Чеховские места в Таганроге
методическая разработка по английскому языку (5, 6, 7, 8 класс)

                                        Chekhov Places in Taganrog

1. Do you think that Chekhov places can be the icons that best represent Taganrog? Will you vote for them? Why?

2. Listen to the text and match the titles (A-G) to the paragraphs (1-6). One of the titles is extra.

1. Schooling
2. Commemorating a great writer
3. Great sculptors
4. From adventure books to contemporary literature
5. To enjoy a performance in spite of difficulties
6. The birth house
7. Working at an early age

CHEKHOV PLACES IN TAGANROG

 Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was born in Taganrog on January 29, 1860. He was a Russian physician and one of the greatest playwrights and authors of short stories. Taganrog offers remarkable sites dedicated to childhood and youth of the outstanding writer. Let’s start our tour around Chekhov places.

1. One of the streets in Taganrog is named after Anton Chekhov (formerly Politseiskaya Street). There we can see a tiny white house with a green roof and green shutters where A.P. Chekhov was born. Now it is the Chekhov memorial museum, one of the most popular places among tourists. There you can see pieces of furniture, clothes and other things of Chekhov’s family which can help us to imagine Antosha’s early childhood. The rooms are so small that it is difficult to imagine that a family of five lived there. There is a bust of the great writer in the small yard.

2. If we go up the street we’ll find ourselves in Chekhov Square facing the magnificent monument that was designed by Grigoriy Alexeevich Zakharov and sculptured by Julian Rukavishnikov. It has a granite pedestal and a bronze statue showing A. P. Chekhov sitting on the stone holding a book in his right hand, with his forefinger between pages as if the writer tries to dig deeper in what he has read. It was unveiled on January 29, 1960 on the writer's centennial birth anniversary. Every year on January 29 and July 15 meetings to commemorate Anton Pavlovich Chekhov are held in front of this monument.

3. Not far from that place in Oktyabrskaya Street (formerly Gymnasicheskaya Street) Chekhov Gymnasium is situated. The Gymnasium for boys was founded in 1809 and its building was completed in 1843. It is the oldest gymnasium in the South of Russia. Now it is a literary museum. At the age of eight Anton Chekhov was sent to this Gymnasium where he was an average pupil. Rather reserved and undemonstrative, he nevertheless gained a reputation for satirical comments, for pranks, and for making up humorous nicknames for his teachers. Visitors can see Anton's desk and his classroom, the assembly hall and even the punishment cell which he sometimes visited. The exhibition includes the library that consists of antique books and books later sent by Anton Chekhov, his personal belongings, photographs and documents.

4. On the corner of Aleksandrovskaya Street and Gogolevski Lane there is a brick two-storeyed building with a signboard above the door: “Tea, sugar, coffee, and other colonial goods”. Chekhov’s family rented this building from 1869 to 1874. It is now opened to visitors as Chekhovs’ Lavka (Shop). When Anton's father was away on business, the boy had to replace him serving as a shop assistant and keeping the accounting records. It is on the first floor of this house that the future world-famous playwright wrote his first stories and staged amateur theatricals with other Chekhov family children or with gymnasium fellow students.

5. The Taganrog Chekhov Theater is in the main street of Taganrog, Petrovskaya Street. It was established in 1827. Anton was a thirteen-year-old gymnasium student when he visited the theater for the first time, and from that moment on, Chekhov became a great theater lover and spent there almost all his savings. His favorite seat in the theater was at the back gallery for it was cheap, and because gymnasium students needed a special authorization to go to the theater. The permission was given not often and mostly for the weekends. Sometimes, Anton Chekhov and other fellow students disguised themselves and even wore some makeup, spectacles or a fake beard, trying to fool the regular school staff who checked for unauthorized presence of students. In 1944 the Taganrog City Theater was named after Anton Pavlovich Chekhov.

6. The public library that is not far from the theatre was officially opened on May 23, 1876. Andrei Drossi, the classmate of Chekhov wrote later in his memoirs: ...every Sunday and every holiday we came early in the morning into the city library and spent there hours and hours sitting and reading magazines, forgetting about food.... According to archive records, the first books read by Chekhov were books on travel and adventures, then Miguel de Cervantes, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Ivan Turgenev and Ivan Goncharov, later - Dimitri Pisarev, Vissarion Belinsky and Nikolay Aleksandrovich Dobrolyubov. Thanks to the library in Taganrog, Anton Chekhov being a gymnasium student read the periodicals that later published his short stories. Having become a writer, Anton Pavlovich sent his books, rare books and foreign books with every opportunity. In 1904, after Chekhov’s death, the library was named after him.

 The famous Russian writer brought glory to his hometown. Taganrog citizens take care of all memorial sites related to the years of Anton’s childhood and youth. They are proud that Chekhov’s life is closely connected with their town.

New words:

1. Using the text match cards with the places and their descriptions and stick to the map.

2. Read through the text again and answer the questions.

1. What can we see at the Chekhov memorial museum?
2. What does the Chekhov statue look like?
3. What kind of school did the writer enter when he was eight?
4. What kind of pupil was he?
5. What can we see in the Gymnasium now?
6. Where did the Chekhovs move in 1869?
7. How did Anton help his father?
8. When did Anton Chekhov visit the theatre for the first time?
9. What did he do when he was not allowed to go there?
10. How often did Anton Chekhov go to the library?
11. What did he read there?
12. What did he send to the library when he became a writer?

3. Taganrog has got an official site. What advertisement of Chekhov tour would you print there to attract foreign tourists to the town?

Welcome to Taganrog!

It is a (an) ________________ town on the South of Russia where ________________, Anton Pavlovich Checkov was born. You are lucky to have an opportunity to make a (an) __________________ tour over Chekhov places.

You’ll visit ______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Don’t miss a chance to ____________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

4. What additional information would you like to find about Chekhov places or other icons of Taganrog? Write down your questions (not less than 3) and try to find answers to them using the Internet or reference books.