However, there is a difference between topic work in teaching Russian and topic work in teaching English. Russian grammar is much more complicated, which makes Russian totally unsuitable for the purely communicative approach. This language does need much attention to studying and memorising grammar rules. No communicative exercise will make the student remember the variety of endings of nouns and adjectives, if she/he hasn’t been taught what ending she/he uses and why.

After studying the alphabet in its handwritten form, the children pass directly to the topic work, using their “Novaya Iskra” course book. (published by John Murray for the Nuffield foundation, St. Edmundsbury Press, Suffolk, 1997), While studying, for example, “Sport”, they learn how to say: “I play tennis/badminton/netball, etc.”; they can say what sport they like, when they play it, etc. They practice it usually through drilling exercises, and only then the teacher gradually, from topic to topic, introduces the cases. So the basic rules of communicative teaching are not broken, but at the same time a lot of time is spent on introducing grammar terms (e.g. names of the cases) and grammar rules. Moreover, the choice of topics is usually (if not always) conditioned by grammar. For instance, the learners have to drill “There is a bed in the room. There are 5 rooms in the house.” and therefore study the topic “My house” before the teacher introduces the prepositional case.

Topic work is centred on the same topics which are used for studying English in Russia: Home, Everyday Life, Shopping, Friends, Holidays, Free Time, My School, etc. The situations used are usually derived from the life of the pupils in England and are usually set in their own country/city/school/home, etc. For example, they can discuss shopping in Enfield Town (the centre of the London district they live in) or your school day. The material used is totally learner-oriented and is supposed to be relevant to the children’s everyday life. Consequently, it is reflected in the vocabulary. For example, they study “I like netball and cricket” instead of studying “I like ice-skating and cross-country skiing”, as the former kinds of sport are more likely to be of any interest to the learners, living in Britain. The children will not need “figurnoye kataniye” or “katatsya na lyzhah” for the activities set by the teacher. The majority of these activities are task-based. One can argue and say that the pupils will need both types of sport vocabulary for their communication with native Russians, for example. It’s true, but we shouldn’t forget that nobody prevents the learners from studying these words in other contexts where they may easily be used in suggested situations. In many Russian schools, however, children are asked to talk about “Museums in London” or “The Weather in Britain” or “English Food”. These are classical topics from many course books, published and used in Russia. Russian learners of English are supposed to retell them, simply memorise them or “discuss” them. It’s obvious that the child cannot discuss museums in London if he has never been there. Moreover, using these topics for teaching children contradicts all principles of children’s learning process. “Advocates” of these topics would remind us about the importance of cultural studies. In Latymer, for instance, cultural awareness is taught through short articles in English with Russian words in brackets where necessary.

As a result of the British examination system, the choice of topics is determined from the very beginning. The Russian GCSE syllabus has 4 “attainment targets”: Listening and Responding, Speaking, Reading and Responding, Writing. The syllabus is divided into 5 “areas of experience”, which are further subdivided into 12 topic areas which provide the context for assessment. The 12 topics are further subdivided as shown below.

Types of home, rooms, furniture and garden

Daily routine and mealtimes

Household chores and responsibilities

Receiving a foreign guest

Pets

2. Food and Drink

Places to eat and drink

Drinks, snacks, meals

Menus and prices

Recipes

Local specialities

3. Health and Fitness

Minor ailments and accidents

Visits to doctor and/or dentist

Parts of the body

Emergencies

Exercise and diet

Chemist and medicines

Social issues: drugs, alcohol, smoking

4. School

Types of school, buildings and equipment

School life and routine

Clubs and out-of-school activities

Language in the classroom

Information about people: self, family and friends

Relationships

Birthdays

Family celebrations

Special occasions

Making new friends

Neighbours

2. Free Time and Social Activities

Use of free time and holidays

Arrangements for social activities

Hobbies and interests including sport

Fashion and trends

Clubs

Types of entertainment: staying in and going out

Shopping expeditions

Pocket money

Directions

Local neighbourhood or area (size, population, geographical location)

Places of interest and amenities in town and vicinity

Life in town, countryside, seaside

2. The Environment and Society

Weather, seasons and climate

Environmental issues

Natural disasters

Key geographical features

Crime and the law

1. Further Education and Work

Future plans

Further education and training

Work experience

Careers guidance

Job adverts and applications

Part-time and holiday work

Jobs at home and abroad

Unemployment

Language and Communication in the Workplace

Daily routine at work

Information technology

Memos and letter writing

Personal contacts in the workplace

Holiday and travel arrangements

Accommodation

Transport

Tourist information

Services and shopping abroad: post office, bank, lost property, health, souvenirs, cafйs/restaurants

Everyday life, customs and traditions in countries of target language

2. World Events and Issues

International sport

Famous personalities

Major events and issues

The media

We can see that even the situations are more or less determined by the syllabus, so the question “What topic would you like to discuss?” isn’t asked very often (which is not good or bad, it’s just the way it is). The number of questions that could be asked on each topic (and, therefore, the number of phrases to learn) is, in principle, finite, as at GCSE level it is impossible to go deep into every topic. In practice it is, in fact, almost impossible to cover all the topics and situations in the time given. So the teacher concentrates on those ones which are usually chosen for the “Speaking” part of the exam.

