Nova Mova Ukrainian and Russian School in Kiev

Student responses and pictures

To get a better idea of what goes on at my partners' language school that I advertise here at TryUkraine.com, I dropped by their school right outside of Arsenalna metro station in Kiev in April 2006. I had the chance to meet and talk to two of their current three students.

Naomi (right) with teacher Gela Turabelidze

Naomi Uman
Film producer of Ukrainian ancestry
Four-week intensive individual language program

"I knew basically nothing when I got here. Gela has his own system that he invented, which is very helpful — a different color for each case. We started out with genitive, which is red. He gave me cards with images of words. We meet for three hours a day five days a week, and then he gives me about three or four hours of homework. So it's just me and him. He'll teach me a grammatical concept and then drill me on it and give me homework. And then, with each new idea he tries to combines all the concepts we've previously discussed. The colors really help. I'll be making a sentence, and he'll hold up a pen of a certain color if I can't remember which case to use.

I'm very satisfied with my success so far. Gela has also been great, because not only has he taught me the language, but he's introduced me to lots of people, including people who share my interests. It's been a whole package of services — teaching, a place to live, and new friends and contacts. He's given my roots here. After this I'm planning to go to Uman to live with a local farmer's family to put all of these new language concepts into practice for a period of several months. I expect to be here in Ukraine till September and start a movie, then come back to shoot some additional footage."

Dirk and Yana

Dirk Thieslack
One-week super intensive individual language program

"I just have one teacher. Her name is Yana. Things are going along well. I had some private lessons in Berlin, but in reality my level was very low. So this is basically a crash course in survival Russian. I was nearly a blank sheet of paper when I got here.

Yana is a really good teacher. Yesterday I was able to negotiate the price of a taxi to drive me home. So I'm able to get around, order food in a restaurant, things like that. So it's good — really good, and very intensive. Five hours a day. It's a lot. It's actually pretty stressful. For me five hours a day is actually probably too much. Each day I spend a lot of time reviewing, and then go out in the evening with my friend."

More pictures of Russian school students

As you can see from the pictures below, students at Nova Mova school have a lot of fun. They can expect to meet people, see sights, go to restaurants or bars, and talk to interesting strangers as part of their language training.

Students experiencing a typical Ukrainian pastime.		Guess which one is the Russian student? (the one in the blue skirt)
Gela (center) with two of his students in a 19th century schoolroom at Pyrohovo museum. More pictures of Kiev >>		Guess which one is not a student? (the monk in the black hat). Kievo-Pecherskaya Lavra (monastery).
Students at Pyrohovo outdoor museum in Kiev.		Just getting out of class.