Ме́жду на́ми is built around the adventures of four students in Russia. This continuing narrative creates a “universe” of contextualized information that students share, allowing for referential activities across all sections of the program. Learners are thus encouraged to speculate about what twists and turns the plot will take and to choose sides when discussing what the characters say and the choices that they make.
This table of contents outlines the overall structure of Ме́жду на́ми, showing teachers and students in what order themes, vocabulary clusters, grammatical concepts, and cultural information are introduced. Students work on these topics in three ways: on the Ме́жду на́ми textbook (mezhdunami.org), in class using the printed Рабо́та в аудито́рии (Classroom Activities), and at home using the printed Дома́шние зада́ния (Homework Assignments).
| Episodes | Themes & Language Functions | Vocabulary clusters | Grammar | Culture |
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Introducing people, places and things Cyrillic alphabet |
Recognizing international/cognate words in Russian (people, places, professions) |
Letters: а б в г д е ё ж з и й к л м н о п р с т у ф ч ш ы ь э ю я |
Cyrillic alphabet |
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Formal and Informal forms of address (ты — вы) Russian names |
Answering the question Как дела́? Location (Где? Здесь и́ли там?) |
Letters: х ц щ ъ |
Name-patronymics of well-known Russians (both literary and real) |
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Asking the identity of people and objects (Who?/What?) Questions and statements about ownership Exchanging phone numbers |
Furniture in a hotel room Clothing |
Plurals of masculine and feminine nouns & the 7-letter spelling rule |
Mobile phones and phone numbers in Russia Famous Russians |
| Episodes | Themes & Language Functions | Vocabulary clusters | Grammar | Culture |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Identifying family members Telling people’s names Russian addresses |
Family members Descriptive words for family members (older, younger) Address words: street, apartment, building, etc. |
Nom. plural of nouns (irregular & additional patterns) |
Names and diminutives Parts of Russian addresses: го́род, у́лица, дом (ко́рпус), кварти́ра |
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Describing an apartment Making compliments and exclamations Asking for clarification |
Rooms in apartment Architectural features Furnishings Basic adjectives (интере́сный, но́вый, ста́рый, большо́й, ма́ленький, etc) |
Forms of жив- / intro to conjugation Како́й in questions / exclamations Nominative adjective endings & spelling rules |
Types of apartment buildings |
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Writing monologic texts: a bit about my home stay / dorm room |
Colors (чёрный, бе́лый, кра́сный) Adverbs for location (бли́зко, далеко́, ря́дом) |
Nationality words: nouns versus adjectives |
Associations with color words (чёрный квадра́т, бе́лая воро́на, etc.) Multiethnic makeup of the Russian Federation |
| Episodes | Themes & Language Functions | Vocabulary clusters | Grammar | Culture |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Describing present tense actions Talking about reading, writing, listening habits |
Basic verbs (де́лать, чита́ть, гуля́ть, отдыха́ть) Select adverbs (ча́сто, ре́дко, мно́го, ма́ло) Things to read and listen to (рома́н, уче́бник, статья́, пе́сня, му́зыка, etc.) |
First conjugation verbs (Stems: читай, жив-, пиш-, etc.) & their stress patterns Word order and the concept of case Nominative / accusative case noun endings Verbs and their complements: using the accusative case for direct objects |
Russian reading habits |
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Spaces at a university Making acquaintances |
Academic vocabulary: шко́ла – университе́т, класс – курс, etc. Adjectives "easy / hard" Names of countries and languages spoken in them |
Nouns in -ия and -ие: фотогра́фия, сочине́ние Talking about courses: Answering the question Что ты изуча́ешь? Distinguishing verbal contexts: говорю́ по-ру́сски versus зна́ю ру́сский язы́к Infinitive forms and the sentence pattern: Легко́ говори́ть по-ру́сски. |
Шко́ла / университе́т Typical places at Russian academic institutions (столо́вая, библиоте́ка, etc.) |
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Telling where people and things are located Talking about playing a musical instrument Talking about one’s studies |
Names of countries and cities in Russia and world |
Prepositional case noun endings Phonetics: voiced and unvoiced consonants Assimilation of the preposition в Verbs with the particle ся: учи́ться; Answering the question Где ты у́чишься? Prepositional case adjective endings Specifying a location with the verb forms нахо́дится-нахо́дятся |
Geography and locating cities Famous musicians and instruments they play Cross-cultural expectations and homestays |
| Episodes | Themes & Language Functions | Vocabulary clusters | Grammar | Culture |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Talking about possessions (what people have and don’t have) |
Furnishings Everyday household items |
Sentence pattern У меня́ есть… Sentence pattern У меня́ нет... Genitive case to indicate absence |
Dorm rooms and their furnishings Cultural specificity of vocabulary: the meanings of ча́йник |
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Features of the cityscape (supermarket, stadium, church, bus stop, etc.) |
