Ask a bilingual child how the trip to grandma's was. Most likely, it will go like this. We went. Then we walked around. Then we ate. Then we came home.
The past tense forms are all correct here. The setting is also sometimes depicted that way. But there is no narrative; there is a list of actions arranged through the use of «later.».
It’s not so much about the forms that matter here. The child can say «let’s go» and «let’s go for a walk,» but he still doesn’t have the set of connections that would allow him to put those pieces together in the Russian way. He’s going to tell a story step by step, and each step is worked on separately.
Start with the frame
The Russian narrative usually sets the time first, and then the event.
Once. One day. Last summer. When I was ten. That year we moved. A couple of weeks ago.
The framework does two things at once. It tells the listener that there will be a story being told, and it frees them from having to specify the time in each subsequent phrase. Once they say «last summer,» everything is within that summer.
If the child misses the frame and starts right from the action, ask them to start with the words «once upon a time» or «someday». That way, it will be easier for them to immediately set the time frame for the story.
Combine the background and the event
This is the main technique that distinguishes a story from a list.
There is a background in history, what has been going on, and there is an event, what happened against that background. The background is usually presented in an imperfect way, the event is perfect. The plot is rough, the language is more complex, but in the first ten stories it holds up well.
I was walking home, and suddenly it started raining. We were having dinner when someone knocked at the door. She was reading, and my brother was playing at the same time.
Compare it to another compilation of the same words. I came home, and it started raining. The sentence is perfectly correct, except that it refers to something else; here, there are simply two events one after another. There is no flashlight, and the picture comes out flat.
Ask the child to insert at least one «and suddenly» into the story. Then he or she will come up with the idea that something suddenly has to happen against a certain background, and the background still needs to be named.
Take away half of the «later»
The four «later» in the five-phrased story mean that the child simply has no other connections.
The very word "normal" is fine; there's no need to ban it. Agree on a time when you can use it once during the training session.
Events can be moved in a different way. First. After that. In an hour. The next day. At this moment. Suddenly. Eventually. It turned out that the combination of these elements, which often signals an unexpected turn of events and helps emphasize the climax, is effective.
This substitution works best. We leave the first «later» as is, and replace the second with «in half an hour», and the third with «and here». The fourth is checked separately to see whether it is actually an independent event or whether it can be combined with the previous one.
Show that you looked for something for a long time and found it immediately
A separate pair where bilinguals lose half the meaning.
I searched for the keys for a long time and finally found them. We went up for two hours and still managed to get there. She explained it three times before he understood.
The first verb in each pair describes the process; the second describes the result. In English, the same meaning is distributed between the tense, the context, and words like finally; in Russian, the difference is largely due to the type of verb itself. A child whose mind works in the English scheme says «I was looking for the keys and found them» without feeling that there was a struggle between these two actions. The word «long,» «finally,» «after all,» and «for now» convey this feeling.
Tell us about what was repeated
The past is not always a one-time event, and there are ways to deal with recurring problems in Russian.
In the past, we often went to the lake. Every summer we were sent to Grandma’s house. We always sat in the kitchen until the night. Sometimes we stayed up until the morning.
There is an imperfect form here, plus the word frequency. There is a special story with the word «used to». It doesn’t have a precise English equivalent; the closest is used to and would sometimes, but it sounds completely different. «It used to be that we would come in from the cold and there would already be pancakes on the table». Pay attention to the verb «used to» in the future tense in the story about the past.
For a child who remembers life before the move, almost everything in the past was like that. It wasn’t «we went on a trip,» but «we went every Sunday,» and that’s not something that can be told without a slight tinge of understatement.
Include the present moment amidst the past
The reception that the child usually understands by hearing, but hardly uses himself.
The Russian narrator switches to the present at the most interesting point. And then I walk into the room, and there’s no one there. I walk down the street, don’t touch anyone, and then I get a call.
The past doesn’t go away with this; it just gets closer, as if it were happening right before the listener’s eyes. In grammar, this present is called historical, and in colloquial speech it makes the scene much more vivid.
Get to the climax and repeat the same scene in the present tense: «I'm going» and «He's talking.» The difference is immediately heard.
Assemble the story as a whole
Let’s take that same dry retelling and break it down into steps.
That was the case. We went. Then we went for a walk. Then we ate. Then we came home.
We put up a frame. Last summer we went to Riga to visit my grandmother.
We mixed the background and the event. We were walking through the old town, and suddenly it started raining.
We switched from «later» to live connections. We hid in a cafe and sat there for about two hours.
We add the process and the result. Grandma spent a long time looking for an umbrella in her bag and finally found it, only to find that it was broken.
We include the present moment in the most interesting place. And here we run to the house under one broken umbrella, soaking wet through and through, and laugh.
We are reading it in its entirety.
Last summer we went to my grandmother's house in Riga. We walked around the old town and suddenly it started to rain. We hid in a cafe and stayed there for two hours. My grandmother spent a long time looking for an umbrella in her bag and finally found one, only it was broken. And then we ran home with one broken umbrella, soaking wet through and through, and we laughed.
