I. YAKOVLEV CHUVASH STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY BULLETIN

Russian as a foreign language, artistic text, Russian émigré literature, K. D. Balmont.

Modern methodology of teaching Russian as a foreign language is text-focused, i.e. learning and teaching is based on texts. At the lessons of Russian as a Foreign Language, teachers can use either texts created by themselves or texts from learning guides, or authentic texts. Among authentic texts we should point out artistic texts which are at the same time means and sources of learning a foreign language. Poetic texts are the most difficult ones, but this does not mean that teachers should not use them at the lessons. The authors of the article propose the system of exercises aimed at understanding a poetic text: pre-, while- and post-reading exercises revealing the specifics of the poet’s linguistic personality. Focusing on the poet’s linguistic personality helps the students to understand the text deeper and simplifies the perception of the main ideas of the poem. The material of the article is the poem «Uznik» (‘Prisoner’) written by the representative of Russian émigré literature K. D. Balmont. The provided exercises are aimed at students of faculties of philology with the level of Russian language proficiency not lower than B 1.