«Study Russian in Russia!» – that is probably the most useful piece of advice for all those who study the Russian language. It is very important to choose good Russian language School in Russia to study the language. And our students have made their choice and haven’t been disappointed! As a result they came back to our Russian language school in Russia for the second and even third time.

In 2017 10 alumni have come back to “EnjoyRussian” Language School (Petrozavodsk). Pekka (Finland), Ulrich (Germany), Elizabeth (England), Eleanor (England), Antonio (Italy), Yassir (Maldives), Ilkka Christian (Finland), Max (Spain), Susanne (Germany) and Heili (Finland). We remember all of them and we are always glad to meet them in our Russian language school again! And we are proud of their progress in Russian!

Why Petrozavodsk?
– one is forced to speak Russian in the city, because very few people speak English
– experience authentic Russian environment
– safe, cozy and easy to navigate town with reasonable prices
– amazing unique nature
– small enough to settle in to and feel at home – but big enough not to get bored
– good located

Why “EnjoyRussian” Language School?
– individual and friendly approach to students
– highly qualified experienced teachers
– entertaining classes
– affordable prices
– lots of speaking practice with natives
– fast progress

Would you like to join us? You can choose any of our Russian language courses or participate in the Autumn Scholarship contestBy the way, there is a special Scholarship for 2018 for our alumni

Today our students from the USA presented their final projects and received the certificates!

Our American pupils study Russian language in the “Phillips Academy” in Andover and each year they come to Karelia to improve their Russian language!

The Russian Language School organized the Awarding ceremony in the only vegetarian cafe of our city called “Pure taste” to gather together with

teachers and volunteers.

Students presented their projects in Russian language and teachers as well as volunteers found them so cool!

For example, Cornelia Fitts presented her project of day-to-day life in Petrozavodsk. Read it in instagram=)

While Lara Robinson presented her handmade book with recepies of Russian food. Akesh Shah showed a fantastic project about Petrozavodsk.

Sophia Schwartsman presented a kind of guidebook about stay in Russia and Natalie Simpson presented biography of Lenin, Kirov, Gogol, Marks in Russian language because major streets and prospects of Petrozavodsk named after them.

Our teachers granted students certificates while our director presented special souvenires to Kassie Archambault, a group leader and teacher of Russian language in Phillips Academy.

Do you want to become a true Russian? Visit Karelia to find it out!

   

Do you know the best place in Russia to spend Autumn 2017?

We invite you to exciting Autumn Russian language Immersion program in Russia!The program consists of Russian language course, Russian homestay and cultural activities with Russian volunteers! 

You will not only learn Russian in depth and become more confident at speaking Russian, but experience Russian way of life and culture in authentic Russian environment, find new friends, travel and just spend cool time in the school  

Apply for:
12 week course (September 4-November 24) - http://enjoyrussian.com/courses/long-term/
4 week course (September 4, October 2 and November 6), 2 week course (September 4 and 18) enjoyrussian.com/courses/standard/

Our Students Advisor will support you with each step!
Contact us - info@enjoyrussian.com

Cases – stumbling block for the Russian language learners?

Yes, there are 6 cases in the Russian language. It means that we change endings of nouns, adjectives and pronouns according to the used verb or construction, to show what relationship there is between the words in a sentence. We need the cases that much because there is no strict word order in Russian sentences. English “I love you” can sound like “Я тебя люблю”, “Тебя я люблю”, “Я люблю тебя”, “Люблю я тебя”, “Люблю тебя я” in the Russian language. All the variants are correct and to be able to understand who loves whom we need to change the object into Accusative case. That’s why we don’t say “Я люблю ты“. One might change the word order and then it won’t be understandable who does the action and who is the object of the action.

The names of the Russian cases are: Nominative (Именительный падеж), Genitive (Родительный падеж), Dative (Дательный падеж), Accusative (Винительный падеж), Instrumental (Творительный падеж) and Prepositional (Предложный падеж).

Nominative case is used to nominate, to name a thing or a person. A subject in a sentence is always in Nominative. Phrases like “Это…”, “Вот…”, “Где…?” have nouns in Nominative case. Let’s say, it’s an original form of a noun, the one you find in a dictionary if you want to look up a word.

Genitive case is used to say that somebody has, possesses something. To say that, we always start a sentence with “У” + Genitive: “У Сары есть мобильный телефон”(Sarah has a mobile phone). Genitive is also used to talk about what you don’t have: “У меня нет + Genitive”. There are lots of prepositions after which you must use Genitive as well: около, у, от, до and etc.

