Modern Russian literature

My name is Maia, I’m Slovenian and I’m a teacher of Russian and Spanish.

After I finished my studies in philology in Slovenia I enrolled in a two-year course (July/August 2007-July 2008) at the Russian language school in Moscow studied with Alexandra as my teacher.

I was taking an advanced-level group class with her, as well as individual classes. Her lessons were always very useful and interesting, and we discussed every possible topic, chatting about current events and reading magazine and newspaper articles. Alexandra always brought with her to class audio and video recordings, so that we could watch a film or cartoon, and then she prepare additional material based on what we had seen.

Alexandra knew how to include every student in the class even considering that some students required additional motivation. We worked hard during our lessons, but the atmosphere in Alexandra’s classes was always relaxed. She assigns a variety of tasks for homework, which I like, because I had come to Moscow to study and her lessons were always a lot of work.

Alexandra is an excellent specialist of the Russian language and she always explained everything very clearly. Her personality is also well-suited to her work, as she is a pleasant, warm, and patient person.

As both a student and a teacher, I would strongly recommend Alexandra as a teacher for any student.

Mikhail Yurievich is one of the best tutors of Russian as a second language that I have met during the time of my studying it.
He is well and honestly prepared for the lessons, bringing own (author’s) materials to every lesson for reading and discussing, grammar exercises, lexical exercises (including the typical cliché phrases from the speaking language and slang) and dialogues for the development of speech. Among the materials there are also practice and visualisation of the correct pronunciation, which is absent in the typical textbooks of Russian as a second language, although it is especially important for the foreigners.
With this combination of the different didactic methods, Mikhail Yurievich, systematically develops all 4 language competencies in all types of students. He is an experienced tutor, who actively and constructively uses own knowledge of the language problems, connected with the interference of the students’ mother tongue.
Mikhail Yurievich’s lessons are always led in a good mood and in a pleasant atmosphere. With his natural charm and a good sense of humour, he finds common ground and understanding with every student, and also ways to motivate students in discussions of any topic. During the discussion, the student forgets that he is speaking a foreign language; in this way eventually eliminating the language barriers and fear of mistakes. On the other hand, thanks to his wide range of interests he is prepared to lead the lesson on any topic that interests the student; and to answer any questions connected with the history and the culture of Russia.
Work with Mikhail Yurievich is always interesting and helpful!

Tatiana Ryndak has been my personal Russian tutor since July 2011.
I know her as a teacher with an extremely good command of the Russian language. She is also a dedicated teacher and a very good educator. She individually adapts her lessons according to the specific needs of the different students.
To cater to my unique requirements as a journalist, she has used a book specially designed for people in my field. In addition, she is always careful to monitor students' weaknesses, focusing on them until they are fully resolved.
I strongly recommend her.

Steinar Dyrnes

Moscow Correspondent

Aftenposten, Norway’s number one newspaper