History of the USSR

I have heard many good things about Mikhail Yurievich from my course-mates during my first year at the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Viennese University. In the summer semester 2014 I had the opportunity to meet him personally during my exchange at the MSU in the name of Lomonosov in Moscow. For me it was a big surprise, as I did not expect to meet a lecturer in Moscow who has worked earlier in Vienna. Mikhail Yurievich established himself as a literate lecturer, perfectly knowing his subject, possessing modern knowledge and skills in the area of pedagogy, psychology and methods of teaching. He thoroughly approached the choice of the contents of the course, responsibly regarded the choice of tasks set for the students. Lectures were always led in an interactive form. Mikhail Yurievich built connections with the students, taking into consideration their individual and age related qualities. I especially enjoyed that with him we studied not only the literary language but also the speaking language, which is very important in the everyday life in Moscow. Also the discussion topics were very interesting and we had the opportunity to get to know a lot about each other.
The materials used by Mikhail Yurievich were not only interesting and helpful, but also very well developed didactically, due to the fact that he always, for example, tried to put the stress into the spoken word and explain everything in Russian instead of just translating into English.
The atmosphere in the lessons was fantastic, no-one was afraid to speak in Russian, even if they made mistakes. Mikhail Yurievich always found ways to correct mistakes without offending anyone. Studying with Mikhail Yurievich does not only mean language improvement but also a good time pass and a great mood. I definitely recommend lessons with him!!

Yulia is a great teacher and I would highly recommend her. Her lessons combine a good balance of the key skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking, so you cover and develop all the fundamental aspects of language learning with every lesson. The lessons are almost entirely in Russian, which was challenging initially; however, I have found that this immersion in the language prompts faster development as you have to rely on your Russian all the time, rather than switching to your native language for comfort which is all too easy to do. Yulia has a lot of patience and has the ability to explain things in a very clear and methodical way. You do not feel afraid to make mistakes or ask questions. I hope to use Russian for work in a legal context in the future and I was particularly impressed by the effort which Yulia went to, to find legal resources for me. It really shows that she is willing to go out of her way to help her students and she will listen to you and meet your objectives.

I have had the pleasure to be the student of Tatiana Martin for a year.

Though I have had russian lessons before, and I was hesitant to continue lessons over Skype. Nonetheless, I started learning Russian with Tatiana while still at a beginner level. Though Russian is a difficult language, after months of unbroken 2 lessons a week I started to be able to read short passages, which quickly improved to reading easy short stories. After about a year I was able to hold a very basic short conversation with good grammar and vocabulary, as well as understand some passages of Russian songs and understand russian news tweets.

Tatiana is a very patient teacher, she is organised, and takes the time to prepare lessons and follows up with homework. She is also very friendly and breaks the formality of the lessons to make them fun and enjoyable.

The Russificate school is very comfortable to deal with, and Yulia, its director, is very organised and punctual regarding replying to email enquiries and sorting out payments.