The main function of the Dative case is to show a recipient of an action. Like in English when you say “To whom?” (to call to whom, to text to whom, etc.). “Я звоню Марине” (I’m calling to Marina).

Accusative shows an object as in the “I love you” phrase “тебя” is in Accusative. Another important function is showing directions (to go TO WHERE?): “Я еду в Москву” (I go to Moscow) and not “Я еду в Москва” or “Я еду в Москве“.

Instrumental doesn’t have one distinct function. From its name you can understand that among the other things it also shows an instrument: “Я пишу РУЧКОЙ” (I write using a pen), “Я ем суп ЛОЖКОЙ” (I eat soup with a spoon).

Prepositional mostly shows location, place, answers the question “Where”. So if you want to say where you are, where you live, where you work and etc. use Prepositional case: “Я живу в Петрозаводске” (I live in Petrozavodsk).

To cheer you up a bit, there are more than 6 cases in most of the European languages, there are 15 in Estonian and even more in Hungarian. So… Russian is not that difficult as it seems! As soon as you get familiar with the endings of the cases and their usage Russian will be just like a piece of cake for you;)

Would you like to practice all these cases in your speech? Come to our school http://enjoyrussian.com/courses/standard/

Tsss! There are a few vacant spaces left in the basic level group in August! 

Students of A2 level of the Russian language! Join the group to: 
 improve your grammar and pronunciation 
 enrich your vocabulary in a very significant way 
 start to speak Russian freely without fear 
 recognize slight difference in words and expressions which only native speakers can explain 
 practice Russian in everyday situations 

Apart from the intensive Russian language course, you will: 
 get to know the Russian way of thinking, family traditions and cultural traits during your staying in the Russian host family. 
  meet lots of Russian friends among our volunteers to learn, share and discuss common features and differences in the languages, cultures and funny particularities. 
 travel along beautiful Republic of Karelia: enjoy the northern nature, feel the spirit of Russian antiquity on the Kizhi island, get unforgettable emotions rafting down Shuja River, play Karelian street game "Kyykkä", cook Kalitki, take a trip to Valaam monastery or Solovetsky Monaster and lots more! 

Dates: 31.07-25.08 
Cost: 640 euro for tuition (80 lessons) + 300 euro for 4-week Russian homestay with breakfast 

APPLY: http://enjoyrussian.com/apply-summer/ 
Ask a question: info@enjoyrussian.com 

Want to speak Russian well – be a lifehacker like Jaryd!

Our American student Jaryd came to us in the beginning of June and joined the A0 group, because he told us that he has never studied Russian “officially” with a teacher, he’s never taken a Russian course before. But he wasn’t an A0 student! He knew so many Russian words that even A1 students don’t know! How was that possible?! Well that’s how: Jaryd learned Russian himself. He watched lots of Russian movies and children’s cartoons like “Cheburashka and Gena the crocodile” and translated words himself. He also communicated back and forth with Russian friends which helped his usage of words and phrases. He also spent a lot of time using some computer programs, which really helped him read cycrillic and learn new words. He also would take everyday English phrases he uses at home and translate them into Russian, and write them down and read multiple times. Here is what Jaryd says: “I think you have to be passionate about Russian to learn Russian. It almost has to become an obsession haha. And of course you must meet Russians in order to learn russian, which your school did extremely well for me. Your school opened me up to many new people and I made many friends thank you”.

WOuld you like to make friends with Russians? Read more http://enjoyrussian.com/about-us/volunteers/

All the foreigners that come to Russia for the first time are shocked to see how many products made of milk there are in here! We have different types of sour milk, yogurts, cheese. But I think the most unusual is that we eat a lot of cottage cheese and bake and fry all kinds of pancakes made with cottage cheese. For example, СЫРНИКИ! Have you tried? All you need is мука, яйца, творог, сахар. Mix everything and fry in sunflower oil – that’s one of the most popular breakfast dishes in Russia. Enjoy!

- See more at: http://enjoyrussian.com/sirniki/#sthash.0l9a70Vh.dpuf

First days in Petrozavodsk

How our students spend their first days in Petrozavodsk, the Repulic of Karelia, Russia? What feeling and emotions they have?

Let us present you our new students Sarah and Vendela from our partner organization – the University of Edinburgh, Great Britain!

They just arrived to Petrozavodsk and their hostess Galina met them in train station. They spend lovely 2 days because Galina cooked them traditional Russian food for dinner and invited them to visit Botanical garden of Petrozavodsk State University. The weather was perfect so that they enjoyed our nortern trees and open view to the whole Petrozavodsk.

