Spotlight on Russian

Language Services Direct Team

In this blog post, one of our Account Managers reflects on her experiences teaching Russian as a foreign language, the challenges of learning this language and new approaches to the way it is taught.

My introduction to teaching

After living in London for a number of years, I started to realise that my communication in English had overtaken my use of Russian (my mother tongue) in my day-to-day life. I started looking for ways to bring back my slightly abandoned Russian, and that’s how the whole idea of teaching came about. The way we study Russian at school in my home country is different from how English is taught here. For example, we focus strongly on the structure of the language and learn not only what to say, but why and how. Hence you get a very solid background in the technicalities and specifics of the language (if you are a good student, of course!). I built upon this grounding with a qualification in teaching English as a Foreign Language, which has given me an excellent platform of knowledge and skills for teaching.

My approach to teaching

What I find very important in my lessons, and it’s less of a strategy but more of a ‘people skill’, is setting the right mood at the very outset. It’s crucial that you walk into the classroom with a smile, full of energy and always aim to make the lesson a success. Of course, we all have our ‘bad days’, but the intention should always be there. Another key thing is acknowledging the things that your student does well – be it accurate case endings, improvements in pronunciation or dropping a colloquial phrase into the middle of a role play scenario. We tend to focus on error correction a lot and often forget to praise students for what they do well, which is key for motivation and learning. It boosts students’ confidence and makes them even more interested and engaged in learning the language. Finally, students respond very well to personalised tasks: whether you’re teaching a group or an individual, always leave time to discuss things that interest them. This conversation should certainly be in the context of the taught material, but give them some freedom to chat, express their opinions and speak without interruptions; in other words, make it a freer and more natural practice.

The challenges of learning Russian

If you asked me what were the biggest stumbling blocks for learners studying Russian, I wouldn’t be original in saying that it’s verb aspects. Here, the main focus for us, as teachers, is to ensure that the context for this grammar is always clear and that students don’t end up studying a grammar book solely. Repetition is a great technique when it comes to learning the correct forms/endings/prefixes. However, this should be done in conjunction with putting the right verb in the right context so that students know when and how they should be used.

Verbs of motion is another area where a lot of the learners struggle and mainly because they are looking for similarities with their native language, which most of the time aren’t there. Unless they speak another Slavic language, there’s very little they can relate this concept to. When teaching verbs of motion, I find miming and story-telling very useful. The former is very visual and the latter encourages learners’ imagination, which is always fun!

New approaches to teaching Russian

Everyone has their own teaching style, but there’s one thing I’d tweak about the way teaching/learning Russian is often currently perceived. And that’s finding a good balance between fluency and accuracy. Amongst Russians, there is a tendency to be a perfectionist, to be critical of ourselves until we get it 100% right. This applies to a lot of aspects in life for many Russians, including learning. This can also impact upon the way we teach others, creating very high expectations for performance.

In my opinion, someone who can engage themselves in a conversation and who demonstrates a good level of fluency (speaking in a way that can be understood) but makes occasional grammatical errors can still speak Russian well. In London, there are so many foreigners who perform excellently in their jobs, have healthy social lives and are successful despite the fact that they don’t exactly speak perfect English. Incorrect endings, misplaced punctuation or speaking with an accent aren’t necessarily the symptoms of ‘unhealthy communication’. As some philosophers have rightly said, ‘the only way to avoid making mistakes is to avoid trying to do anything’. And we don’t want to encourage that with our students. Leading my students all the way to perfection is in fact my ultimate goal, but knowing that they doing well, without being perfect, can be far more rewarding.

Essential skills for teaching

I believe that flexibility is a key skill for any teacher – and it is something you must develop as a trainer. Working with learners with diverse personalities and learning styles makes you think in so many different ways and shapes your mind significantly. We need to quickly adapt to these different styles and preferences, and tailor our teaching accordingly. Importantly, we must be able provide variety for all students in terms of our teaching approaches, materials and classroom activities.