Teaching English to students in Russia is like training a gymnast for the Olympics. The student already knows what to do and how to do it, but the teacher provides a more useful and effective method by which better results are obtained. One session of training alone most likely will not yield substantial results, but repetition and practice allow the trainee to develop a type of agility, insight and personal understanding of the concepts and techniques being taught. That is our goal when teaching English.

Most people in Russia know at least a few words of English. Many streets are adorned with shop signs and advertisements written in English. Jobs such as pilots, hotel staff, etc. usually require some capacity of English knowledge.

When travelling abroad it is always difficult to communicate with people who speak different languages, but English alleviates this issue, as many people now speak English in all parts of the globe. For these reasons, more and more people, young and old, are seeking out English language courses and, more particularly, native speakers.

In Russia there are many local teachers who have been teaching English professionally for a large portion of their lives. These teachers have paved the way for English in Russia and should be applauded for their many achievements and successes. Thanks to them, native-speaking teachers can be understood more easily and are now sought out by many students.

Native speakers not only teach the basics of the English language, but also connect the language to culture and provide students with real life examples of language usage. Moreover, native speakers demonstrate connotation, intonation, accent and other subtleties that make the language more colorful, personal and realistic. Students find studying with a native speaker extremely fulfilling because, at the end of the day, they have experience successfully communicating with a foreign person in a foreign language.

While teaching I focus on the individual needs of the student. Each class is tailored to the students in that particular class and geared towards content specific to them. Grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, listening and comprehension are recurrent themes throughout all of our classes, but the main aspect of our classes is always conversation and communication. We believe that language acquisition should be focused on understanding and being understood. For this reason, all of our classes take a communicative approach to language learning, exemplifying real situations outside of the classroom as much as possible.

Chris Huntley, Teacher of English, Center for American English "Колумб", Ekaterinburg