Another student Jefferson from Ecuador arrived to Petrozavodsk by plain from Moscow (1 hour fly)  so that his hostess met him directly in Airoport.

He liked his hostess and her husband and he said that “Firsly, I woke up at 3 a.m. and decided that is is the morning because I wanted to go the School so much but I had to go sleep once again”  By the way, almost all our students are impressed by our wonderfull season of white nights. They take pictures from their window at 10 p.m. for example and it lookes like it is the morning.

Белые ночи or White Nights are the incredible northern midsummer phenomenon, when the sky remains bright from late May to the end of July. In fact White Nights in Karelia are longer and brighter than in St. Petersburg. Interestingly, night becomes so indistinguishable from day that the authorities often don’t have to turn the city’s streetlights on!

They had their first classes and went back to their host families.

Polina Alieva, Program Coordinator

- See more at: http://enjoyrussian.com/first-classes-white-nights/#sthash.7Q67Gqmw.dpuf

Изучать, учить, учиться – what’s the difference?

Almost every student asks me this question. And this is what I tell him/her:

ИЗУЧАТЬ means “to study” (in depth), to research. It is used when we say what we study at university: Я изучаю математику в университете. It means that you study maths hard, you read many books about maths, you write essays and thesises.

УЧИТЬ is “to learn” (memorise). You can learn грамматику, новые слова, стихи and so on. So you read it, look at it, practise it many times in order to memorise it.

УЧИТЬСЯ means “to learn” or “to study”. The difference with the previous two is that you can not use a direct object in Accusative case after verb “учиться”. The biggest mistake is “Я учусь русский язык“! We use this verb to answer the question “Where do you study?”: Я учусь в университете. Or “What are you doing right now?”: Я учусь.

So if you learn or study and you just want to say what you’re doing, about this action itself without saying specifically what exactly you learn, use УЧИТЬСЯ. If you study something in depth, research the subject, use ИЗУЧАТЬ + direct object in Accusative (математику, физику, химию). If you want to memorise a rule or a poem or want to say that you learn Russian (but not that serious as they do at universities), use УЧИТЬ.

Any questions?

- See more at: http://enjoyrussian.com/%d0%b8%d0%b7%d1%83%d1%87%d0%b0%d1%82%d1%8c/#sthash.tx0RF2dK.dpuf

Friday is a fun day for Russian language learners!

We have a saying in Russian that “Понедельник – день тяжёлый” (Monday is a difficult day). But for our foreign students the hardest day is Friday! They learn so much during the week, so when a Friday comes they are exhausted! That’s why we organized a fun lesson for our students last Friday! We went outside to the park and played games:

• Испорченный телефон (the students split into two groups and make two lines. There must be 1-2 meters between each student. The teacher tells the two students that are at the beginning of the lines a word or a word combination. The students run to the next ones and whisper the word to them. The last two students run to the teacher to tell him the word they’ve just heard. And usually it’s something completely different from what the teacher has said at the beginning of the game. This game is active and so fun!)
• Крокодил (each of the members of the two teams comes in the centre of the circle and describes words on the cards without naming them. The task for the team is to guess what words the student is trying to explain).
• Мафия (everyone knows this game. All the players get their roles. There are two mafia members among them. The task of citizens is to find out who is mafia).

When the weather is good we don’t just stay in the school, we learn Russian outside! Students go to shops, cafes and theatres with their teachers, play games in the park, take part in quests, participate in role-plays, sing Russian guitar songs and so on. Studying Russian must be fun! We do our best to let our students enjoy it!

- See more at: http://enjoyrussian.com/friday/#sthash.d2z7Lht5.dpuf

This June a big group of Swiss students came to study in the Russian language school “Enjoy Russian”. Though I’ve already participated in several similar camps, it was my first experience as a volunteer of the “Initiative Centre”. Anyway it has absolutely left to my expectations.

All the students as well as the other volunteers were very friendly and easy-going. It turned out that we have much in common with the guys, so we simply became friends. As a volunteer I tried to help my new friends to learn Russian language and culture: we’ve watched funny Russian cartoons, went to the cinema, attended different museums, had long walks around the city, went to the picnic to the lake, where we played folk Russian games, swam or just lay in the sun, in other words we had an awesome time together. Moreover we organized a “Food Party”, which, in my opinion, turned out to be great. We represented each other different tasty things, we’d cooked ourselves, spoke a lot and even sang Russian karaoke!