For their “Speaking” part of GCSE in Russian the children carry out 2 role-play tasks and take part in a conversation on 2 topics. They have 12 minutes to think over their speech and are allowed to use dictionaries. The chart below shows how the various topics may be used in the oral exam relate to a number of National Curriculum areas of experience (AoE), being the part of oral exam (the “Speaking” part):

Topics for role-play AoE
Topics for conversations AoE
Asking Directions A/C
Shopping A/B/E
Tourist Office E
Holidays E
Shopping and Services A/C/E
School, College and Future Plans A/D
Cafй/Restaurant A/B/E
Local Area C
Booking Accommodation
(hotel, camping, youth hostels) E
Friends A/B
Staying with the Family A/B/E
Home and Family A/B
Arranging to Go out A/B/E
Food and Meals A/B/E
Making Travel Arrangements B/C/E
Daily Routine at Home, School or Work A/D
Entertainment B/E
Leisure and Entertainment B/C/E
Dealing with Problems (doctor, dentist, lost
property, accidents, theft, etc.) E
Special Occasions A/B/E
Telephoning in the Work Place D
The World of Work D
Applying for a Job D
Pocket Money A/B/D

For A-level exams the English pupils choose only two topics according to their interests (one of them must be about any aspect of life in Russia) and do some research on them. The content of the talk in the exam is as important as the number of mistakes and richness of vocabulary. In the exam one of the topics is presented as a monologue (where examiners may ask the candidate questions), and the other topic is presented as a discussion of an opinion. Preparation for this exam requires not only memorising written texts, but also ability to express your opinion, to respond to other people’s opinions and so on, which is practised on different topics throughout the school year. It creates new possibilities in the choice of topics and therefore stimulates the interest of the learners towards the subject under discussion and makes the process of learning active.

This has given us an overview of the topic work in the Russian language classroom in the UK in terms of the choice of the topics. We have seen the goals that the children try to achieve. Now it would be logical to look at this process more closely and find out what tasks are chosen for that purpose. In many Soviet and modern Russian schools topics were always presented by texts with reading comprehension questions. Preparation for exams was often limited to memorising these texts by heart. In this case the importance of communication is reduced to a minimum, and the importance of the sequence of facts takes its place. Nowadays the system is changing, but many teachers are still “conditioned” by many years of following the old exam system.

Let us take one of the topics offered to English learners of Russian and analyse the process of studying it. Before we start doing it, it would be a good idea to find out what kind of learners are in the class. The topic under discussion is “Pokupki” (“Shopping”). In our case it is given to year 10 (British system of education). There are about 25 pupils in the class, and for all of them Russian is the 2nd foreign language they learn. The teacher has to think about A, B, C and E areas of experience, preparing the child for both the role-plays and a more or less “free” conversation.

The course book used for it is “Novaya Iskra” and additional worksheets, composed by the teacher. Every situation is approached through the main question in the imaginative conversation. These questions are :

U vas yest’ . . .?

Mozhno pomerit’ . . .?

Kakoi razmer vam nuzhen . . .?

Skol’ko stoit . . .?

U vas yest’ chto-nibud’ pobolshe/pomenshe/podorozhe/podeshevle . . .?

When the answers to the questions have been drilled, the children are supposed to produce their dialogues. So the product is a role-play (oral and written), filled in tables, completed substitutions, and also the answers to various listening comprehension questions. This was the exercise for the situation “In the Shop”. Under the title “Pokupki” the learners also study situations in the cafй/ McDonald’s/ restaurant. Every key phrase of the situations is drilled separately. At the end of the unit there is a list of what the child has learned. Every new phrase is counted, and the child is “responsible” for the knowledge of all of them by the end of the process of studying the topic. I would like to mention how useful it is to practice this type of situations, taking McDonald’s as an example. Firstly, everybody knows what can be bought there. Secondly, they don’t have to concentrate on the names of the food. “Big Mac”, “Coca-Cola” and “Cheeseburger” sound very similar both in Russian and in English, so the learner can concentrate on memorising forms or ordering his food, etc. By means of limiting the depth of the topic and choosing authentic situations a topic-based activity is turned into a task-based one, which makes the whole process more active and therefore interesting.