Lingua.ru - A Contemporary School of English Language for Busy People in 21st Century

Lingua.ru School is looking for enthusiastic and experienced ESL/EFL professionals.

Teachers about Lingua.ru and living in Moscow.

I am Steve. I was born and raised in Hawaii (America’s 50 th State). I studied Russian language and literature at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. I’ve come to Russia to teach English and to learn Russian. It is my hope to serve my students well in my capacity as a teacher and to be a diligent student with regards to my role as a Russian language student. I seek to accomplish these goals with the help of my colleagues and with a consistent and persistent work ethic.

October 06 - now

I am Jane Shmidt. It is my belief that when the passion of the heart coincides with a vocation, the outcome can only be successful. I have been harboring my enthusiasm for teaching for as long as I can remember, and it is a fortunate coincidence that I have been able to live out my desired vocation at Lingua. Up to the moment I began my career at Lingua, I had been working on a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature in New York, which I had promptly put on hold in order to come to Moscow. Although I was born in Odessa, Ukraine, I had spent my formative years in New York, and had the unique opportunity to fall in love with the English language, while still holding on to Russian, as though always knowing that I would return to Moscow...
A relationship with a city is not unlike any other relationship, and Moscow, as well as my interesting job, makes falling in love with it quite easy. I look forward to developing my relationship with the city, with teaching my Moscow students, and to form a bond, which will forever be impossible to forget...

October 06 - now

I didn't receive a warm welcome to Moscow. In fact it was about minus thirty! Fortunately the students at Lingua.Ru have been far more hospitable. I feel very lucky to be teaching at a school with such friendly and motivated students, as it makes all those bitterly cold mornings walking to the metro, when I’d rather have stayed warm in bed with a cup tea seem a slight discomfort rather than penance for my murky past. To clear those waters slightly, having completed my English degree, I worked through the summer and winter back in Manchester to fund my passage to Russia. I thought it only fair to share this noble language with the wider world! Teaching has proved to be a two-way process, English language flowing one way and Russian culture the other. Moscow is an exhilarating, absorbing and bewildering place, and the help and advice I have received from my students has been invaluable. I hope some of my advice can be half as useful to them! I came here not knowing or ever trying to guess what to expect, but I’ve already seen enough in the short time I’ve been here to know I made the right decision. To this end, I’ve finally started Russian lessons; after it’s only fair, if I’m teaching my language to students in Russia, that I should learn their language.

Simon Tudhope
March 06 - June 06

I come from a small town in southern Ontario, Canada. I studied Public Affairs and Policy Management at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario. I left Ottawa when I was 20 and moved to Edinburgh, Scotland. I spent two years working in Britain and traveling around Western Europe. Eventually, my visa ran out and I had to return to Canada. For the last two years, I was working as a Customer Management Representative in a large international corporation. The pay was good but the work was mind numbing. I did my CELTA at LSI in Toronto while I was working. I quit my job, applied for my visa, packed up my apartment and flew to Moscow. My family came from Eastern Europe originally. It was the possibility of experiencing the culture first-hand that drew me here. Being a history buff, it always amazes me when I get the chance to actually be in places that I have read about for so long. The chance to be in Red Square or to be in front of Vladimir Lenin always makes me extremely appreciative of the opportunities that I’ve been given.

Katie Graves
March 06 - now

My name’s Matthew Bell and I’m from the ‘Land Down Under’. My fascination with History, Architecture and Culture has brought me to this beautiful city. Living in Moscow is a wonderful yet different experience compared to the slower pace of Melbourne, where I am originally from. There’s no shortage of interesting places to see and visit in Moscow. Even visiting places you have already been, you notice more details that you hadn’t noticed previously.

My previous experiences are mostly based around customer service and management roles. I was a sales assistant with a large Australian hardware store chain. I was the Sales/Marketing/Administration manager for a Motor Trimming businesses who had several Original Equipment (OE) contracts with Australian automotive manufacturers. (GM Holden, Ford Motor Company, Toyota, Subaru, Mazda, Mitsubishi)

I have even worked behind the counter at a McDonalds store. I’ve also had numerous experiences in the Information Technology field, having developed computer software for small business according to their specifications.

