This stage helps children move from everyday conversational Russian to richer, more accurate language. They expand their vocabulary, gain a better understanding of how Russian works, develop stronger reading and writing skills, and begin creating texts of their own.

By the end of this stage, your child will be able to:

• Talk about travel, nature, traditions, modern technology, books, and films;
• Take part in discussions and explain and support their opinions;
• Apply key Russian spelling rules, including:

жи–ши, ча–ща, чу–щу;
words with the soft sign (ь);
чк, чн, and чт letter combinations;
correct word stress;

• Understand the difference between a word, a sentence, and a text, match adjectives correctly with nouns, and use basic end-of-sentence punctuation;
• Read more fluently, expressively, and with better comprehension;
• Explore fairy tales, detective stories, and fantasy, and create short stories of their own.

Number of lessons: 36

Stage duration: from 5 months, depending on the number of lessons per week.

At this stage, children begin studying Russian in a more structured way, similar to students in the early years of primary school in Russia. They learn core spelling rules, expand their vocabulary, explore Russian literature, and build confidence in reading, writing, and expressing their ideas. The program broadly corresponds to the level of Grades 1–2 in a Russian school.

By the end of this stage, your child will be able to:

Write correctly:

• words with the separating soft sign (ь);
• words with unstressed vowels in the root;
• words with paired consonants at the end of a word and in the root;
• жи–ши, ча–ща, чу–щу, чк, чн, and чт combinations;
• words split correctly at the end of a line.

• Talk about nature, countries around the world, space, books, modern technology, and the world around them.
• Recognize the main parts of speech, identify the gender and number of nouns, distinguish between proper and common nouns, find the root of a word, and work with synonyms, antonyms, and words with multiple meanings.
• Write short dictations and apply the spelling rules they have learned.
• Read and discuss fables, fairy tales, and informational texts, including works by Ivan Krylov and Alexander Pushkin.
• Express and support their opinions and take part in discussions.

Number of lessons: 36

Stage duration: from 5 months, depending on the number of lessons per week.

This final stage helps children move closer to the level of Russian expected from students in Grades 3–4 in a Russian school. Lessons include more advanced literary texts, writing practice, grammar and spelling, and activities that develop analytical thinking and help children express their ideas clearly and confidently.

By the end of this stage, your child will be able to:

Understand and apply key grammar concepts:

• distinguish between content words and function words;
• identify the gender and number of adjectives;
• match adjectives correctly with nouns;
• use pronouns and prepositions correctly;
• understand the difference between a phrase and a sentence;
• identify the subject and predicate in a sentence;
• recognize secondary parts of a sentence;
• distinguish between different sentence types according to their purpose;
• understand the basic concept of Russian cases and word forms.

Apply key spelling rules:

• spell unstressed vowels in word roots correctly;
• spell words with silent consonants correctly;
• form and spell compound words using connecting vowels.

Understand and use expressive language:

• distinguish between synonyms, antonyms, and homonyms;
• understand and use idiomatic expressions.

Read and discuss works by Alexander Pushkin, Vitaly Bianki, and Natalia Dashevskaya, as well as poems by Nikolay Nekrasov, Alexander Blok, and Fyodor Tyutchev.

Write descriptive and argumentative texts and express ideas more confidently in both spoken and written Russian.

Number of lessons: 36

Stage duration: from 5 months, depending on the number of lessons per week.