Урок 4: Страны Балтии

the Baltic Sea at sunset with clouds

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About the lesson

This lesson will introduce you to the 3 countries that are sometimes collectively called the Baltics – Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania (Эстония, Латвия, Литва), with a focus on the topic of travel.

In this lesson, you will:

  • learn basic facts about the Baltic countries using infographics
  • learn interesting facts about the Baltic countries
  • learn about the location / geography of the Baltic countries and some of the cities in these countries
  • talk about how far something is from something else
  • get an overview of the history of the Baltic countries and learn some of the political terms related to their history
  • learn about the Holocaust in the Baltic countries through an informational video and a first-person account
  • learn about the Baltic Way through an informational video and quotes from people who participated in it
  • learn about the role of the Russian language in the Baltics through individuals’ opinions
  • read an excerpt of an article about terms that are considered colonial in the Russian language
  • review vocabulary and grammar related to travel, including vocabulary related to transportation, hotels, and verbs of motion
  • become acquainted with and practice new vocabulary and grammar related to travel, including vocabulary related to transportation, hotels, Где? vs. Куда?, mode of transportation, time expressions, numbers as roots of words, and questions with ли
  • interpret information about tourism in the Baltics and explore Google Maps and Google Earth in the capital cities of the Baltics
  • learn basic information about some of the cities in the Baltic countries
  • use online travel websites to find out information about travel in the Baltics
  • learn about unique places in the Baltics through videos, including the Užupis neighborhood in Vilnius, the art nouveau architecture in Riga, and the Museum of Occupations in Tallinn
  • learn some of the names of architectural styles in Russian
  • learn about the 1993 referendum in Narva, Estonia
  • learn about events in the Baltics through videos, including the Kaziuko mugė Fair in Vilnius, a festival of street food in Riga, and Baltic Pride in Tallinn
  • talk about your own opinions and preferences related to travel
  • plan a fictional trip to a place with a Russian-speaking community
  • post a written summary or give a presentation about your fictional trip

Lesson links

You can always use the table of contents on the left side of the screen to jump to various pages in the lesson. These are pages that you might want to revisit as you progress through the lesson:

Путешествие: Слова, которые вы, наверное, уже знаете
Познакомьтесь с новыми словами
Путешествие: Грамматика
Лексика
Давайте поговорим!
Тексты

You can also find Quizlet sets based on the main vocabulary of the chapter that you can practice with if you want to or if your instructor asks you to.

Acknowledgments

Lesson main author: Shannon Donnally Quinn

Lesson contributing authors: Anna Tumarkin, Nila Friedberg

License

Icon for the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

Diverse Russian: A Multicultural Exploration Copyright © by Anna Tumarkin and Shannon Donnally Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.