Teaching is something I have always loved doing. Previous to teaching English, I have informally taught people new skills in Information Technology, taught new employees policies and procedures upon starting new jobs and have even taught primary school children how to construct websites. I have thoroughly enjoyed every past experience in teaching and having worked for Lingua.RU now for one month, I have been thoroughly enjoying this new experience too.

Matthew Bell
August 05 - July 06

My name is Chris. I have been teaching at Lingua.Ru for the past month.

I arrived in Moscow a month ago, not really knowing what expect. I had been teaching at an English school in Johannesburg, South Africa, for 2 years prior to coming here. I even taught one or two Russians in Johannesburg. So when I got the opportunity to come here, I was delighted and came.

It wasn’t my ambition to teach at first , but whilst I was studying English at university, I got an opportunity to teach English to foreigners in Joburg. I was interested and thought I would give it a try. It was a great decision and I have subsequently taught in South Africa, Somalia and now in Russia. So 4 years later I am still teaching and thoroughly enjoying the experience.

I have really been enjoying the school here. The students are mostly adults, and we can have real conversations about real issues. Also, the students are highly motivated, which really makes teaching a pleasure. I enjoy the individual lessons a lot as I get to spend good time with the student and really focus on improving their communication, and my understanding of Russian culture.

I enjoy foreign cultures tremendously. Life here is so completely different from what I have ever experienced and this makes each day a unique adventure.

Chris Bekker
September 05 - June 06

Chad comes from Louisiana. He studied at high school and university. After university he taught the English language in Moldova. A man who understands the current zeitgeist, he once courageously declared: “Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream of things that never were and say why not” (10 March 2004).

An oscillating adherent of miscellaneous disciplines, Chad brings to the Lingua.ru team myriad qualities to entice prospective students. He was an avid deep-sea fisherman before tearing his rotator-cuff in the pursuit of a family of blue-finned tuna (2000); the sea was troubled that day. He has never been gifted in the ancient art of melodic enchantment, but that did not stop him from entering—and subsequently finishing last in—7 consecutive Mr. South-East Louisiana Ball-Room Crooners competitions (1996-2002). Following such disappointments, the winter of 2002-3 he muttered in a state of ennui. Having realized that his voyage to unbounded glory might not be that of the steadfast trireme splitting the wine-dark sea, Chad found himself in the United States Peace Corps’ TEFL program (2003-2005).

Teaching he has often compared to an ant-hill: every member of the community has a uniquely designed and vital role; the teacher, much the queen bee, directs the lesser ants, providing them with moral guidance and spiritual sustenance; students dart about in a frenzy, one presenting new information to the class [‘food and nutrition’], another working arduously on his assignments [what is known in the world of ants as an ‘assiduous ant’], yet another allowing the stronger ants to lead while it acts out a supporting role.

His hobbies include rereading Faulkner novels and wondering what his life would be like had his long-removed ancestors not long ago emigrated from their French Canadian homeland [for popular reference: Acadian Driftwood (The Band) from the album Northern Lights Southern Cross (1975)]. He arrived in Moscow in late July 2005 and hopes to never leave. He sums up his approach to working: The earth is beautified by the sun, but man—by work.

Chad Miner
August 05 – March 06

I come from Reading, a large town near London. It is mainly known as the place where the Irish writer Oscar Wilde went to prison (he wrote a poem about it called “The Ballad of Reading Gaol”), and also for the annual Reading Rock Festival, an open-air concert which lasts for three days and attracts thousands of music fans.

I studied French and Russian at the University of London. I studied both Russian language and literature, and my favourite Russian novelists are Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Bulgakov and Gogol. As for the poets, there are too many to name! Reading is one of my main hobbies.

I have taught before in Russia, in St Petersburg. People say you can’t like both Moscow and St Petersburg, but so far I like them both. In fact, I probably prefer Moscow because it there is so much to see and do here.

What do I like about Russia? The friendly and interesting people, the rich culture and history and the refreshing lack of political correctness.

The best thing about Lingua.ru is the enthusiastic students. Believe me, it is not like that everywhere in the world! Everyone here takes their studies very seriously.

I have also taught English in Britain, Italy, Greece and Germany, but Russia is definitely Number One!

