Ито́говый прое́кт: Мой мир по-ру́сски
Chapter Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
- Present a connected personal portfolio in Russian covering identity, family, home, daily routine, food, shopping, getting around, leisure and plans, health, study and work, and past experience.
- Combine the past tense and aspect contrast from Chapter 16, the habitual past and comparison from Chapter 18, and the connected narration tools from Chapter 19 into one coherent account of your life.
- Ask and answer a full range of everyday questions about another person's world, using appropriate case, agreement, and register.
- Read and interpret a multi-paragraph personal text that draws on vocabulary and grammar from across the volume.
- Write an organized, multi-paragraph personal composition, applying the full editing checklist built across Chapters 1 through 19.
- Reflect on your own progress across Volume I and identify which systems feel confident and which deserve continued practice in Volume II.
This chapter is the Unit IV and volume-level cumulative assessment chapter. It introduces no new productive grammar, case, aspect, motion, orthographic, or pronunciation system. Every task in this chapter draws on material already introduced, developed, or consolidated in Chapters 1 through 19.
Communication Scenario
О́льга, Дми́трий, and other people you have met throughout this volume are gathering for a small get-together, and each guest is asked to share a short, connected account of their life, "мой мир," their world, covering who they are, what a typical day looks like, and something memorable that happened recently. You are invited to do the same, first for yourself, and then by interviewing a partner and retelling what you learned about them.
- You will build one connected spoken and written account of your own life, using material from across the whole volume.
- You will interview another person and report what you learned, practicing question formation and third-person narration together.
- You will read and respond to a connected personal account written by someone else, checking your comprehension across several linked paragraphs.
Review Vocabulary Map
This chapter introduces no new vocabulary items. Instead, the table below organizes the vocabulary domains from Chapters 1 through 19 into the eight portfolio areas you will use for your final project. Review any words you are unsure of before continuing.
| Portfolio area | Core vocabulary domain | Source chapters |
|---|---|---|
| Identity and origin | names, nationalities, languages, countries, contact information | Chapters 1–3 |
| Family and friends | relationships, ages, occupations, possessions | Chapter 4 |
| Home and neighborhood | rooms, furniture, housing, local services | Chapter 6 |
| Daily routine | daily actions, time, frequency, reflexive verbs | Chapter 7 |
| Food and shopping | meals, prices, quantities, clothing, comparison | Chapters 8–9 |
| Getting around and leisure | transportation, directions, hobbies, weather, plans | Chapters 11–12 |
| Health, study, and work | symptoms, advice, education, professions, tools | Chapters 13–14 |
| Past experience and stories | completed events, travel, change over time, connected narration | Chapters 16–19 |
All vocabulary from Chapters 1 through 19 remains productive in this chapter's tasks. No item on this page is new.
Pronunciation Review
Telling a connected, multi-sentence story places new demands on pronunciation that single sentences do not, because stress, vowel reduction, and phrase-level rhythm must stay accurate even as you focus on content and organization. As you prepare your spoken portfolio, keep the following review points in mind rather than learning anything new.
- Keep lexical stress steady on high-frequency words such as семья́, рабо́тать, и́мя, and жить, even when they appear in the middle of a longer sentence rather than in isolation.
- Continue reducing unstressed о and а as taught from Chapter 3 onward, especially in longer sentences where the temptation to pronounce every vowel fully increases.
- Use the pause-and-pitch pattern from Chapter 19 when a кото́рый clause or a cohesive connector such as поэ́тому or хотя́ joins two ideas, so a listener can follow where one idea ends and the next begins.
- Maintain hard-soft consonant contrasts in frequently confused pairs, such as брат versus бра́тья, throughout longer stretches of speech.
If a recording device is available, record your final spoken portfolio and listen once for content and once specifically for stress and reduction, comparing what you hear against these review points.
Grammar and Systems Review
This chapter introduces no new grammar. The sections below organize the systems from Chapters 1 through 19 that your final portfolio must draw on, so that you can check your own control before completing the practical performance task.
