Делаем покупки в магазине одежды

This lesson is designed for the learners of Russian language who want to expand their knowledge of vocabulary and common linguistic structures associated with shopping for clothes as well as improve their listening comprehension skills.

Learners’ Level

This lesson is intended for Russian learners at Novice-High to Intermediate-Low level.

Modality

The activities in this lesson can be used as a supplemental material to the textbook for an in-person class or for a synchronous or asynchronous online courses.

Objectives

• Review and expand vocabulary associated with shopping for clothes
• Improve understanding of linguistic structures and grammatical points used in shopping context and practice using them
• Enhance listening comprehension skills for main ideas as well as supporting details via exposure to authentic language use
• Recognize key vocabulary in context and infer the meaning of unfamiliar words through contextual clues
• Demonstrate the knowledge of vocabulary and linguistic structures associated with shopping for clothes by employing them in their own speech during the task-based scenario

Primary Content

This lesson consists of three components: pre-listening, during-listening, and post-listening. Each of the parts contains a set of questions or activities related to the authentic dialog they listen to ensuring students’ active engagement and participation throughout the whole lesson.

*This dialog was created and recorded by me and my former colleague Elena Kalyagina.

Скрипт.

Диалог «Покупки»

– Добрый день, девушка, вы не могли бы мне помочь?

– Здравствуйте! Конечно, что вас интересует?

– Дело в том, что мой младший брат женится. Мне нужно купить себе и моему мужу праздничную одежду.

– Хорошо! Давайте начнём с вас! Вы уже знаете, что хотите?

– Я думаю о платье, маленькой шляпке и туфлях на небольшом каблуке.

– Очень хорошо! А что для мужа?

– Мужу нужен новый пиджак, брюки с рубашкой, красивый дорогой галстук и туфли.

– На какой бюджет вы рассчитываете?

– Об этом мы поговорим потом. Покажите, пожалуйста, что у вас есть в последних коллекциях.

– Конечно! Какой цвет вы любите? Какую длину вы носите? И какой ваш размер?

– Есть ли у вас маленькое элегантное чёрное платье в стиле Шанель? 46 размера?

– Я думаю, у нас есть то, что вам надо! Пройдите, пожалуйста, в примерочную – это прямо и направо. Там рядом отдел аксессуаров.

– Большое спасибо! Принесите, пожалуйста, ещё шляпку и туфли.

– С удовольствием. Шляпку и туфли тоже чёрные?

– Нет, это очень мрачно. Лучше на контрасте – белые.

– Какой у вас размер обуви?

– Тридцать шестой.

– Какая маленькая ножка! Будет легко найти обувь такого размера.

– Я вам очень благодарна за помощь! Вы очень добры! А где в вашем магазине мужской отдел?

– Он на втором этаже. Эскалатор – в центре зала.

Полезные слова и выражения:

Вы не могли бы мне помочь? – Can you help me, please?

Что вас интересует?– What would you like?/What interests you?

Праздничная одежда – Clothes for special occasion

На какой бюджет вы рассчитываете? – What is your budget?/How much money are you willing to spend?

Какой цвет вы любите? – What color do you like?

Какой ваш размер/какой у вас размер? – What is your size?

Пройдите, пожалуйста, в примерочную – You may go to the fitting room/Please, go to the fitting room.

С удовольствием! – With pleasure!/Gladly!

Я вам очень благодарен/благодарна за помощь! – I am very thankful for your help!

Вы очень добры! – You are so kind!/It is so nice of you!

Primary Activity (formative assessment)

I. Pre-listening activity

1. Students review vocabulary and expressions associated with shopping by solving a crossword puzzle.

2. Students answer the following questions in pairs or small groups before listening to the dialog:

• Как часто вы покупаете одежду в магазине?
• Где вы обычно покупаете одежду?
• Вы предпочитаете покупать одежду в магазине или онлайн? Почему?
• Какую одежду вы носите?
• Вы любите ходить по магазинам один/одна или с друзьями? Почему?
• Вы обращаетесь за помощью к продавцу когда делаете покупки? Почему?

II. While-listening activity

Students answer the following set of comprehension questions while listening to the authentic dialog about shopping. They can listen to the dialog up to three times while working on these questions.

III. Post-listening activity

After listening to the dialog and completing their activities, students are given a real-life task-based scenario to practice using vocabulary and grammatical structures they learned in their own speech.

Speaking task (instructions are given in English):

You are currently studying Russian at Moscow State University in Moscow. Some of your Russian friends at the university invited you to go to their graduation party. You need to buy appropriate attire to go to the commencement ceremony, which will take place on May 25th. You also want to buy a gift for your mom whose birthday is coming up soon as well as a souvenir for your girlfriend/boyfriend in the U.S. You decided to go shopping at GUM, the largest and most popular department store in Moscow located in the heart of Red Square. Since you need to practice your Russian, you plan on asking for help with your purchases from one of the sales associates in the store.

Work in pairs: one student plays the role of the exchange student in Moscow, the other one is the sales associate in the store. On the second round, students switch roles.

Before you start your role-play, go to the GUM’s website https://gum.ru/ and explore your options regarding what to buy. Take a look at GUM’s online clothes and souvenirs sections, and make your selections. During the role-play, don’t forget to specify the color and size for your purchases (use Russian size scale for both clothes and shoes). You also might want to try on whatever you buy for yourself in the fitting room to make sure it fits. Finally, complete your purchase by paying for it with Russian currency.

Reflection Questions

At the end of the lesson, students will be given the following questions to reflect on the information they learned throughout the lesson.

• На ваш взгляд, какие 3 фразы или выражения вам пригодятся больше всего во время похода по магазинам?
• Какой ваш русский размер одежды и обуви?
• Что вас больше всего удивило на сайте ГУМа? В сравнении с американскими магазинами, как вы считаете, ГУМ – дорогой магазин? Почему?
• Вы бы пошли за покупками в такой магазин? Почему?

Tips and Instructions for Instructors Using this Resource

This lesson can be taught in a regular classroom as a supplement to the textbook material on a similar topic or in an online class either synchronous or asynchronous. Consequently, the questions and activities designed for each part of the lesson can be modified accordingly to better fit the format of the class. For example, warm-up questions in the pre-listening activity can be conducted orally in pairs or small groups in the traditional brick and mortar classrooms. If taught online synchronously using Zoom or Microsoft Teams, students could be paired up in separate breakout rooms for discussion. If taught online asynchronously, students could record their answers in an audio or video format and upload them to the VoiceThread or any other platform they are using; after all students post their responses they could come back later and leave audio or video comments/responses to 2-3 of their peers. The while-listening exercises could be conducted in H5P format or adopted using other apps like Bookwidgets or Microsoft Forms for both in-person and online courses. The post-listening activity can be done in pairs in the regular classroom, via breakout rooms in a synchronous online format, and using an interface that offers real-time speaking between student, like GoReact, in an asynchronous environment.

About the author

My name is Julia Gerhard and I am a native speaker of Russian born in Voronezh, Russia. I hold a B.A. and M.A. degrees in English from California State University, Chico and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature (2018) with an emphasis on American and Russian science fiction from University of Colorado, Boulder. I have taught a variety of classes at a university level such as Russian Science Fiction, Russian Fairy Tales, Postmodernism, and First-Year Writing. I also taught Russian language courses (all levels) at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA. I am currently enrolled in a M.A. program in TEFL at Kansas State University, where I teach an online Medical Terminology course. When I graduate from KSU, I hope to teach English as a foreign language either in the U.S. or abroad, and continue to teach Russian language as well.

This lesson was created in April 2024