Russian traditional culture and folklore

Natalia is a terrific teacher who has helped me a lot to improve my Russian. I studied Russian many years ago and have used it only passively -- reading and translating, but speaking very little and writing almost not at all. That means that my recollection of grammar and retention of vocabulary leave a lot to be desired. Natalia is very good at figuring out what I am trying to say, even when many of the words I use are wrong! She is patient, but also concentrates very well on steering our discussions in a focused way, so that I do not lose sight of the grammatical point we are working on. It has been very helpful to me to have the discipline of a weekly one-hour class, to force myself to work hard and do the homework.

Mikhail Yurievich was my tutor of the Russian language in 2014 during the first semester at the MSU in the name of Lomonosov. With him we studied the grammar rules and the spoken language at the same time; he understood that the grammar rules- are one thing, but the way that the Russian people speak, in which mode you can interact in Russian, which cliché phrases the Russians use, how to quickly deal with basic, political and philosophical situations, when you need to express your opinion and which songs all the Russian people know and sing- are completely different things and are very important.
We did written exercises and checked them during the lessons. Mikhail Yurievich always gave us dialogues- which in turn established discussions on many different topics, and so in this way all of the students in the group got the opportunity to speak their mind out loud, ask each other questions and so on. Mikhail Yurievich has achieved his goal; no-one was embarrassed or afraid to speak and, in my opinion, this is most important. Every student felt enough confidence to speak freely and to understand that it is possible! In conclusion, I believe that Mikhail Yurievich is a great tutor!

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.