HISTORY OF RUSSIA
C. Use the dictionary to find the meaning of the following words:
to found/to establish, to destroy, to rule, efforts, to invade, to divide into.
D. Can you say what these dates mean in the history of Russia? Use the dates to complete the sentences below.
1552 | 1762 to 1796 30 December 1922 27 May, 1703 | on 22 June 1941 on 7th November, 1917 in December 1991 |
1) Tradition says in the Viking Rurik came to Russia and founded the first Russian dynasty in Novgorod.
2) Vladimir the Saint became Christian in...
3) In , Kiev was destroyed by the Mongols.
4) After the final battle of Russo-Kazan Wars in... Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible) transformed Russia and Tatar khanates into a multiconfessional state.
5) Tsar Peter I of Russia founded Saint Petersburg on as the capital of the Russian Empire.
6) Catherine II (Catherine the Great), who ruled from , continued the efforts to establish Russia as one of the Great Powers of Europe.
7) Napoleons efforts to invade Russia failed in .
8) On 7th November Vladimir Lenin headed the Bolshevik Revolution.
9) After victory in the Civil War, the Russian SFSR together with three other Soviet republics formed the Soviet Union on .
10) On , Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union that was the beginning of the Second World War.
11) The USSR was divided into fifteen independent republics.
LANGUAGE SKILLS: SHOWING LACK OF CERTAINTY & SURPRISE
D. Make up short dialogues expressing lack of certainty and surprise. Use prompts given below.
e.g. If I remember rightly, Vladimir Lenin studied in Kazan.
Really? Its news to me. When was it?
1) There are more than 200 holidays in Russia and only 7 are state ones!
2) In 1240 Kiev was destroyed by the Mongols.
3) The first animal in space was a Russian dog, Laika.
4) Viking Rurik founded the first Russian dynasty in Novgorod.
5) 13 cities in Russia have population over 1 m.
6) The USSR was divided into fifteen independent republics.
7) The Russian Federation is home to as many as 160 different ethnic groups.
SAYING NUMBERS | Numbers | |
100 a/one hundred 1000 a/one thousand 1 000 000 (1m) a/one million 3 000 000 000 (3bn) three billion | ||
Bigger numbers | ||
3 560 three thousand five hundred andsixty (BrE) sixty (AmE) 598, 374 five hundred and ninety-eight thousand, three hundred and forty- seven(BrE) ninety-eight thousand, three hundred forty-seven(AmE) | ||
Decimals | Vulgar fractions | |
16.5 sixteen point five 17.38 % seventeen point three eight percent 0.185 (nought) point one eight five | 1/8 a/one eighth 3/8 three eighths 1/2 a/one half 3/4 three quarters 20/83 twenty over eighty three | |