Case and Agreement Review
- Меня́ зову́т А́нна, и я живу́ в небольшо́й кварти́ре недалеко́ от це́нтра.My name is Anna, and I live in a small apartment not far from the center.nominative identity pattern (Ch. 1) + prepositional location (Ch. 6)
- У меня́ есть ста́рший брат, кото́рый рабо́тает врачо́м в большо́й больни́це.I have an older brother who works as a doctor in a large hospital.genitive possession with у (Ch. 4) + кото́рый nominative (Ch. 19) + instrumental role (Ch. 14)
- Ка́ждый день я чита́ю газе́ту и пью ко́фе, пе́ред тем как идти́ на рабо́ту.Every day I read the newspaper and drink coffee before going to work.accusative inanimate objects (Ch. 7) + motion verb идти́ (Ch. 11)
Aspect and Motion Review
- В про́шлом году́ я е́здил(а) в Петербу́рг и посмотре́л(а) мно́го музе́ев.Last year I traveled to St. Petersburg and saw many museums.perfective past narration (Ch. 16) + prefixed and unprefixed motion verbs (Ch. 11, 17)
- Ра́ньше я ча́сто игра́л(а) в футбо́л, но тепе́рь я предпочита́ю пла́вать.I used to play soccer often, but now I prefer to swim.imperfective habitual past with change over time (Ch. 18)
Impersonal, Dative, and Connector Review
- Мне ну́жно бо́льше отдыха́ть, потому́ что рабо́та отнима́ет мно́го вре́мени.I need to rest more, because work takes up a lot of time.dative experiencer мне ну́жно (Ch. 13) + potому́ что (Ch. 4)
- Говоря́т, что э́та рабо́та ско́ро изме́нится, поэ́тому я стара́юсь быть гото́вым(гото́вой).They say that this job will soon change, so I am trying to be ready.impersonal говоря́т, что (Ch. 19) + поэ́тому (Ch. 19)
Every pattern above was introduced in an earlier chapter. This chapter asks you to combine these systems fluently in one connected account rather than to learn anything new.
Model Dialogue: Мой мир по-ру́сски
Context: At the get-together, О́льга shares her "мой мир" account with the group, and Дми́трий asks a few follow-up questions.
This account moves through identity, family, routine, work, a past event, leisure, and future plans, exactly the portfolio areas you will use for your own account. Every pattern in О́льга's account was taught in an earlier chapter.
Listening Practice
If no audio recording is available, ask a partner, instructor, or text to speech tool to read the passage below aloud, or read it aloud to yourself slowly.
- Where is Sergei from, and where does he currently live and work?
- What did Sergei study, and how did his career change after university?
- What did Sergei do last summer, and what is he already thinking about?
Speaking Practice
Управля́емая пра́ктика — Controlled practice: portfolio building blocks
Working alone or with a partner, prepare one or two sentences for each portfolio area from the Review Vocabulary Map: identity, family, home, routine, food and shopping, getting around and leisure, health and work, and one past experience. Say each set of sentences aloud before connecting them.
Коммуникати́вное зада́ние — Communicative task: interview and report
Interview a partner using questions drawn from across the volume, covering at least five of the eight portfolio areas. Then report what you learned to a third person or to the class, switching your partner's answers into third-person forms.
Самостоя́тельная пра́ктика — Solo alternative
Record yourself giving a two to three minute "мой мир" account, moving through as many portfolio areas as you can, and including at least one кото́рый clause, one impersonal expression, and two cohesive connectors from Chapter 19.
Reading Practice
Мой мир — письмо́ но́вому дру́гу — My world, a letter to a new friend
Приве́т! Меня́ зову́т Ири́на, мне два́дцать шесть лет. Я родила́сь в Каза́ни, но уже́ три го́да живу́ в Ирку́тске, потому́ что здесь рабо́тает мой муж. У нас небольша́я, но ую́тная кварти́ра на четвёртом этаже́, недалеко́ от це́нтра го́рода. По утра́м я обы́чно бе́гаю в па́рке, а пото́м е́ду на рабо́ту, где я преподаю́ англи́йский язы́к в шко́ле. Мне нра́вится моя́ рабо́та, хотя́ иногда́ я о́чень устаю́. В про́шлом году́ мы с му́жем е́здили в о́тпуск на о́зеро Байка́л, кото́рое нахо́дится недалеко́ от на́шего го́рода. Пого́да была́ прекра́сной, и мы мно́го гуля́ли и фотографи́ровали. Говоря́т, что зимо́й о́зеро замерза́ет и стано́вится соверше́нно прозра́чным, поэ́тому мы, наве́рное, пое́дем туда́ ещё раз зимо́й. В свобо́дное вре́мя я люблю́ чита́ть и гото́вить, а по выходны́м мы ча́сто хо́дим в го́сти к друзья́м, кото́рые живу́т в на́шем до́ме. Наде́юсь, что ты то́же напи́шешь мне о свое́й жи́зни.
Зада́ние по чте́нию — Reading task:
- Where was Irina born, where does she live now, and why did she move there?
- What does Irina's typical morning look like, and what is her job?
- What did Irina and her husband do last year, and what are they planning for the winter?
- Find one кото́рый clause, one impersonal expression, and two cohesive connectors in the letter.
Writing Workshop
Complete the following linked writing tasks in order. This workshop is the final cumulative writing task of Volume I, drawing on vocabulary, case, agreement, aspect, motion, and connected narration from Chapters 1 through 19.
Зада́ние 1 — Portfolio outline: Before writing, jot down one or two ideas in Russian for each of the eight portfolio areas from the Review Vocabulary Map. This outline does not need full sentences.
