Oksana has been studying English since childhood, she graduated from the linguistic University, where she also studied Spanish. She decided to focus her attention on language teaching rather than translation. She took exams for the language level. As she says herself, she passed the C2 exam. She is also studying French. So, we can safely call her a polyglot.

 

After reviewing more than 15 posts on this blog, I realized that Oksana mostly talks not about the language itself, but about life, mixing it with English. She writes only about what is interesting to her, so her posts are very lively and often a little short. Of course, she helps people learn a little more about the English language, she writes posts where she explains in detail this or that phenomenon in the language. She often invites her subscribers to guess what this or that idiom means, or asks them to translate from Russian into English.

 

All posts are written in Russian. I understand why she writes in Russian and not in English. Her audience mainly consists of people who are just starting to learn something, so she embraces a large audience. Oksana often talks about the books she has read or is going to read. Most of these books are in English, there are also books in Spanish and French, but much less often. She also writes in Russian, mixing it with English when explaining a topic or giving examples of the use of idioms, words, expressions, grammatical rules.

 

A nice feature that surprised me a little was the fact that she arranges something like a book lovers club, but in English. She holds meetings online where they discuss a certain book they have read together. Moreover, the book read is often in English. Thus, it seems to me, she instills in people a love for foreign original literature and increases the level of language among her subscribers. I would like to note that the discussion of the book is also conducted in English, not in Russian. 

 

In conclusion, I would like to say that this blog actually helps people learn English. Of course, it will not help to pass the language proficiency exam, but subscribers can learn something new and interesting with the help of Oksana Kudrova, because she really has a high level of English proficiency. There is also a linguistic and cultural aspect in the blog, not only thanks to books, but also to posts from different countries, for example, from Turkey. So, I would recommend subscribing to this blog, because this woman is really an interesting person who gives decent advice.

- strategies for the preparation of all types of activities are given;

- a lot of material is provided;

- each lesson is equipped with presentations, pictures, videos;

- all lectures are recorded and sent to the course participants;

- all changes in the format and evaluation criteria are considered, information is given in the smallest details;

-  valuable tips on the methodology of preparation and assessment of the exams are given.

In addition to conducting paid courses, Evgenia Sergeevna also gives free advice and assistance to everyone. The expert puts out posts with important materials for training aimed at various types of activities. Most often these are pdf-files with lexical and grammatical tasks, writing and speaking tasks. But, it is important to note that Evgenia also posts video materials with tasks, audio recordings and songs, interesting tasks in a playful way; she shares convenient online platforms and online tools that are perfect for distance learning. On the eve of the holidays, the expert shares materials for preparing for exams related to the theme of a holiday. So, for example, in the blog you can find a lot of tasks from the oral and written parts of the Russian National Exam related to the New Year.
All this allows teachers to make their lessons rich and effective, and achieve high results with their students.

This blog is open, which means that other teachers can publish posts, ask questions, ask for advice from more experienced teachers.  Teachers are often interested in which textbooks to choose for training, how to act in a difficult situation (for example, how to evaluate a student's oral or written response; how to choose the right preparation strategy; how to work with students who have poor memory, etc.), and also send their students' work and, together with other teachers, analyze mistakes and share their thoughts.  There is also an opportunity to join a chat where you can discuss any issues non-stop.

This is a wonderful blog created by one woman, which brought together almost 60 thousand followers, which allows you to share your experience and knowledge.

If you are interested in the schedule of Ekaterina's blog, it is as follows:

*daily -  some useful material for teachers how to arrange classes in an interesting way, a set of worksheets on a certain theme (e.g. games to activate students' memory about household chores and winter clothes,  worksheets on body parts, etc).

*every evening - answers to the readers' questions in the comments below the "worrying" case.  (e.g. what kind of manual to take for a new school textbook, how to motivate an indifferent student)

*once a week – a stream with the latest news from the world of teaching - how to conduct lessons, what to do during classes, interesting and useful lifehacks for everyone - from beginners to "experienced" English teachers.

If you want to support «Teacher Switcher» and get access to additional closed materials of the group, you can donate a little sum of money (550 rubles) to the author. Moreover, in such a case you can ask Ekaterina to do a presentation personally for you.

There is a number of prepared things that you can just buy in Ekaterina's group - a Halloween house, New Year Theater-Book, Christmas designer for children.

I have been following this blog for about 3 years and vigorously and actively use materials from it for my own private classes with schoolchildren. The target audience of these materials is school children under 11-12 years, but some posts will be of great use for both teenagers and adults.

After viewing his website, I can make some conclusions about his professional activity:

1. There are 2 sections on language learning on the website: the 1^st is a general course, and preparation for exams in school and for international exams. Classes can be individual and in groups. Basically the audience consists of the teens and adults.

2. The website has a mission – to teach all types of speech activity. Moreover, there is an opportunity to meet online with a native speaker, and to visit school in London where he works.

3. In addition to the courses, the website has a lot of interesting information about London and GB, a lot of colorful photos of sightseeing, and the author also shares photos from his personal life and his interests (for example, animals and cooking).

4. All classes are paid, but there is an article with Alex`s own videos about London`s phrasal verbs, collocations, and their meanings. (to call it a day – to finish the work, to stop the activity, a man about town – a person who spends a lot of time in fashionable places.

In conclusion, I would like to say that the author makes posts with interesting material, adds videos where he talks about himself and about London; his speech is clear and competent. I was interested in his website, and maybe I would have chosen Alex`s courses to prepare for exams.

 The group's wall is closed, but anyone can send a post using the "Submit news" button.  The community administrator decides whether to publish your post or not.

 Usually in their posts, novice teachers ask for advice from those who already have sufficient experience.  Thus, there is an exchange of knowledge about the practice of teaching in a general education school, a private English gymnasium or tutoring.  The last posts of the group were devoted to the topics of English books, the use of tablets in class, the experience of preparing for the Pearson Versant Test, TOEFL exams.  Aspiring teachers were also interested in linguistic coaching courses, but most often their interest falls on the choice of manual.  From time to time, the group conducts various kinds of surveys and advertises paid resources.  The community wall is also (although not as common) used to buy and sell textbooks, find students and, of course, find teachers.  Often, members of this group share their materials for free, which will undoubtedly help make the teacher's lesson more interesting.

 In general, this community is suitable for both experienced teachers who need to learn the details, and for beginners who are just starting their careers.

 The atmosphere in the group is friendly, everyone helps each other.

 The motto of this community is "Who dares to teach must never cease to learn", which means that every teacher must constantly improve in his field of activity.