English, Russian, Spanish (Oct, 2000
–Present) at Private language schools, private teaching
I have always had a special interest in learning and teaching languages, my grandmother was a German teacher, and my mother, like me, graduated from the Faculty of Romano-Germanic Philology in my home city, Tyumen. So in a way, I can say that teaching languages runs in my family. While learning English and French at university, at the same time I began to study Spanish and Italian. In all four languages I reached the advanced level, but then I decided to concentrate all my efforts only on English and Spanish, while French and Italian receded to the background. I completed a university degree in linguistics and intercultural communication, obtaining the qualification of linguist and teacher of English and Russian.
I haven't had the chance to visit the United States or England yet, but I worked as a translator and interpreter for American tourists and entrepreneurs in my home city, so I had a very good opportunity to practice my English with native speakers. I have been to Spain four times, more than 3 years in total, and I have also worked as both an interpreter and a Spanish translator in my country. From 2017 to 2021, I was translating articles from Spanish into Russian and English for Design Marbella Magazine.
A few years ago, I decided to concentrate exclusively on teaching Russian, English and Spanish. Throughout the last twenty years, I have been teaching these three languages in some courses organised by the Tyumen State University and also in private language schools. Since my graduation in the year 2000, I have been giving private lessons to adults as well as university and high school students.
My work is a hobby, a creative process, and I would be falsely modest not to acknowledge that I have a vocation for teaching. I am glad that I have the opportunity to earn a living doing what I love. Alongside teaching the three languages, I still continue to learn them, expanding my knowledge, “filling in the gaps” and perfecting my teaching system.
When one reaches a very high level in learning a foreign language, it is important to keep going and improving. Because otherwise, after a certain period of time, the aquired knowledge is very likely to decrease. I continue to improve my command of Russian, English and Spanish by reading books, working on grammar, using audiovisual materials and dictionaries in an active way. In addition, I have been participating in the language exchange for a number of years, developing my oral expression in English and Spanish.
Every person who just embarks on learning a foreign language or already continues to study it must know how to do it correctly. I would say that one should not study or learn a language, but rather acquire it. My task, as a teacher, is to help and guide the student on his path of language learning and acquisition.