Rodnaya rech' with website, an introductory textbook for heritage learners, addresses the unique needs of students who have at least intermediate-level listening and speaking skills on the ACTFL scale but who have underdeveloped or nonexistent literacy skills. With an emphasis on conceptual understanding of vocabulary and grammar, Rodnaya rech' builds students' literacy skills and teaches them to strategically use the linguistic intuition they have gained as heritage speakers while strengthening all four skill areas. The accompanying companion website–included with the book–offers fully integrated exercises to use alongside the text.

Rodnaya rech' can be used as the main course material either in an intensive one-semester class or at a more measured pace over two semesters. This book is flexible enough to be used in specialized heritage or in mixed classes. It can also support independent study and learning in less formal settings, such as community schools.

For Instructors: Separate print Teacher’s Editions of Rodnaya rech’ are no longer available. Instead, instructors should submit exam and desk copy requests using ISBN 978-1-64712-219-5.

Irina Y. Dubinina is associate professor of Russian at Brandeis University, where she also directs the Russian language program. She has extensive experience teaching Russian as a second and heritage language.

Olesya Kisselev is an assistant professor in the Department of Bicultural-Bilingual Studies at University of Texas at San Antonio. She has many years of experience teaching Russian as a second and heritage language.

"Dubinina and Kisselev are at the top of their game: applying modern, innovative teaching methods, bringing to the fore the rich culture behind modern spoken Russian, and engaging their students in a sophisticated dialogue. This textbook will be a gold standard for future textbooks designed for heritage speakers of different languages."

(Introduction)

Phonetics

Syllables

Vowels

Consonants: hard–soft pairs

The hard sign and the soft sign

Voiced and voiceless consonants

Word stress: stressed and unstressed vowels

Morphology: the composition of a word

Morphological principle of spelling

Writing unstressed vowels

Spelling of prefixes

Spelling of suffixes

Spelling of unstressed vowels in the root

Vowels and consonants of the root that cannot be checked

Grammar: parts of speech

Adverbs

Nouns

Gender

How to determine a noun's gender?

Number

Exceptions

Chapter 1: (How to describe people)

:

:

: (Parts of speech: adjectives and adverbs)

(Noun–adjective agreement)

(Adjectival endings)

(Nuances of adjectival endings)

(Superlative degree of adjectives)

Chapter 2: (How to talk about daily routine)

:

:

(Verbs)

(Infinitive)

(Reflexive verbs)

(Tense)

(Past tense)

(Present tense and future tense)

(Consonant mutation)

(Tricky verbs)

-- (Verbs with the -OBA- suffix)

, (Verbs of the type )

(Irregular verbs)

Chapter 3: , , (How to describe past, present, and future events)

:

:

(Verbal aspect)

(Imperfective and perfective forms of verbs)

() (Functions of verbal aspect)

(Verbal aspect and tense)

(Verbal aspect and adverbs)

(Tricky aspectual pairs)

Chapter 4: (How to talk about family and friends)

:

:

(Grammatical case)

(Genitive case of nouns)

(Important nuances)

(Adjectives and possessive pronouns in the genitive case)

(Personal pronouns in the genitive case)

(Functions of the genitive case)

: (Possession: expressing the idea of 'having')

: ? (Expressing belonging: whose?)

() (Attributive function)

- (Insufficient amount of something, lack of something, or absence of something or somebody)

Chapter 5: e, (How to describe a community where I live)

:

:

(Plural nouns in the genitive case)

(Plural adjectives in the genitive case)

(Important details on the form of the plural genitive)

(The fill vowel)

(Exceptions)

: ë (Additional function of the genitive case: counting)

Chapter 6: ë (How to talk about academic studies)

:

:

(Accusative of nouns and adjectives: singular)

(Personal pronouns in the accusative case)

(Functions of the accusative case)

1: (Function 1: direct object)

2: (Function 2: direction and directionality)

3: (Function 3: accusative case with prepositions)

(Accusative of nouns and adjectives: plural)

Chapter 7: , (How to talk about trips and travel)

:

(Verbs of motion)

(Directionality)

: (Conveyance: on foot vs. via transportation)

(Prefixed verbs of motion)

(Generalized meaning of verbs of motion)

:

(Conjugation of Verbs of Motion)

(Direction/destination and directionality)

(Review of the accusative singular)

, (Verbs of positioning, self-positioning and location)

(Review of the accusative plural)

Chapter 8: , (How to talk about feelings and emotions)

:

:

,

,

— —

Chapter 9: , (How to talk about where people live)

:

:

Chapter 10: (How to talk about people's interests)

:

:

,

'to be'

Chapter 11: (Tying It All Together)

: ,