6-Month Roadmap to A2
Assumes ~30–45 min/day. Each phase ends with a self-check; don't advance until you pass it.
Phase 1 — Foundations (Weeks 1–4)
| Week | Grammar | Phrases | Daily |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alphabet & pronunciation rules | Survival essentials | Flashcards: Survival deck |
| 2 | Gender & nouns | Greetings & small talk | Flashcards + read aloud 5 min |
| 3 | Accusative case | review | Case drills §1 |
| 4 | Prepositional case | Food & restaurants | Case drills §2 |
Self-check: read a paragraph of simple Russian aloud without stopping; say "I see the dog / I'm in the park" with correct endings.
Phase 2 — The Case System (Weeks 5–10)
| Week | Grammar | Extras |
|---|---|---|
| 5–6 | Genitive — the workhorse case: possession, «у меня есть», negation, numbers | Genitive drills |
| 7 | Dative — giving, age, «мне нравится» | Directions & transport |
| 8 | Instrumental — "with", professions | Case drills §3 |
| 9–10 | Consolidation: mixed case drills, all six cases | Shopping & money |
Self-check: decline «новая книга» in all six cases; translate 10 mixed-case sentences from the drills cold.
Phase 3 — Verbs (Weeks 11–16)
| Week | Grammar | Extras |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | Present tense — both conjugations | Verb drills §1 |
| 12 | Past & future | Verb drills §2 |
| 13–14 | Aspect — the hardest single topic in Russian; take two full weeks | Aspect drills |
| 15 | Adjectives & possessives | Feelings & opinions |
| 16 | Pronouns | Consolidation |
Self-check: narrate your morning in past tense with correct aspect choices.
Phase 4 — Fluency Building (Weeks 17–24)
| Week | Focus |
|---|---|
| 17 | Numbers & time |
| 18–19 | Verbs of motion — intro (идти/ходить, ехать/ездить only) |
| 20–24 | Output phase: translation exercises, graded readers, comprehensible input (resources), first tutoring sessions if possible |
Self-check (A2): hold a 5-minute conversation about yourself, your day, and your plans; read a short news item for children and summarize it.
Rules of thumb
- Never skip drills. Reading grammar ≠ knowing grammar.
- Aspect and genitive get double time. They're the two walls everyone hits.
- Speak from week 1, even alone — reading phrases aloud counts.
- Flashcards daily, everything else can flex around your schedule.