I would like to say “thanks” to the guys, because they not only learned Russian here, but also helped me with my German, which was very kind of them! So I hope that the guys liked the time spent together here in Petrozavodsk as much as I did!

Ksysha, 19 years old, future foreign language teacher

Would you like to know more about  Volunteers' Support in our school? Read here http://enjoyrussian.com/about-us/volunteers/

Petrozavodsk is the capital of the Republic of Karelia. It is located in the north-west of Russia, on the banks of Lake Onega, some 400 km away from Saint-Petersburg and 1,100 km away from Moscow and 700 km away from Helsinki.  Local time is Moscow.

The foundation of Petrozavodsk is connected with the name of the emperor Peter The Great. In 1703, the same year a new Russian capital Saint-Petersburg was built, on the empty shores of Lososinka river Petrovsky Plant was founded.

Modern Petrozavodsk is a multifaceted and diverse city. It is interesting for its architecture and art, international festivals and sporting events, active, cultural and educational programs. The tourism industry in the city is developing dynamically. There are a lot of new cafes and restaurants, hotels and entertainment centers offering a modern service.

Nowadays in Petrozavodsk on the area of 113 sq. km. lives one third of the population of Karelia (about 261,987  people). The city gives approximately a half of the national income of the republic. That is provided mainly with the enterprises of machine-building, power, transport, food and light industries. There are two universities, a conservatory, 16 colleges, 49 schools, lyceums and gymnasiums (including one national gymnasium) in Petrozavodsk. Karelian Scientific Center, 5 theatres, a philharmonic society, National Library and National Archival Depository, museums and art galleries are working in the city as well.

Petrozavodsk is home to multiple confessions, including Orthodox, Muslim, Jewish, Lutheran, Protestant, and other religious communities and establishments.

Near the City

Kizhi Island, located 68 km away from the city, is a must-see once you find yourself in Petrozavodsk. The famous Kizhi church ensemble can be found here, a real masterpiece of wooden architecture of the 18th and 19th centuries, which is protected by UNESCO. All parts of this ensemble reflect the mastery and skill of ancient Russian wood architects. The central point of this ensemble is Preobrazhenskaya Church, constructed with an axe without a single nail.

Karelia, the “region of lakes”, thrills with the beauty of its nature. We strongly recommend visiting lakes Ladoga and Onega, Kivach Waterfall, Ruskeala Mountain Park, the Valaam Islands, first Russian resort “Marcial Waters”, Petroglyphs of the Onego lake and White sea.

Petrozavodsk is about 700 km away from Helsinki.

Would you like to know more about Petrozavodsk? Read here http://enjoyrussian.com/category/ptz/

Start to speak Russian this summer already!

Hurry up to apply for Intensive Summer Russian course in August!

2-week course (40 Russian lessons):
Dates: 31.07-11.08, 14.08-25.08
Tuition fee = 320 euro

4-week course (80 Russian lessons):
Dates: 31.07-25.08
Tuition fee = 640 euro

Learn Russian with fun, practice your Russian with Russian volunteers, enjoy Russian homestay, spend unforgettable time in beautiful Karelia!

APPLY: http://enjoyrussian.com/apply-summer/
Ask a question: info@enjoyrussian.com

Let us present you one of our typical host family!

Tatyana Gorbacheva is 55 years old.  She works as a manager in insurance company, lives with her mother and they are very nice talkative women. Tatyana is interested in English and trips, she enjoyes dances and travels by car in Karelia. Her mother Valentina Federovna is 81 years old, she is a pensioner, she likes watching TV news and very often when students come back home after School classes, she shares TV news with them and helps to do homework.

It takes about 15-30 minutes to get from their flat to the school on foot or by bus. As other families she meets all students in railway station or airoport. After student classes, she invites them to visit her дача (coutry-side house), museums, opera, ballet, dance club and so on.

Our student Mirjana Pantic from Bosnia really enjoyed her stay with Tatyana and her mother. All together they visited ballet "Swan lake" in our Musical theatre,  romani dance class, dacha, botanical garden and so on. Just within the two weeks!

Another student of Russian Language School Arent from Switzerland stayed for 3 times with Tatyana and her mother and after they became a real friends, he bought ticket for Tatyana and invited her to celebrate his birthday in Switzerland.

Would y like to know more about Russian homestay? Visit our website http://enjoyrussian.com/category/rus-home/

Our students who come to Russia for the second or the third time always bring ТАПОЧКИ (slippers) with them. They say that’s because Russians are weird about slippers, and they are really important in Russia.

