Events Shedule

20.06.2007 From May 28 to June 8 the second ATEEL Refresher course in TEFL took place in Moscow. Teachers from the ATEEL schools in Moscow and other cities of Russia participated in this course. During the two-week intensive course run by Irina Grekova (Cambridge/RSA CELTA, Cambridg DELTA, ATEEL Refresher Trainer, Cambridge CELTA trainer), and Joanna Graham (M.L. TEFL, Cambridge DELTA, ATEEL Refresher Trainer, IHC YL Trainer, Cambridge CELTA Trainer) the teachers were learning the new methods in teaching EFL, principles of the communicative approach, and many other things. The teachers were unanimous that the course was extremely helpful and informative. The atmosphere in the group was very friendly and relaxed — Ulyana Slezko, the ADOS of «The English Club» language school, Chelyabinsk, thinks that the main reason was that «(...) we all were very motivated — we all love English and we all love teaching, that's why we were trying to help and support each other».
Oksans Chalaya, a teacher from O'Key school, Krasnoyarsk said: «We aquired lots of new and very useful information. Though I've got a considerable teaching experience I only heard about the main principles of the communicative approach, but I've never really seen it working. Now we know and can use this approach in practice. I'm really impatient to get home and start using all the new things with my students!» The trainers, in their turn, mentioned that they enjoyed very much working with such a keen and motivated group of teachers. Photos

15.05.2007 A new school has become a member of ATEEL — Euroschool, Tyumen. The inspection of the school, which was conducted by teacher trainer Irina Grekova, proved that the school maintains high standards in EFL teaching.

06.04.2007 On 28 March 2007 Oksana Mel'nik and Darya Burtseva, who took the first and the third places accordingly in the «Best ATEEL Student» competition were awarded their prizes. Photos from the awards ceremony

30.03.2007 Exchange project between BKC-IH (Moscow) and Lingvoland (Vologda) schools. Nathan Jones and Ewen Moore tell about their experience:
Ewen and I stepped off train 042 from Moscow to Vologda at about six o'clock in the morning. It was pitch black and cold. We glanced around the station still half asleep, disoriented, and a bit unsure of what was going to happen to us. Then we were recognised-I guess we don't look like Russians- by our wonderful and accommodating hosts Tanya, Olga, Marina, and Luba. We had nothing to worry about, they were about to show us an absolutely marvelous weekend.
As they drove Ewen and I to our lovely flats in the Vologda city center we first noticed the lovely sea-green baroque architecture lining the main avenue. The instant we stepped into the kitchen, we were treated with the first of many large, hearty, and delicious meals. After tea and conversation (all of our hosts spoke exceptionally well) we had a bit of shuteye before we began to teach our lessons.
If I was a student at the Lingvoland school of English, I would have a difficult time learning anything - the view from the schools window is simply too beautiful. Byzantine churches sparkle upon the edge of the Vologda River which, in chilly February, was frozen and dotted by cheerful Vologdians sledding, skating, and skiing. After pulling ourselves away from window sill, Ewen and I proceeded to teach two classes each: one elementary, two pre-intermediate, and one intermediate. Our students were welcoming, talkative, and excellent speakers. During our lessons we solved some riddles, trolled the seas during "pronunciation battleship," composed a story using the "diamond theory," and took a "pronunciation tour" of the world.
After our lessons finished, we reconvened with our students at Tanya's house for a meal and conversation. Of course the food was excellent-- and yes we did have lots of famous Vologda butter! The students and teachers made us feel at home and answered our many questions about Vologda and what it is like to live there. Everyone spoke English very well so there were no communication problems at all. The party went late into the night - Tanya was an excellent host, despite the fact that she had to read three books and take the State Law Exam the following week! Finally we retired, excited for our excursion of Vologda the next day.
We began our tour at the heart of the city, the Kremlin. We were there at an especially fortunate time-- historic documents had been found in the Kremlin wall and an excavation was scheduled to begin in the Spring. Marnia showed Ewen and I a "secret passage" and we climbed up to the top of the wall and imagined ourselves defending the city from invaders. We strolled past Saint Sofia's Cathedral, built by Ivan the Terrible. Rumor has it that as he was inspecting it after its hurried completion, a brick fell from the roof onto his head. Our guides were quick to tell us that this story was probably untrue. Then we traveled to a more recent historic monument of Vologda-- the city's first street lamp, a brass dog was constructed near it to keep it company. As we were viewing the dog, Ewen commented that he had never walked on a frozen river before... so we did! We navigated the skiers and sledders and walked south down the river in the -24 degree air, towards the house of Peter the Great. We went inside the house where he often stayed. It was quite an experience to see the goblet which he drank and the chair where he sat. Our final visit was perhaps our most interesting. One of our students, Paul, invited us to his friend's art studio. Paulina, a well known Vologda artist showed us her assorted treasures. This included a brief seminar on samovars, a fashion show, and her unique tapestry art.
After this we had one final, delicious meal at Marina's house. I especially remember the delicious borscht. Sadly, Ewen and I had to leave. As we said our sad goodbyes on the windy platform, it was hard to believe our trip was already over. What a wonderful school and city. We are already anxious to return.