Зада́ние 2 — Мой мир по-ру́сски: Write a connected, multi-paragraph account of your own life, real or invented, of at least fourteen to sixteen sentences, moving through as many of the eight portfolio areas as you reasonably can. Include at least two sentences with кото́рый, one impersonal expression such as говоря́т, что or счита́ется, что, at least three cohesive connectors, and at least one paragraph of past-tense narration.
- Review the Review Vocabulary Map and the Grammar and Systems Review above. Confirm which portfolio areas you feel confident about and which need a quick look back at their original chapter.
- Complete your portfolio outline. Keep your ideas simple and manageable, choosing details you can express accurately.
- Draft your account in paragraphs. Group related ideas together, moving from identity and family, through routine and daily life, to a past experience and plans.
- Read your draft aloud once. Listen for correct stress, agreement, and case endings, and for a natural connected rhythm rather than a list of disconnected sentences.
- Check your grammar against the Review section above. Confirm case endings, aspect choice, кото́рый agreement, and impersonal expressions with no stated subject.
Спи́сок прове́рки — Final editing checklist:
- The account covers at least five of the eight portfolio areas in organized paragraphs.
- Cyrillic, stress where required, and `ё` are used correctly throughout.
- Case endings and adjective, pronoun, and кото́рый agreement are correct.
- Aspect choice in past-tense sentences reflects the intended meaning, process, repetition, or completed result.
- At least two sentences use кото́рый correctly, and at least one impersonal expression appears with no stated subject.
- At least three cohesive connectors link ideas smoothly across the account.
- Punctuation, capitalization, and spelling rules follow Russian conventions.
- `ты`, `Вы`, and `вы` choices, where relevant, remain consistent.
Culture and Communication
The details in a "мой мир" account, such as where someone lives, what their commute looks like, what they eat, and how they spend free time, vary enormously across the many communities where Russian is spoken, from large cities to small towns, and across the Russian Federation, Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Baltic states, and diaspora communities elsewhere. Treat О́льга, Серге́й, and Ири́на in this chapter as three individuals with their own lives, not as representatives of a single, uniform Russian-speaking experience.
A strong "мой мир" account does more than list separate facts about identity, routine, and the past. It uses the connectors, кото́рый clauses, and impersonal expressions from Chapter 19 to link ideas so that a listener or reader can follow how one part of your life relates to another, why something happened, and what changed over time. This is the same skill you will keep developing in Volume II, as your accounts grow longer and more detailed.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Error: Writing eight short, unconnected sentences, one for each portfolio area, with no connectors linking them, such as Я живу́ в Москве́. Я рабо́таю в о́фисе. Я люблю́ спорт.
Correction: Use connectors from Chapter 19 to link related ideas into a smoother account: Я живу́ в Москве́, где я рабо́таю в о́фисе, и, кро́ме того́, я люблю́ спорт.
Error: Saying Вчера́ я чита́л(а) кни́гу when the intended meaning is that the book was finished, which requires a perfective verb, not the imperfective process verb.
Correction: Use the perfective for a completed result: Вчера́ я прочита́л(а) кни́гу. Keep the imperfective for ongoing process or repeated action, as reviewed from Chapter 16.
Error: Attempting to use advanced structures, such as full participle production or unscheduled case forms of кото́рый, that were only introduced receptively in this volume.
Correction: Build your portfolio from the productive systems of Chapters 1 through 19. Systems that remain receptive in this volume, such as participles or кото́рый in oblique cases, are developed productively beginning in Volume II.
Chapter Review
Identity, family, and home
Nominative identity patterns, genitive possession with у, and prepositional location, from Chapters 1, 4, and 6.
Routine, food, and shopping
Accusative objects, reflexive verbs, quantity genitive, and accusative animacy, from Chapters 7, 8, and 9.
Getting around, leisure, health, and work
Motion verbs, compound future, dative experiencer, and instrumental role, from Chapters 11, 12, 13, and 14.
Past experience and connected narration
Aspect-marked past narration, habitual past and comparison, and кото́рый with connectors, from Chapters 16, 17, 18, and 19.
Listening
Follow a connected multi-paragraph personal account for gist and detail.
Speaking
Present and discuss a personal portfolio, and interview and report about another person.
Reading
Interpret a personal letter that integrates vocabulary and grammar from across the volume.
Writing
Compose an organized, multi-paragraph personal account, applying the full volume editing checklist.
Часть A — Понима́ние (Comprehension)
1. Return to the Model Dialogue, and answer these short questions.
- What did О́льга do before her current job, and what does she do now?
- What are О́льга's plans for the coming year, and why?
