Lev Language School

The teachers were great. This was my first experience with a language school, but I would definitely go back if I have the chance. I was in a class with only one other student. Facilities were basic but more than adequate. I was impressed with the fluency of the teachers in multiple languages. They were also very patient with me and my very slow progress. The in-class activities were fun and the other student and I enjoyed getting to know each other in Russian. The location was convenient in central Moscow, not far from a few metro stations. The address was easy to find, but the first time I went to look for the classroom in the building, I think I was lucky to find it. Detailed instructions in advance might have been helpful.

Arrived to Moscow hardly speaking a word of Russian, and left almost fluent after one week with Nastia. Ok, maybe a little bit exaggerated, but my intensive 5-days, 5-hours-per day intensive week was really a true booster to my Russian, as well as a very pleasant experience. Very warm and personal treatment, but absolutely brutal seriousness in training the language. No escape into English or Italian, you have to stick to Russian! Absolutely effective, fully recommended.

Being a language teacher myself, put me in front of big disappointments when I started to study the Russian language. At first I tried some University course, they were crowded, noisy and full of people who wanted anything but improve or study the language.

Then I tried some private schools and private tutors but in both situations the teacher seemed to me not to have an idea of what to do. they simple translated the book and the most frequent answer to my questions was " it's like this, Russian is hard".

In Lev Language school I really found a professional way of teaching. The teacher used a good book and explain every theme using the board. Then she made me speak and speas practicing a lot during the lesson. When I was home I could, through all the frameworks gave at school, understand and do my homework. Plus the location was very convenient, center and in a very nice area full of restaurants, bars, and other fun places. I really recommend it !

The good thing was that I had something like a tutor, instead of a teacher, because I was the only one student for that level, so only me and the teacher every day and more intensive hours as a consequence.

But, at the other hand, they told me only one day before the beginning of the course that the hours had been reduced, because of that.

2 hours and 15 minutes each day instead of 3 hours.
I payed for 20 hours course but I had 11 hours and 15 minutes, and no refund.

Another problem was that the school wasn't registered like a society but like a freelance/business owner and they should have gone to the immigration office to ask for my invitation letter for the Visa application, (that's what the Italian Visa Center told me) but they sent me another type of letter that wasn't valid for the Visa Application. So I had to ask for the invitation letter to the hostel where I stayed.

As for the activities, I think nothing was organised by the school, at least for what concerned me or my level, since I did not meet other students, neither of other levels.

About the location, it was well situated, near the center and near a metro station, but the building was shared with other language schools, a driving school and something else I think.

And, since I encountered no one that could speak English there, the first day I had some problems figuring out where to go although the building was very little (downstairs, upstairs, again downstairs and no one knew the name of the teachers I was looking for).

Maybe the situation was due to the fact that the school was born only one or a couple of years ago, so it is still growing, and at the moment they can only rent this kind of classrooms and provide this kind of service.

But I want to clarify and repeat that the teacher was a very nice person, available, friendly and very patient with me a real beginner in Russian Language.

I was for one week in Moscow to have a short stay in Lev Language school. The teacher was VERY nice and good, the lessons were prepared, it was very intensive, the small group (3students) was good, every one had the same level , so that nobody waited the others , it was exactly what I waited for. We had a very good book , it was easy to work with. Teacher explainations were very clear, she always tried to make us prononce correctly, it was very professional.