Nate Jones

09.03.2007 From the 1st to the 3rd March the Fourth Interregional Conference of ATEEL schools took place in Moscow. The 4th Conference of ATEEL (the Association for the Teaching of English and European Languages) took place in Moscow from 1st March to 3rd March.
Representatives of the educational and administrative staff of EFL schools based in Moscow ( BKC-IH, Linguist, Lingva.ru, Globus) and other Russian cities (Krasnoyarsk, Vologda, Chelyabinsk, Petrozavodsk, Ulyanovsk, Kemerovo, Togliatty, Ryazan, Rostov-na-Donu, Saint-Petersburg) participated in the occasion. The schools' senior educational and administrative staff conducted various seminars on school management, studying English abroad, teacher training, working with corporate clients, teaching kids and teenagers, as well as discussing different questions concerning the standards of the quality of teaching, curriculum and educational support for students and teaching staff.
The participants of the conference mentioned the importance of the annual meetings with their colleagues from various parts of Russia, emphasising the fact, that every conference gives a new impetus to their schools' further development and improvement.

12.02.2007 The Fourth Interregional ATEEL Conference will be held in Moscow March 1-3 2007. The active and potential members of the Association will take part in the Conference. The programme will include seminars and round-table discusssions on different methodology and administrative questions.

07.02.2007 A number of teacher training seminars took place in Esta Interlingua school, Ukhta. The seminars were conducted by experiences teacher and teacher trainer Irina Grekova. Irina has a vast experience in teaching English as a Foreign Language, she graduated from the Moscow State Pedagogical University, has Cambridge CELTA and Cambridge DELTA qualifications, and in 2004 was approved by Cambridge ESOL as a teacher trainer for Cambridge CELTA courses. In Ukhta she presented seminars on Lexical Approach, Task-Based Learning and Teaching Mixed Ability Classes. The Association received a very positive feedback on the quality of the seminars: «All the teachers of Interlingua school, as well as the school administration, would like to express their gratitude to Irina Grekova for her professionalism!» Irina Grekova also thanked the school for very high standards in organizing the visit.

30.01.2007 The ATEEL Refresher Course in TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) for ATEEL English language teachers will be held from May 28th to June 8th in Moscow. The course is designed for qualified English language teachers who are willing to improve their TEFL skills. The deadline for applications is April 27th. Read more

22.01.2007 We are delighted to announce the results of our competition for ATEEL teachers. More than thirty English language teachers from Chelyabinsk, Ulyanovsk, Syktyvkar, Petrozavodsk, Leninsk-Kuznetsky, Krasnoyarsk, Kemerovo, and Belovo participated in the contest. Here are the winners:

• The first prize is awarded to Irina Makarova, Volga-Dnepr, Ulyanovsk. She will take a two-week ATEEL Refresher Course in TEFL free of charge in Moscow, June 2007.
• The second prize provided by Macmillan and ABBYY goes to Natalia Adonina, Volga-Dnepr, Ulyanovsk.
• The third prize provided by Macmillan goes to Svetlana Yashutina, Benedict School, Belovo.

Congratulations!
We would like to thank all the schools for helping us to organize and hold the competition.
We would also like to thank our sponsors for providing prizes.

18.12.2006 We are happy to announce the results of the ATEEL Student competition! Students from Ukhta, Krasnoyarsk, Vologda, Belovo, and Moscow participated. The winners are:

• The first prize of a Lingvo Multilingual Electronic Dictionary given by competition sponsor ABBYY is awarded to Oksana Melnik, O'key School of English, Krasnoyarsk.
• Second prizes of ABBY Lingvo “Six Languages” Dictionaries go to Olga Tokareva, Lingua.ru, Moscow; Elena Labutina, LINGVO LAND, Vologda; Elena Yakovleva, LINGVO LAND, Vologda.
• Third prizes of ABBYY Lingvo English-Russian Dictionaries are awarded to Anna Musharina, LINGVO LAND, Vologda; Galina Efimchuk, BKC-IH, Moscow; Daria Burtseva, O'key School of English, Krasnoyarsk; Maxim Shadrin, LINGVO LAND, Vologda.