Five sentences in the original are against four. There are just as many events: a trip, a walk, rain, a cafe, the road home. No new facts have been added; only the verb combinations have changed, the tense in the two places, and the time in the last sentence.
And one more thing. In the original version, it’s impossible to understand what was interesting there. In the new one, it’s clear from the third sentence.
Practice right here
Below is a training exercise for three types of tasks. Selecting a combination of elements, arranging the background and events, and assembling the story from pre-prepared lines. Immediate verification with explanation.
Three blocks of tasks. All the options are grammatically possible here; the task is to choose the one that best solves the narrative task. After choosing, an explanation will appear.
Frame, sets, and the present moment are at their peak. For training, we’ll agree to use the word «later» no more than once.
The better the beginning of a story about a trip
We were walking around the city, and it started to rain
We hid in a cafe. ___ the rain stopped, and we went on our way
What sounds more vivid in the climax of the story
For a simple narrative, this scheme is convenient: the background is often expressed in an imperfect form, and the event that changes the situation is perfect. The rejected options are not mistaken; they convey a different meaning.
In which phrase the first action serves as a background for the second?
We were there when they knocked on the door
She was reading, and her brother was ___ at the time
I searched for the keys for a long time and found them
What word emphasizes that the result was hard-won. We worked for two hours and ___ got there
How to talk about what happened every summer
Assemble a vivid narrative from five lines, choosing the one that works best at each step. The rejected options are not wrong; they are just less meaningful.
The first line of the story
The second reply
The third reply
Fourth replica
The final reply
If the form itself is flawed
All of the above suggests that the child is holding the verb form. Mom came instead of mom came to get treated. suspension. I did the work against the person who did it, and I am taking care of it. the form of the verb, Without it, the background and the event don’t come together. I went, went, and went again. Verbs of motion.
How to train it at home
The simplest exercise takes five minutes at dinner.
Ask them to talk about not the whole day, but about one particular episode. Not how the day went, but what funny things happened during the break. The child squeezes in a short episode, and the whole day turns into a list.
Next, add one entry at a time. Today we ask you to start with the word «once.» Tomorrow we ask you to insert «and suddenly.» Next day we ask you to tell about the most interesting place in the present tense. Three approaches, and the story changes noticeably.
It works well in the reverse direction as well. Tell your story yourself, in a dry, matter-of-fact way. «I went to the store. Then I bought bread. Then I came home.» The child usually starts laughing already at the second «then» and corrects the text himself.
How can such a topic be used in a lesson
The topic is convenient in that it forces you to talk instead of answering questions. One episode from a student’s life provides both the verb form in live usage and the combinations and work with intonation.
The retelling of the photo is well done, where the student decides for himself what was the background and what was the event. And the transformation of dry text into a vivid one, where the result is shown before and after.
We conduct online lessons with children from four to seventeen years old in small groups, You can start with two free lessons. First, the methodologist will determine the level and select a group, and then a regular lesson with the teacher will take place.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does a child tell about the same «later»?
Often this means that the verb forms are already sufficient, and the vocabulary of conjunctions for narration is still limited, and «then» turns out to be the only word that the child knows how to connect events with. Grammar does not help; several other conjunctions, from «and then» to «in an hour», are also helpful.
What are the background and event in the story?
The background is what was going on; the event is what happened in the background. For a simple narrative, a scheme is convenient where the background is expressed in an imperfect form and the event in a perfect one. «I was walking home, and suddenly it started raining» is the background plus the event. The phrase «I came home, and it started raining» is also correct; it just has two events happening one after the other.
Why start the story with the word «once»?
The story is easier to hear if we first give a timeframe. Words like «once upon a time,» «someday,» or «last summer» indicate that the story will continue. At the same time, they eliminate the need to specify the time in each subsequent phrase, because all events are placed within a given timeframe.
Is it true that the present tense is used in stories about the past?
Yes, in grammar this is called the historical present tense. In the most interesting part, the narrator switches to the present tense: «and then I walk in, and there is no one there.» The past does not disappear from this, the event simply becomes closer to the listener.
How to tell about what has been repeated in the past?
Usually, the imperfect form plus the word frequency. In the past, we often went to the lake. Every summer we were sent to our grandmother’s house. The word «usually» is particularly noteworthy, as it does not have a single exact English equivalent: «It used to be that we would come from the cold and there would already be pancakes on the table.».
From what age is it worth starting to do this?
By the time a child is confident enough to use the past tense and at least roughly recognize the different forms, the story will be falling apart at the level of individual words, and we have to work with the forms first.
How to train a coherent narrative at home?
Ask them to talk about not the whole day, but a short episode, and add one new verb at a time. Start with the word «once» today, add «and suddenly» tomorrow, and then tell about the most interesting thing that happened in the present tense the next day.
