Day #42: Language school

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I am attending a language school in Novosibirsk, and it is fun but highly intensive. Lessons start at 10am each morning, with a class of 2-3 people, where the focus is on conversation - lots of situation practice and asking and answering questions. Lunch is at 1:15pm and at 2:30pm there is either a tutorial or individual lesson where the focus is on grammar. By the time we finish at 5:30 or 6pm I am usually pretty exhausted, but we then have the option of an evening activity in Russian, usually a film, presentation or talk. So far I watched one presentation on Russia's early history and another on Russian media, but I was too mentally drained to make much of either.

The school works hard to keep the lessons interesting - mine have included a walk around the city where we had to follow instructions in Russian, watching sketches from Russian comedy shows (interesting to note that Russia seems to have reached the "stereotypical gay people are inherently funny" stage in its painful journey towards tolerance) and, most entertainingly, Russian cartoons, including two Soviet ones, Winnie-the-Pooh and Gena the Crocodile, both of which were much funnier and had more sophisticated animation than I would have expected. Youtube versions abound so I expect once I am back in the UK I will be watching them again to refresh my memory.

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

The language school sounds great
How long did you take lessons?