Valentina Lushina : English

My name is Valentina. I live in Moscow. I'm a sociable and open person. For now, I am mainly concentrating on my job as I always try to find something new, unusual and involving for my students. It feels so great when you see the learners making rapid progress!

In general I've got quite varied hobbies. For example, in summer one of my favourite things is going to the village. Being outside, enjoying the nature gives you the sense of peace and tranquility. In the past I was a professional fencer and had the opportunity to travel around the world with our sports team. In general, I'm interested in politics, history. literature, sports, culture, languages and many other things.

So, we are always able to find a common ground for conversation.

Education

Pedagogical university (MSRU), Linguistic Faculty

Linguistic University (MSLU), Faculty of Translation and Interpreting

Work experience,

I have six years of teaching experience.

1. Private Language Tutor (English and Russian), 2012 to the present

a) Conducting courses in: general English, spoken English, grammar, interview preparation,

b) Providing exam preparation for Russian national exams USE and OGE (Basic State Examination) and other Russian state exams , working with students individually as well as in groups

c) Providing exam preparation for Cambridge FCE (new name Cambridge B2 First)

2. English Teacher, working at a private school, 2015 to 2017

Teaching a variety of courses in groups and individually

3. Facilitator, English speaking clubs, 2018 to the present

Organising and conducting sessions for mixed groups of young and adult learners of various abilities

My preferred teaching approach is to use the well-established communicative method, which provides a good basis for the learner to develop strong speaking and listening skills with confidence.

I teach a range of different courses, such as general English, spoken English, business English and exam preparation for various certification exams. I also teach Russian to non-native speakers and I offer conversational lessons in both English and Russian. In my lessons we start speaking in the target language from the very beginning, as I believe that spoken communication is the main objective in studying a foreign language. I consider it to be very important to build the learning process in accordance with each student’s particular interests and goals. To this end, I spare no efforts to make my lessons effective, interesting and entertaining for learners.

For resource materials I do not confine myself only to the use of typical textbooks. There are lots of additional things I include in my lessons, for example, video and audio materials, different real-life stories of my friends and colleagues using authentic language, news articles, games and varied entertaining activities which help my students to acquire and retain information more easily and effectively.