I love learning other languages and that is why I decided to teach English. Also, it is the best way to live in other countries, meet the people and experience different cultures. I have done a higher diploma in teaching English as a foreign language, a really demanding course which gave me a much deeper understanding of the principles and practice of teaching and learning.

Mark Ley
August 05 – August 06

"What's it like teaching English at Lingua.ru and living in Moscow? I've just completed a 6-month teaching contract here and I'll try to answer.

Teaching: Students and faculty take teaching seriously, so be prepared to as well. Most students are young professionals (working as programmers, economists, secretaries, etc.) and pay their own tuition and they are there to learn-primarily grammar and speaking. Teaching materials, syllabus and teaching aides are provided. A senior teacher sat in to critique a few of my classes, which was appropriate and useful (to me). You do not need to speak Russian to teach. School support staff is helpful and around holidays or (staff) birthdays there are parties, creating a fun, if light, sense of school spirit. I would go out for drinks from time to time with students, discussions ranging from school to politics. Read your contract very carefully-I wish I did more so with mine-because the school will hold you to it. Overall, teaching-like most things-you get out of it what you put into it, though a word of caution: teaching is respected and taken seriously here.

Living in Moscow: Moscow is a major city, full of fun and hassles. You CAN get out and about on a Saturday night on your salary, however, you probably won't save enough to travel for 3 months afterward. Food and most stuff is cheap. Hassles include the long and slow lines on Metro (why if you have four escalators and huge crowds queuing up are only 2 turned on?). Some things here just don't make sense, so don't spend a lot of time trying to figure it all out. If you are not a city person, stay at home. A final bit of advice: come here with a purpose. From time to time you run into a teacher who clearly has lost their way and 3 years later is still here, primarily because they have nothing to return to."

Stephen Minervino
Dec 01 - Jun 02

"System of education.
The school schedule in Lingua.ru is flexible and comfortable not only for our students but also for us. I can arrange my lessons for the coming week beforehand and have enough time to do it well. Owing to this flexible schedule I can always see new faces at each lesson and thus get acquainted with lots of new students. I always have a lot of leisure time, which I usually spend with my students who are always ready to communicate and practice their English."

Paul S.
May 01 - now

"My name's Rodion Cantacuzene-Speransky… and I'm English (well, kind of half Russian, though I'd never been here before May 2004). I guess that might explain why I'm here.

My grandfather was born in Russia and was four when the revolution happened in1917. The terrifying ordeal of leaving Russia, steeling through the darkness, haunted him for the rest of his life. The following five years were very difficult as a White Russian emigre and he never forgave the Communists. He forbade his children from learning Russian, and any family from going to Russia. Well, he's dead and my curiosity got the better of both me and my job (a great job: managing a commercial art gallery in London).

I did my CELTA at International House in London. The teaching brings a great amount of pleasure, particularly with such dedicated students and I get along with the (young and fun) admin very well. I was eased in slowly to the amount of lessons, so that after two weeks I was running at full stream and the pupils are highly dedicated with high expectations of us. I recently did a club lesson (really a discussion group to give them some good practical use of English) the subject of which was on art. Unfortunately after one hour (of an hour and half) all of my various topics had been covered and they knew it: 13 pairs of eyes looking at you as if you just calmly told them that you are about to sneeze your entrails out your nose. I managed to save the situation with something or other that had not 'til then had occurred to me. I got them to discuss the various arguments encountered in pairs, this of course lead to many discussions of the red herring variety, relieved pupils and a brow-mopping teacher. I have since been assured that this is a life-saver and very common technique used by all.

Teaching is a wonderful learning experience however long you have been in the trade; I seem however, to be learning more, faster, than I ever expected thanks to the school and the students."

Rodion Cantacuzene- Speransky
July 04 - September 05

"Reduced planning time.
Very well structured progressive system consisting of 16 steps from beginner to advanced. There are 8 lessons in each step. This gives the teacher a very easy to follow path with little planning time needed because the lessons are already provided, but teacher's creativity is not restricted."

