The article is devoted to one of the topical problems of teaching Russian as a foreign language - building grammar skills on the base of communicative exercises. The authors substantiate the possibility and expediency of teaching foreigners the grammatical aspect of Russian speech when using authentic texts: advertisements, announcements, road signs, etc. Speech samples presented in authentic texts are natural; therefore, they can be useful for foreign students studying Russian in the language environment. The proposed communicative grammar exercises provide not only the formation of grammar skills, but also speech and cross-cultural competences in Russian.