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The coverage of Russian lessons may vary depending on the student’s proficiency level and the tutor’s pedagogy. These can also be influenced by the student’s motivations to learn. In general, these are what you can expect when you book a Russian tutor through Airtasker:

Introduction to Russian

This typically includes an introduction to the Cyrillic alphabet and the basics of the language. Your tutor may teach you how to introduce yourself in Russian, standard Russian greetings, ask questions, count and tell time, talk about directions or positions, and the words for places, things, and occupations.  

This part usually covers the gender of nouns, pronouns in various cases, and verb conjugations. You’ll also learn about hard, soft, voiced, and voiceless consonants, as well as vowels and their reduction. 

Russian vocabulary 

As you grow your proficiency, you’re introduced to more words. Your tutor may show you how to write and say verbs, adjectives, adverbs, various activities, phrases you may use while travelling, and even Russian customs.

When it comes to verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, you may be surprised by the conjugation rules. There are different cases and structures in Russian. There are also irregular verbs like вставать, давать, and продавать. 

Conversing in Russian 

Later on, your tutor may cover topics like how to describe people, talking about work and activities, the rules of intonation and reading, adjectives and adverbs, and the more complex pronouns. They’ll also tackle adjectives and pronouns in various cases, different kinds of verbs, structures, and conjunctions. 

If you’re working on a deadline (such as an upcoming vacation or business trip), you may want to ask your tutor to tailor the vocabulary lessons to words and phrases that will be useful to you.

Russian grammar 

This is where it gets very tricky. Russian has a lot of rules and exceptions. Depending on how deep you’d like to get into the language, you may learn about the genitive case, dative case, and comparative & superlative structures. There’s also the matter of imperfective and perfective verbs of motion. Namely: prefixes, negative structures, participles, and the Russian gerund. 

Recitations and practice tests

As with any language, mastery comes in the form of writing, reading, and speaking, as well as understanding what you hear. Your Tasker may encourage you to look for videos, articles, or even apps that use Russian. 

You may also want a regular pen pal or video chat friend with whom you can practise Russian. At the end of your lesson, your tutor may give you a chance to demonstrate by conducting a pop quiz or a quick written test.