u003ch1u003eYour first week at a Russian language school: what to expectu003c/h1u003e

u003cpu003eWhat actually happens in your first week at a Russian language school in St Petersburg: placement, the 10:15 start, small-group lessons, homework and the city.u003c/pu003eu003cpu003eYou booked the course, the flight and the room. Now the real question: what happens when you walk in on Monday morning? Here is how the first week at EducaCentre actually goes.u003c/pu003eu003ch2u003eBefore you arrive: placementu003c/h2u003eu003cpu003eIf you already speak some Russian, you take our 30-minute u003ca href=u0022/russian-language-test/u0022u003eonline placement testu003c/au003e before the course: grammar and vocabulary, from beginner to advanced questions. It is not an exam you can fail; it decides which group you start in. Complete beginners skip it. If anything is unclear, the level is checked again in conversation on the first day.u003c/pu003eu003ch2u003eMonday, 10:15u003c/h2u003eu003cpu003eArrive at 10:15 on your first day. The reception team and your teacher meet you, and if your level needs a second look, you get a short check on the spot. Bring three things: your passport with visa and migration card, a passport-sized photo for your student card, and a pen and notebook. Then you go to class.u003c/pu003eu003ch2u003eThe classroomu003c/h2u003e

u003cpu003eGroups at EducaCentre have up to 4 students, often fewer. That number changes everything about the first week: there is no back row. You speak in the first lesson, get corrected in the first lesson, and by Friday the teacher knows your specific mistakes, not just your name.u003c/pu003eu003cpu003eBeginners start with the alphabet, pronunciation and survival phrases. By the end of day one you can introduce yourself. Higher levels work mostly in Russian from the start; you will miss some of it in week one, and that is normal and temporary.u003c/pu003eu003ch2u003eThe daily rhythmu003c/h2u003eu003cpu003eu003ca href=u0022/group-courses/u0022u003eStandard courseu003c/au003e: 20 lessons a week, Monday to Friday, 10:15-13:30 with a break: grammar in context, speaking practice, vocabulary, reading and listening. u003ca href=u0022/intensive-group-course/u0022u003eIntensiveu003c/au003e students continue into the afternoon, usually until 15:30. Afternoons on the standard course are yours: homework, the city, or extra private lessons.u003c/pu003eu003ch2u003eHomework that uses the cityu003c/h2u003eu003cpu003eExpect daily homework, and not only exercises: order a coffee in Russian, read the signs on your way home, tell your u003ca href=u0022/accommodation/u0022u003ehost familyu003c/au003e what you did today. Saint Petersburg is the other half of the course. Lessons give you language; the city makes you use it.u003c/pu003e

u003ch2u003eYour classmatesu003c/h2u003eu003cpu003eStudents come to the school from 50+ countries, from gap-year travellers to retirees. With groups this small, the common language in the room is Russian, not by rule, but because it is the only language everyone shares.u003c/pu003eu003ch2u003eBy Fridayu003c/h2u003eu003cpu003eThe first week does not make you fluent. It does something more useful: the alphabet stops looking like code, you have said real sentences to real people, and you know exactly what to work on next week. That is what correct placement and a group of four give you.u003c/pu003e