- See more at: http://enjoyrussian.com/slippers/#sthash.2NTDBLJ7.dpuf

I came to Enjoy Russian with the goal of improving my conversational skills and overall fluency in Russian. I sought an immersion experience through living with a host family, and also wanted the opportunity to do some volunteer work in Russia.

I could not have made a better choice than to spend my fall in Petrozavodsk, Karelia.

- See more at: http://enjoyrussian.com/study-ptz/#sthash.GFGsnpNN.dpuf

How  to become a student of the “EnjoyRussian” Language School and other useful information!

Don't hesitate and come to study with us! Our students Advisor will support you with each step! 

http://enjoyrussian.com/faq/

Test your Russian online

Would you like to check your Russian language level? Pass the test on our website
http://enjoyrussian.com/test/

In my first meeting with Russian language students that come to Petrozavodsk “Enjoy Russian” school to learn Russian I tell them that we use the project-based language learning method and propose every student to create their own project at the end of the course. Most people have no idea what a project based language learning mean. Let me give you a few examples and explain why it’s a great way to learn a language.

- See more at: http://enjoyrussian.com/project/#sthash.0AnVD4Zj.dpuf

Have you ever had a problem with "два"?

Apart from “one” that has three different variants in Russian (ОДИН / ОДНА / ОДНО), “two” is also not as easy as one-two-three! It has two variant too: ДВА / ДВЕ.

- See more at: http://enjoyrussian.com/russian-numbers/#sthash.tfVsJOX5.dpuf

A few words about our organization

Here you can get to know information about the Karelian Regional Organization of Additional Education “Center “Initiative” (in Russian abbreviation it is KROODO “Tsentr “Initsiativa”). This is a non-governmental and non-profit organization that was founded in Petrozavodsk in September, 2003. 
- See more at: http://enjoyrussian.com/organization/#sthash.18UbsqYj.dpuf

Pekka came to us from Finland in 2013 for the first time. His Russian then was at an elementary/basic level. We were expecting him to start from where he were when he came to us again this May. But no! Pekka’s progress since the last time we met him was unbelievable!

- See more at: http://enjoyrussian.com/amazing-progress/#sthash.mYiCEnzx.dpuf

Let us introduce you to the most active volunteer of Russian Language School of the previous week! Her name is Lyudmila Girs! She is a student of Petrozavodsk State University, geography teacher.

- See more at: http://enjoyrussian.com/active-vol/#sthash.41Oplfsx.dpuf

We do not teach the Russian language…

We teach how to use the Russian language to communicate with people in Russian.
Read more about our teaching methods http://enjoyrussian.com/courses/methods/

Let us present you the results of Cultural program of the School and Extra events of previous week! On Monday, 29th of May, we met our two new-old students, graduate students Susanne De Jonghe from Germany with her 6-years old daughter Amalia and Abdulla Yasir from the Maldives. 

See more at: http://enjoyrussian.com/cultural-program_week-results/#sthash.h2iKXCre.dpuf

Дорогие друзья! 

Для преподавателей русского языка, переводчиков и всех тех, кто уверенно владеет русским языком, но хочет достигнуть новых результатов и говорить свободно и без ошибок! 

Для Вас у нас есть места в группе уровня B2 (2 сертификат), даты 03 июля - 28 июля, 80 занятий. Можно присоединиться на более короткий срок.
Спешите подать заявку! За короткий срок Вы повысите свою квалификацию, получите возможность практиковать русский язык с носителями в течение всего дня, познаете настоящее русское гостеприимство, а также увидите Карелию во всей летней красе!

Подать заявку: http://enjoyrussian.com/apply-summer/
Узнать больше: info@enjoyrussian.com

  

Why so much dill?

Our students shocked us complaining that Russians put dill to every dish, even PIZZA!!!! And we were like “Really??? We don’t even notice it!” - See more at: http://enjoyrussian.com/dill/#sthash.5VkZ7b5y.dpuf

Our every student is unbelievably talented and has his own tricks in learning Russian. But Elize Retief from South Africa showed us what it really means to be creative when you study a foreign language! - See more at: http://enjoyrussian.com/studyingrussian/#sthash.Ksy9Us5f.dpuf

Would you like to know how "EnjoyRussian" Language School started? Read a story from the Head of the School

http://enjoyrussian.com/13-years-ago/

Do you want to know what level of Russian you can get in one month starting from zero? Watch Claudia’s video project...

See more at: http://enjoyrussian.com/amzing-progress-just-one-month/#sthash.1e1uN6gS.dpuf