David Bently
February 04 - February 05

"Priv-yhett! My name is Dale Wooley. I've been teaching at Lingua.ru since February of 2003. I'm American and have lived in many different states. I currently call Montana my home. I graduated from the Colorado School of Mines after studying engineering then attended the University of Louisiana and studied Telecommunications. Before coming to Lingua.ru I worked in a rice mill in southern Louisiana as a control systems engineer. After becoming thoroughly bored at my job, despite the good pay, I decided I needed more out of life and concluded Russia was the place to do it. The mystique of Russia and its peculiar people fascinate me. I maximally enjoy the cultural immersion and challenge of living in Russia. The life experience is unobtainable elsewhere.

I believe strongly in the study program at Lingua.ru. The ease with which new students can immediately join at their own level and the convenience for busy people is superb. The course structure giving students lessons with a variety of native speakers provides an excellent atmosphere for learning. No one person can know everything about English thus each student is exposed to the life experience and knowledge of all the teachers during their study resulting in a more thorough learning experience.

My advice to teachers seeking to live and teach n Russia is to decide in advance that you seriously want to come to Russia. Coming to Russia with the right attitude goes a long way in making your stay happy. The daily challenges can be arduous but opportunity abounds for the positive thinker and the satisfaction of really knowing the true Russia is priceless."

Dale Wooley
February 03 - December 04

"Intelligent, educated, strong, independent thinkers and what a different mentality! These were my strongest impressions of Russians a few months after my arrival here in Moscow 4 years ago. I had never met people so interested in Life. Muscovites always seem ready to do anything, to meet with friends. I almost always heard the same answer when I proposed to anybody here to do anything-"Why not?", "Pochimu Nyet?" It was so good to be in a place where people are so interested in doing things with other people. In America, where I come from, life is much more planned and it's difficult to get anybody to do anything socially. Often I would call a friend and he would say something like- "can you call me back in 20 minutes I'm watching the Simpsons". I was surprised when it never happened here in Moscow. Russians wanted to talk and meet when I called.

The business world here still seemed very soviet. Customer service in the stores was non-existent. Also, when I would find a product I liked, the next time I went to the store and asked for it they often said "Nyetu". I learned that here you don't expect things to be the same as they were yesterday or last week. I had to adapt an attitude of expecting change all the time. As long as I relied on what I thought would be, I was frustrated. But when I started accepting that Russia is different from the West and realized that although these services weren't consistent and at a good level like in the West, I started enjoying Moscow people for their own special character and unique way of looking at life. They have an attitude of not always trying to control things, but rather accepting that life does things different than you expect. And Muscovites are very flexible and adept at quickly finding a different solution than the one they had originally planned. For example, they might walk 10 minutes to get to a store to buy some food, but when they get there they see the beautiful sign "uchot". I saw that they don't get frustrated, but quickly find a way around the problem.

Russians/Muscovites are unique and I hope they never change, i.e. never become westernized."

George Martin
October 01 - now

"Friendly atmosphere.
As a language school, Lingua.ru is unique and stands out from many others in Russia. I not only work here, but I actually enjoy doing so. Why? The relationship between the students, the support staff and teachers here is more like one in a family rather than work. Teaching for me is more than just a job. I can firmly say that I can't live without teaching, I feel happy when I teach, when I am able to help students to enrich their knowledge, make them understand lots of things in a foreign language, learn more about different cultures in the world, etc. I enjoy teaching, and I think I've made the right choice."

Wendy Inouye
April 03-June 04

"Why did I become a teacher? It wasn't the dream of my childhood. I just wanted to live in Russia and help people to learn English as a foreign language. So at my lessons I try to use real things that everyone faces in our life, like photographs, pictures and so on. I also suggest interesting stories and topics for discussions. The students sometimes ask me about what life is like in the USA, about my family, language experience and hobbies, and we discuss these things at the lessons. We exchange our experience of life. I'm so happy that I live in Moscow! It's interesting here and I have never been bored."

Jessica
April 00 - December 02

"I've got a very good experience working in Lingua.ru. The students that you teach here are industrious and highly motivated to learn English, which can make teaching here a highly rewarding experience. The school schedule in Lingua.ru is flexible and comfortable not only for our students but also for us. I can arrange my lessons for the coming week beforehand and have enough time to do it well. Owing to this flexible schedule I can always see new faces at each lesson and thus get acquainted with lots of new students. I always have a lot of leisure time, which I usually spend with my students who are always ready to communicate and practice their English."

