MY RUSSIAN TOURISTIC CALENDAR

What to do in Russia in summer 2018?

Welcome to Karelia, the Republic in the North-West of Russia famous for its beautiful nature, cloudberry jam, common border with the European Union and rich cultural and historical background. All types of travelers come here to find both entertainment and self-fulfilling. Each summer Enjoy Russian language school in Petrozavodsk turns into the international center with  hundreds of students learn Russian, explore the lifestyle and make memories for life. 2018 is special not only because you may take a train to the closest FIFA 2018 Cup venue but also for cool events that will take place in Karelia itself.

The music, light and nature come together in Ruskeala canyon

Have you ever tried to be soaked by the music not behind the concert hall walls but among unique and strong rocks? Ruskeala marble canyon is one of the top sights in the North Ladoga region that is certainly worth visiting. Imagine yourself standing in front of the Norwegian Fjords, drinking water from Icelandic waterfall and enjoying the views of Scottish Lochs. That’s how it feels when you are there.  But the park does not narrow itself with only walking tours around the ancient mining spots but also gives an opportunity to witness the famous Russian artists’ and musicians’ ideas come alive.

This August Russian Bolshoi Theater and Karelian Musical Theater artists will literally transform your mindset and the way you used to see nature and music. On 10 and 11 of August the musical festival “Ruskeala Symphony” will take place in a famous canyon. The program is prepared by the Karelian State Philharmonic and Symphonic Orchestra. Famous Russian performes such as Nikolay Efremov, the “golden tenor of Russia” Yevgeny Yuzhin,  Timur Slanov, Anastasia Averina and others are expected to be on the unusual and thrilling stage.  Due to the open-air location the venue is able to host about 5000 people.

Step out from your comfort zone in Ruskeala park

Even if your Karelian trip dates differ from 10-11 August you still may enjoy numerous of cool things to do in Ruskeala throughout the summer:

• Dive into the infinity and experience over-the-canyon bungee jumping;
• Start your adventure with the rocks diving;
• Touch the ancient stones and feel the energy of water while taking a boat trip;
• Put up the tent, make delicious shashlyk and learn Russian hiking songs!

THE RUSSIAN LANGUAGE – YOUR WAY TO THE STARS

Russian astronaut Yuri Gagarin was the first human to travel into space. Alexey Leonov was the first human to perform a spacewalk (there is a great movie about that by the way – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOJ_ijPbXpU). Roscosmos is one of the leading international establishments that conduct space science programs. So, it’s no wonder that people, who want to become astronauts or spacecraft engineers and etc. want to learn Russian and hope that the Russian language will come in handy in their future career.

This July we had two students at once, who want to learn Russian because of the reason mentioned above: Jefferson Huera from The University of Manchester and Gabriel Wentworth from The University of Warwick.

That’s what Jefferson says: “Russian language has always been important in the aerospace industry. The former Soviet space programme, nowadays called Roscosmos has had many important contributions in the aerospace research. Along with Nasa they are the most important space agencies. By learning Russian, it will be possible for me to work in these space agencies. Just as an example, astronauts and cosmonauts are required to have knowledge of the Russian language. I know that it is really hard to get to those positions but at least I will try.”
That’s an amazing dream and a great motivation to study the Russian language! I hope Jefferson and Gabriel will achive their goals and the “Enjoy Russian” language school will be proud in the future of having had such famous people among its students;)

https://enjoyrussian.com/russian/

НА ВЫХОДНЫХ VS. В ВЫХОДНЫЕ

One of the most frequent questions that our teachers ask the foreign students is “What are you going to do at the weekend?”or “What did you do at the weekend?”. The teachers ask in Russian of course, not in English;) Sometimes they say “Что вы делали в выходные?” and sometimes – “Что вы делали на выходных?”. Are both varients right?

Well, that’s the question that even some of the native Russian language speakers can’t answer, because we hear and use both varients a lot. But every Russian language teacher can tell you that “В ВЫХОДНЫЕ” is the most appropriate, normative way to say “at the weekend”, and “НА ВЫХОДНЫХ” is used only in oral speech, not in writing.

Another frequently used phrase is “НА ВЫХОДНЫЕ”, but this one means “for the weekend”, and usually is used with verbs of motion:

Куда вы ездили на выходные? – Where did you go for the weekend?

Куда вы поедете на выходные? – Where are you going for the weekend?

If you have any questions about these phrases, leave a comment to this post!

Alina Aleshina,

Education coordinator of “Enjoy Russian language school”

https://enjoyrussian.com/weekend/

Learn Russian and Volunteer in Russia

Our student Gabriel and his new friends from International Summer camp! Gabriel has been volunteering in the camp in Russia for two weeks!

Read more about the program

Watch video about Gabriel and his new Russian friends http://enjoyrussian.com/volunteer/

12-week Intensive Russian course is for all those who are focused on Intensive longtime work, outstanding results and various cultural activities!

