Liudmila

I am a native Russian who has lived in the UK for over 20 years. Linguistics is my life-long passion. I absolutely love languages and my greatest joy is to share my knowledge and love for languages with other people, including all of my students. In my life, I have been fortunate to spend years in different countries (Spain, France, Cuba, Italy, Finland, Russia, Ukraine, UK among others) and to discover how fascinating it can be to use a language to decode the culture of a particular people, nation or a local community. We do not only speak and think in our native language — our language reflects and refracts our native culture and personal individuality. It is our second-self. Learning a foreign language for me is an amazing opportunity to access this invaluable cultural heritage that the world has to offer. By saying this I mean not only the major aspects of our national culture but a personal culture of each speaker.

I started my linguistic journey by learning English because I loved Shakespeare and wanted to read his plays in the original. From the moment I was able to access untranslated cultural assets, I discovered a whole new world. This also gave me an chance to see British, American and Australian culture from the new angle and to re-evaluate my perception of my own culture. I was able to see Russian culture both as a native speaker and as it is perceived from the outside by foreign people. The discovery was incredible.

I also developed a strong passion for learning other foreign languages. I now speak French, Spanish and Italian.

As well as being a teacher I translate and with every translation I attempt to deliver not only texts but cultural message of the original across the linguistic boundaries.

Languages are not only my job and hobby, they are my second-self.

Tutoring Experience

While living in Russia I taught English in different schools, evening classes and I also gave one-to-one lessons on a regular basis both in English to Russian children and adults and in Russian to foreign groups and individuals. I also gave excursions around Saint Petersburg as a tour guide. My childhood was spent in the picturesque town of Tsarskoe Selo which had three royal residences. I was surrounded by history and thus was able to share my knowledge of Russian culture with my foreign students and tourists.

Since moving to the UK, I have been teaching from home and by invitation. I have chosen this mode of work to combine bringing up my child with my professional commitments. I taught in Nottingham for a number of years and I have been teaching and translating since we moved to Cambridgeshire.

Tutoring Approach

My teaching approach depends very much on my students. With children I seek to develop a curiosity for the language (particularly with my younger learners). I know that children are very active learners If they find the subject interesting. I attempt to turn my lessons into an exciting journey which equips them with knowledge as they go and grow. I teach language, culture and I try to give them that curiosity that will propel them into future and further learning and development in this subject.

With older students lessons become more formal but very flexible. There is no singular approach and it would be unfair to my students to apply the same way of teaching to all of them. Everyone is an individual and prior knowledge is also different from student to student. Everyone has different goals, aspirations and interests. My job is to answer these.

To summarize — my approach is flexible and student driven. I provide a solid structure and framework that leads my students towards the goals that they set themselves and help them on each step of their journey.