listen to the songs and then guess which ones are the favorites on the online poll.
• Have your students explain to each other in Russian or in English why they like a particular song the best.
• Have your students learn more about the artists that they voted for and report on them to their classmates in Russian or in English.
• Create a tournament bracket (you could use a printed tournament bracket or use an online one like this tournament bracket) and have students vote until only one song remains.

Страница: Share some new music with other students

This page features a Padlet that invites students to explore music from Russian-speaking countries and regions and post about a song that they discovered, allowing other students to discover the same song. It also asks them to make a brief post in writing about it. This Padlet is public, and anyone can post on it, and the authors of the textbook are doing their best to monitor it and make sure there are no inappropriate posts, but if you see anything that needs to be removed, please contact us at diverserussian@gmail.com to let us know. The activity prompts students that if they want, they can post on the Padlet anonymously. You should take this into consideration as you give them this assignment, so that they know how to let you know which post is theirs if it is posted anonymously. You might have them copy and paste the same text into your course management system in order to turn it in to you.