Часть B — Пи́сьменная речь (Writing)
1. Write two sentences about your own daily routine, using at least one reflexive verb.
2. Write one sentence about a past trip or experience, choosing the aspect that matches your intended meaning.
Часть C — Чте́ние (Reading)
1. Return to Ири́на's letter, and summarize her account in three of your own sentences in English.
Часть D — Говоре́ние (Speaking)
1. With a partner, or on your own, present a one-minute spoken version of your "мой мир" portfolio.
Practical Performance Task: Final Portfolio
Chapter 20 Practical Task Volume I capstone
Ито́говый прое́кт: Мой мир по-ру́сски
Complete the following connected tasks, in order, integrating identity, routine, needs, plans, travel, health, work, and past experience from across Chapters 1 through 19. This task introduces no new productive grammar and instead collects evidence of what you have built across the whole volume.
- Complete your portfolio outline. Use the eight prompts from the Writing Workshop above.
- Interview a partner, or imagine an interview. Ask at least five questions covering different portfolio areas, and note the answers.
- Give a spoken "мой мир" account, at least two minutes long. Move through as many portfolio areas as you can, using at least one кото́рый clause, one impersonal expression, and two cohesive connectors.
- Report what you learned about your interview partner. Retell at least four pieces of information in third-person forms.
- Write your fourteen to sixteen sentence account from the Writing Workshop. Apply the final editing checklist.
- Reflect briefly in English or Russian. Note two systems from this volume that feel confident, and two you want to keep practicing in Volume II.
| Criterion | What is assessed |
|---|---|
| Portfolio coverage | The learner's account covers at least five of the eight portfolio areas with accurate, level-appropriate detail. |
| Case and agreement control | The learner correctly applies nominative, genitive, prepositional, accusative, dative, and instrumental functions as scheduled across the volume. |
| Aspect and past-tense control | The learner selects imperfective or perfective aspect correctly according to intended meaning in past-tense narration. |
| Connected narration | The learner uses кото́рый, an impersonal expression, and cohesive connectors to link ideas into one coherent account. |
| Interaction and reporting | The learner asks appropriate questions, understands responses, and reports information accurately in third-person forms. |
| Overall comprehensibility | The completed spoken and written account communicates clearly to a sympathetic listener or reader familiar with A2-level Russian. |
This task assesses the cumulative productive systems of Chapters 1 through 19 as one integrated performance, in keeping with the volume's final A2 capstone function.
Answer Key
Listening — Comprehension
- Серге́й is from Novosibirsk and currently lives and works in Moscow.
- Серге́й studied economics at university; after graduating he first worked at a bank, did not enjoy it very much, and later moved to an IT company, where he works now.
- Last summer Серге́й went on vacation to the south, rested for two weeks, and swam a lot; he is already thinking about his next vacation, since this summer is expected to be very hot.
Model Dialogue — Comprehension
- О́льга used to work as a teacher; she now works at a small tourism company.
- О́льга plans to exercise more next year, because she now rarely walks on foot, and she may sign up at a pool near her home.
Reading
- Ири́на was born in Kazan, now lives in Irkutsk, and moved there because her husband works there.
- In the morning Ири́на usually runs in the park and then goes to work, where she teaches English at a school.
- Last year Ири́на and her husband went on vacation to Lake Baikal; they are likely planning to return in winter, when the lake is said to freeze and become completely clear.
- Sample answers: кото́рый clause, о́зеро Байка́л, кото́рое нахо́дится недалеко́ от на́шего го́рода; impersonal expression, говоря́т, что зимо́й о́зеро замерза́ет; connectors, хотя́ and поэ́тому.
Writing
Sample final portfolio paragraph: Меня́ зову́т Макси́м, мне два́дцать четы́ре го́да, и я живу́ в Екатеринбу́рге вме́сте с роди́телями. Ка́ждый день я встаю́ ра́но и е́ду на рабо́ту на авто́бусе, потому́ что живу́ дово́льно далеко́ от це́нтра. Я рабо́таю в компа́нии, кото́рая занима́ется строи́тельством. Ра́ньше я учи́лся в университе́те, а тепе́рь я применя́ю то, чему́ научи́лся, ка́ждый день на рабо́те. В про́шлом году́ я е́здил в о́тпуск на Кавка́з, где мно́го ходи́л в гора́х. Говоря́т, что э́тим ле́том пого́да бу́дет ещё лу́чше, поэ́тому я, наве́рное, пое́ду туда́ ещё раз. По выходны́м я обы́чно встреча́юсь с друзья́ми, кро́ме того́, я люблю́ игра́ть на гита́ре. Other portfolios drawing accurately on material from Chapters 1 through 19 are also correct.
Looking Ahead
Что вы уже уме́ете — What you can do now
You can present a connected, organized account of your own life in Russian, covering identity, family, home, routine, food, shopping, getting around, leisure, health, study, work, and past experience, and you can ask about, understand, and report on another person's life using the same systems. You have completed the productive foundation of Volume I.