Learning Russian at Liden & Denz: What do we do differently?

Learn Russian through communication

All our Russian courses are based on the communicative approach and combine the learning of common phrases from everyday situations with a thorough and systematic approach to grammar. This is of crucial importance when learning a language without a fixed word order such as Russian, a language in which it is the word endings or the position of a word that create the meaning. Conversational topics are complemented with the appropriate grammar structures, while the grammatical part of the course progresses gradually from basic concepts to more complex aspects (e.g. naming objects – determining location – actions with objects – moving back and forth, etc.) in a psychologically logical order.

One of our most important principles is to give you the linguistic tools to repeatedly put your communicative skills and models into practice. This will enable you to express yourself in everyday situations and achieve your linguistic goals.

The city is our classroom

The communicative approach requires that what you have just learned is applied immediately, outside the classroom. For this reason, Russian lessons are regularly held outside: on the street, at markets, in train stations and shops you will be confronted with the language spoken on the street. Outside the comfort zone of the classroom, you will gain language confidence in everyday Russian, while you will also get to know the city better.

Our teachers

All our teachers are native Russian speakers and have a university degree in either Russian as a Foreign Language (RKI) or Linguistics. Our Russian teachers use a variety of methods in the classroom, most of which are interactive. These include role-plays, discussions and creative work (drawing, storytelling, etc.). They regularly share their experiences during seminars and meetings, discussing issues and solutions and evaluating new methods and techniques.

Course levels in our Russian courses

In our group courses we teach beginner to intermediate levels year-round adding upper-intermediate and advanced classes during busy summer period. For reasons of compatibility, we have adapted the framework of the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages). Clicking on each circle reveals Liden & Denz sub-levels with averaged lesson numbers and recommended exam(s) for that level. Students enrolling for a one-to-one course will need less time to pass from one level to the next.