2nd Russian class: restaurant culture and food, alive accusative case

Today I had a triple Russian class. Beforehand it had felt like a marathon and I wondered if we will have enough exercises and things to do, even though there was plenty of material. My supervisor had given me a lot of material, but I also made some on my own.

I needed to make photocopies for one exercise, but I ran into problems, as I didn't have my temporary log-in codes with me (I didn't know I would need them). I asked for advice from other language teachers, but they did not offer to help be. They told me to ask from the security or the students affairs office. There was no-one in the booth, and it looked like I would not get the copies for the material I had prepared for 4 hours! Eventually it worked, just before the class.

I felt quite nervous before the class, but as soon as I started speaking, I was quite confident and relaxed. Last week, during the first double class, I was nervous and my back was wet from sweat (and I never get sweaty normally). We learned vocabulary items relating to food and restaurant. I told the students about different ingredients, dishes, and mealtime practices. I had brought some props with me: a beetroot (used for making borsh soup), lipstikka herb that the students could smell, and I had some Russian chocolates that would be the price for a little competition. I also had a little shot glass with water, as of vodka shot, and told the students about the toasts that the Russians love to make at parties.

The students did a lot of oral exercises in pairs and small groups. They are active and free when they discuss with their peers, but as soon as I ask something: "Which noun form is used when asking: Do you know Vladimir Putin?, they quiet down. Finally someone answers' though. I try not to have a "favourite student" whom I would always ask and rely on, but ask from everyone.

In the last hour we did the special exercises I needed the copies. I had prepared 14 pictures with their full names i Cyrillic script and some background history. We pronounced the names together and then the students practiced inflecting the full names: the first name, the patronymic, and the last name.

I got spontaneous, positive feedback from one student. She said that she likes my teaching, because it is "a bit different". Maybe the teaching is a bit more interactive, even though I do things in a quite similar way than the normal teacher: a lot of repetition word after word and sentence after sentence.