Dachas, two

 
 
 

Vocabulary

cottage	wonderful	think/thought/thought
kitty	stand still	leave/left/left
still (2)	space (2)	stand/stood/stood
free (2)	come in	take/took/taken
fine (2)	precious	feel/felt/felt
sunny	degree (3)	come/came/come
whole	come on	traditional
blame	break (3)	drink/drank/drunk
serious	Celsius	sing/sang/sung
		break/broke/broken

 
 
 
 
 
 

Video

 

 
 
 
 

Transcript

Welcome to the dacha, a traditional Russian cottage . . .

Grandmother: “What a wonderful cat! You’re such a good kitty. What a beautiful cat!

Are you leaving? Okay then.”

. . . where time seems to stand still.

Anastasia takes the train every weekend to visit her family.

Anastasia: “Sometimes it’s nice to leave the city because then you feel like you have space . . . and you’re in nature!”

 
Anastasia: “Here’s my dacha!

I love it because it feels so free.”

Anastasia: “Hello.”
Grandmother: “Hello, hello! Come in.

My girl! Oh, you are so beautiful! Our precious girl.”

Anastasia: “It’s fine when it’s sunny. But when it’s not, it’s around fifteen degrees Celsius (15 C). And during the night, it’s only ten degrees Celsius.

This is our ‘Russian summer’: 10 C!

But it’s good weather for drinking!”

 
Anastasia: “It’s healthy to not want to do anything sometimes. And this is my favorite place . . . to not do anything!

The dacha is for weekends. A resting place away from work, where you can relax. And just look at the water and the sky . . . and do nothing else.”

Grandmother: “Here we are! Usually, our whole family comes here on weekends: Mom, Dad . . . Grandma, Grandpa . . . and the kids. It’s a place for the entire family.

 

Anastasia: “Grandma, can you sing something?”
Grandmother: “Sing? You want me to sing?”
Grandfather: “Come on. You drank some tea, so now you can sing!”

Grandmother: “Am I to blame that I’m in love? Please, can’t I have a little break?”

Grandfather: “How about something a little more serious?”
Grandmother: “What? You don’t think I’m serious?”
 

 

 

Questions

1. Does the grandmother love cats?

2. How often does Anastasia come to her family dacha?

3. Anastasia loves the countryside. True or false? How does she feel in the country?

4. Is it always very hot in Russia in July?

5. At her dacha, Anastasia likes to work in the garden and do household chores. Is this correct or incorrect?

6. Where is her favorite place?

7. Is her family close? Are they a close-knit family?

 

A. I have a country cottage. True or false? Do your friends have country homes?

B. Are country homes popular where you live? Do many or most people own them?

C. What do people do on weekends, holidays and summer vacations?

D. My friends and I want to live in country homes in villages permanently, year-round. Yes or no?

E. What might happen in the future?