Sentence pattern: На э́той у́лице есть парк. More second conjugation verbs: по́мнить, ви́деть, слы́шать Genitive case adjective endings Personal pronouns in nominative, genitive, and accusative cases |
Tour of a Petersburg residential neighborhood “Фи́зик и́ли ли́рик” |
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Telling about a person and describing some of his / her background Talking about things Pointing things out Asking questions and interviewing a person |
Biographical words (роди́лся, познако́мились) Question words |
Verbs with -ся in the past tense Stress patterns in the past tense Preposition о + prepositional case The demonstrative pronoun (э́то and э́тот, э́та, э́то, э́ти) |
The Russian student studying locally likely to live with parents |
| Episodes | Themes & Language Functions | Vocabulary clusters | Grammar | Culture |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Preposition в + days of the week Conjugating -ава- verbs: встава́ть |
University classes and the schedule of a study abroad student “вели́кий и могу́чий ру́сский язы́к” |
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Talking about going to places and being in places Talking about plans: giving a meeting time when you are free |
Tourist destinations Special Location and Destination Forms: до́ма / домо́й, там / туда́, etc. |
Counting hours: numbers with forms час, часа́, часо́в Answering the question Кото́рый час? Conjugation patterns: -ова- verbs, мочь |
Time zones in Russia Meaning of Кремль The Kazan Kremlin |
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Talking about free time pursuits |
Frequency adverbs ча́сто, ре́дко, иногда́, всё вре́мя, etc. Pastimes, free time activities |
Expressing never and other negatives: ни- words and не Conjugation and use of ходи́ть, е́здить Past tense use of ходи́ть, е́здить Prepositional plural noun endings |
Places to spend free time (гиперма́ркет, да́ча, приро́да, лес, etc.) |
| Episodes | Themes & Language Functions | Vocabulary clusters | Grammar | Culture |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Telling about past events |
Verbal aspect in the past tense, past tense questions, expressing "began / finished doing an action", & with negation Imperfective-Perfective verb pairs Genitive prepositions у, по́сле The verb нра́виться with pronouns |
Visiting Russians and living with host families |
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Picking out presents Asking for help in a store |
Typical presents |
Dative case noun endings singular and plural Dative case with verbs говори́ть, звони́ть, etc. |
Winter holiday traditions in Russia: Дед Моро́з, Снегу́рочка and giving presents Но́вый год / Ста́рый Но́вый год Не́вский просп́ект and Гости́ный двор |
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Foods that might appear on a shopping list |
Imperfective and perfective verbs in the future tense Review of Imperfective-perfect verb pairs Future tense of perfective verbs: new conjugation patterns Perfective forms of идти́ and е́хать: пойти́ and пое́хать Commands: объясни́те, покажи́те Conjunctions когда́, е́сли, как то́лько Sentence pattern Что мне де́лать? |
New Year’s Eve plans Recipe for винегре́т |
| Episodes | Themes & Language Functions | Vocabulary clusters | Grammar | Culture |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Finding out about trains Giving personal background information |
More features of cityscape: Moscow Varieties of Russian trains and train tickets |
Сomparative forms of predicate adjectives and adverbs Genitive plural of nouns and adjectives Verb pair: говори́ть / поговори́ть К кому́? Going to visit / see someone Review: prepositions for locations, destinations, origins (в, из, на, с, к, у, от) |
Comparing Moscow and Petersburg Train travel in Russia |
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Discussing public monuments Sightseeing |
Genitive case with mass nouns and quantity expressions Verbs of motion with prefixes вы- and в- Verbs of position: сиде́ть, лежа́ть, стоя́ть, висе́ть |
Moscow Kremlin and Kremlin Cathedrals Moscow metro Tretyakov Gallery Biography of Mikhail Vrubel’ |
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Describing locations of buildings and places Details of life stories |
Designating points in time with че́рез and наза́д Accusative plural of animate nouns Instrumental case with spatial prepositions за, пе́ред, над, под, ме́жду, ря́дом с |
Neighborhoods outside of the city center: новостро́йки Changing demographics: at what age do people get married? |
| Episodes | Themes & Language Functions | Vocabulary clusters | Grammar | Culture |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Body parts Sickness terms |
Verbs: чу́вствовать себя́, боле́ть Recap: possessive pronouns in Russian Some additional perfective verbs верну́ться, принести́, etc. |
Taking the temperature under the arm Being sick |
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Asking for and giving directions to places Describing excursions |
Features of cityscape: Petersburg and environs |
Tsarskoe selo, the Russian Museum, and the Mariinsky Theater |
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Describing a museum Telling a story of something that happened to you |
Irkutsk / Baikal-related tourist locations |
После́дний and other soft-stem adjectives |
Lake Baikal and the Baikal museum Siberian delicacies: пельме́ни / о́муль Exams: се́ссия, биле́ты, отме́тки Life with the metric system |
