Russian Class

We recently started Russian lessons for our two youngest daughters. We have the good fortune of having my former Russian teacher, Tatyana, from the local university, to tutor them privately. All is going extremely well. The girls are already reading in Cyrillic -- a feat that took yours truly at least six months.

The books Tatyana had us get for the girls are very Russian. I love how true to the culture they are.

One of the first things I had to explain to my older daughter was

Га-га́-рин

That's Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space. OK. Yeah, she should know about him.

Then we happen upon

Моск-вич

This is a car, the Moskvich, that was produced in Russia from 1945 until 1991. OK. I guess it doesn't hurt for her to know about this common item of Russian life for over half a century.

But, I had to laugh when she sounded out

Ка-лаш-ни-ков

Especially when she perfectly pronounced "Ka-lash-ni-kov"!

What a proud Mama I was!