Autumn in Karelia is amazing time as you can experience three different seasons during three months! You can still enjoy outdoor activities as the weather is good and sunny in September. You will admire picturesque and colourful scenery and shuffle leaves along the pavement in October. Famous go-summer period will give you so many unforgettable feelings and cool pictures! And you will even see the first snow at the end of November!

What will you do in Karelia if you join 12 week Russian course from September 4 till November 24?
– you’ll go fishing
– you’ll pick mashrooms and berries in beautiful Autumn forest
– you’ll have last chance to visit “must see” places in Russia– one of the largest open air museums in Russia – Kizhi (unique historical, cultural and natural complex), the second large in Europe Kivach Waterfall (the first one is Rhein Waterfalls), Valaam Island, The Solovetsky Islands (six islands located in the waters of the White Sea in northern Russia, just 165km from the Arctic Circle) etc.
– you’ll meet many Russian students in the city as academic year starts in September
-you’ll visit theatres in Petrozavodsk as many of them will be open again after summer vacation
-you’ll visit Philharmonic Hall with various musical performances
-you’ll participate in workshops

http://enjoyrussian.com/cultural-activities/

🇷🇺 Learn Russian in Russia!

Last chance to apply the intensive 2-week summer Russian language course! ⏳

The program of full Russian immersion is very effective, as it includes:

- intensive Russian course with our professional and creative teachers

- homestay with Russian families to learn about life in Russia from within

- communication with the Russian volunteers and eventful cultural program

So the students get an opportunity to practice Russian all day long, which guarantees fast progress in Russian. 🇷🇺

📅 Dates: August, 14-25

👍Cost of the 2-week program:

320 euro – tuition fee (40 lessons in a group)

150 euro – Russian homestay with breakfast

📈Group levels:

Beginner (A0+)

Elementary (A1, A1+)

Basic (A2, A2+)

☝Individual course is available on any dates!

📝APPLY: http://enjoyrussian.com/apply-summer/

✉Ask a question: info@enjoyrussian.com

#enjoyrussian #bestrussiancourse #learnrussianfast #russianinrussia #languageschool #karelia #petrozavodsk #studyrussian #summerrussiancourse #russianforbeginners

Today I want to continue telling you about our “Enjoy Russian” Language School teachers. Last time I told you about Evgenia Laverucheva, and now I’m happy to introduce you to the most patient teacher in the world – Olga Yartseva.

She’s been working at “Enjoy Russian” language school for 8 years already. She loves teaching the Russian language to foreigners, because it’s an amazing opportunity to meet interesting people from all over the world, introduce Russian culture and traditions to them, help them learn Russian as a foreign language.

Olga works with the groups of foreign students of all levels, but she is especially awesome in teaching 0 level students. She is extremely patient and calm. She can always explain things, even to someone who’s never learned any foreign languages before. She uses interesting modern teaching methods and techniques and all the students say that the Russian language is just a piece of cake if you learn it with Olga.

Come to Petrozavodsk and meet our amazing teachers in person! Russian is easy with us!;)
http://enjoyrussian.com/patient-teacher/ 

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 

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

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

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/

There is a contest "Striking comment" with an amazing present (Adapted Russian Classics Book with stress, tasks and exercises with keys, text-pictures, Russian-English vocabulary). You can participate on facebook https://www.facebook.com/EnjoyRussianLanguageSchool/

“Make friends with Russians and don’t speak with other foreigners in English”- a piece of advice from a Canadian who knows Russian. 

Most of the students who learn Russian usually tell us that it is a very difficult language! We won’t argue. It is not easy. But we are pretty sure that it is possible to learn it, speak and understand it! 

Today we would like to introduce you the teacher of the Language Center in Petrozavodsk – Lloyd Morin from Canada!  Lloyd has been living in Russia for 5 years. And his Russian is really good!

5 years ago it was not. Lloyd came to Russia with good knowledge of the language structure, but he couldn’t speak.Just immersion in Russian lifehelps him speak, more and more! He made friends with many locals and tried to communicate as much as he could. As a result he can speak, write and understand the language!

 Would you like to listen to Lloyd speaking Russian? Follow our news!

Would you like to speak Russian? Apply http://enjoyrussian.com/3719/
Do you have questions? Ask our coordinator  info@enjoyrussian.com

Have you already met Yana? 

Yana is a wonderful person and a unique volunteer in our school! Once you've communicated to her, you want to do it again and again! If she participates in any of our activities she is always in the highlight and contributes a lot in the success of the students' stay in Petrozavodsk. Yana knows Spanish, German, of course English, she is hitching a ride and... and let her introduce herself. 

"Being a volunteer changes you completely. When I first came to Enjoy Russian, I was a young girl full of expectations and eager to meet new people from different cultures. Now I am a traveler, a hitchhiker, a blogger and a future English and German teacher. My motto is more life in life. I learn languages, peculiarities about people’s culture and mentality. I am a rafting instructor and know quite a lot about the nature of Karelia. My biggest dream is to make a round-the-world trip by hitchhiking and prove that money is not an essential thing in travelling" 

Join us http://enjoyrussian.com/3686_programs/3689_autumn_russian_courses/