Paul M.
August 03 - May 04

"There are two reasons why I became an ESL teacher: First, teaching is something I wanted to do in my life. Being of service to others is one of the best things a person can do. Next, as the extent of my international experience only reached Tijuana (just inside the Mexican border), I wanted to live in different parts of the world. Teaching provided a means for both.

So after earning a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas and working for a public interest group advocating voting rights for over two years, I took a position in the Republic of Korea.

My school and home were situated in Sanbon, a small town only twenty minutes away from Seoul, South Korea's capital. I taught children and teenagers ranging from ages 8-16, and even taught pre-school for a month. Korea is one of the world's most literate countries. And many schoolchildren have 17-hour schooldays!

Aside from teaching I wrote features for Seoul Classified Magazine and contributed to a column on teaching for the Joongang Daily newspaper.

My grandfather fought in the Korean War and urged me to visit the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), the military demarcation politically dividing Korea and even splitting families apart. The Korean peninsula is one of the last divided countries on earth-and a standing remnant of the Cold War.

Having completed my contract I took a ferry to Vladivostok, Russia, and traveled from perhaps the last country divided between Socialism and Democracy to Moscow-the face of the former Soviet Union-via the trans-Siberian Railway.

Russia drew me mainly because I'm interested in politics. In the last hundred years it has gone from a Monarchy to a Socialist state and is currently a Democracy. That's very unique.

The nine-day journey (six days on the train, three days in Irkutsk, Siberia) was awesome. I watched day and night as the train whisked through Siberia's rolling hills and sparkling rivers and dense forests and cascading landscape. Fathers and sons fished in streams. And there were villages in the middle of nowhere-some with smoking chimneys, others with yards that had ran-down fences uprooted by wild grass, and goats here and there-I had scarcely experienced rustic life growing up.

But everything wasn't in stark contrast with my home in Los Angeles, Ca, USA.

I found that like Americans, Russians are comprised of numerous ethnicities: I met Korean, Chinese and Mongol-Russians in Vladivostok, and learned of the Republic of Buryatiya during a conversation on the train. A half Uzbek, half Russian woman showed me around Irkutsk. And since I've been in Moscow, I've come to know Tatars and different peoples from the Caucuses region, the Ukraine, Belarus and Georgia, among others.

Even though my trans-Siberian journey ended, this world is just opening up for me. So I decided to teach in Moscow.

Teaching at Lingua is different from my experience in Korea. Every class is different here, whereas I had traditional classes which met two or three times a week in Korea. Also, I teach mainly adults now, compared to only teaching children and teenagers in my last position. I've gained more mature students here and I can discuss a myriad of topics with them in our clubs which gives them needed practice and me a better understanding of Russian society."

Jermaine Lloyd
September 04- now

"My time at Lingua was an interesting one, one that I'll never forget. I had never lived in Moscow before, though I had lived in other towns in Russia. The staff at Lingua provided me with a cushioned introduction to living there, so it didn't seem such a big jump. The atmosphere in the school is very informal so it was more like joining a team than starting a new job.

The lessons were very easy to adapt to: they were understandable to both the students and us, due to the simple modular approach, with an emphasis on speaking, even in the grammar-orientated ones. It is also useful and very modern that the students have to go through a preparatory lesson based around the same material, in the computer lab next to the classrooms. It means that the students don't come into the lesson 'cold'; they have a least been introduced to the concepts before you attempt to instill them.

Unusually, especially in Russia, the student-teacher relationships are very informal, using first names thoroughout, with even some parties organised where they can socialise, learn, and have fun at the same time. My time at Lingua I will definitely never forget, for a mixture of reasons. It was a stepping stone of my career/life; one that will be remembered for it ups and downs, fun and seriousness. I came from England a while after graduating and wanted to use and develop my linguistic and teaching skills. Lingua allowed me to do that as well as I could hope. I've returned to England now, on a slightly different path, but the experiences and memories of working in Moscow at Lingua will always be a part of what I do."

Alan Giles
March 03 - Dec 03