Congratulations!
The winners can receive their prizes in January from their school administration.
The organizers would like to thank the competition sponsors ABBYY for providing prizes.

20.11.2006 ATEEL is announcing a competition for ATEEL teachers for the title “The Best ATEEL teacher in the 2006-2007 academic year”.
The competition is open for entry from November 20th through to December 21st.
There are three stages of the competition:

• Stage 1 (Language Awareness): from November 20th to November 30th.
• Stage 2 (EFL Language): from November 30th to December 11th.
• Stage (ELT Methodology): from December 11th to December 21st.

The first prize of a ‘free of charge two-week ATEEL Refresher Course in TEFL’ will be awarded to the teacher who gets the best total of points after the three stages. The Course will be held by Teacher Training Center BKC-IH Moscow in Moscow, June 2007.
Second and third prizes will be provided by Association members – Macmillan and ABBY.
The results will be announced on our site on January 20th.

30.06.2006 From June 5th-20th the first ATEEL Refresher Course in TEFL took place in Moscow. Teachers from several ATEEL schools in Moscow and other cities of Russia participated in the course. The two-week intensive course was run by Irina Grekova and Joanna Graham (Cambridge CELTA trainers since 2004).

All the candidates passed the course successfully and pointed that though most of them had considerable teaching experience they still gained a lot from the course.

Marina, "Perfection" Language Centre, Rostov-na-Donu:

"I have a teaching degree, but the ATEEL course in TEFL greatly impressed me; I have never been taught like that. The teaching practice was very important and useful for me. I can feel how my teaching style has changed and I've started feeling more comfortable and confident in the classroom.

I found the course quite hard as most of the theory was new for me. I will recommend that all my colleagues take this course - there are not many places where you can get such knowledge.

Ekaterina, O'Key school, Krasnoyarsk.

I have been teaching English as a foreign language for 4 years and have worked with adults as well as young learners. I have always considered myself a competent teacher, but I feel that I have changed and there are areas for improvement. During the first TP lessons you teach the way you have always done, but you begin to feel that there are other ways and methods of teaching and this is great! I watched the other trainees on the course and saw that they changed as well, though it seemed strange at the beginning that we, as experienced teachers, could change over the course of two weeks.

I also appreciated the fact that I was observed by very experienced teacher trainers and was told what I was doing right, and which were the areas for improvement - that was exactly what I needed. In my school in Krasnoyarsk, I work as an ADOS and I think that from now on I will change my working style with the teachers - I have always demanded something from them, but probably didn't praise them enough. I think, that I will praise them more from now on.

Photos from the course

18.05.2006 A new school joined ATEEL - Benedict School, Kemerovo. The inspection was conducted by Irina Grekova (qualifications: Cambridge CELTA, Cambridge DELTA, CELTA Trainer since 2004), who spoke highly about the teaching standards and teacher support system in the school. Welcome!

27.03.2006 Warm welcome at minus 30 degrees

I hadn't expected to be treated like a visiting celebrity when I started my first teaching job in Russia, but that's just what happened when I took part in an ATEEL teaching exchange project between BKC & LingvoLand Language Studio, Vologda, about 450km north east of Moscow.

A long, and not entirely restful, train journey saw us arrive at Vologda station at the dark and horribly early hour of 6 am, to be met by Marina, Director of the school and the two brave students, Elena and Masha, who would host Richard, Sue and myself for the weekend.

After a few welcome hours of sleep, we were taken through the charming town to the school where we were warmly greeted by the Russian staff. A few finishing touches to the lessons and we were wheeled into action. My upper intermediate group of adults were enthusiastic and it was great that their regular Russian teacher joined in with all the activities-the hour and a half passed only too quickly as I tried to impress with my CELTA communicative approach using such stalwarts as Yarooh and a personality test (Recipes for Tired Teachers!!).

Richard, Sue and I were spoiled during the break with lots of edible treats which set us up nicely for the second session.

A group of 14 unfamiliar, pre-intermediate teenagers is always a daunting prospect but I couldn't have had a nicer bunch of students-remarkably polite and friendly-who joined in, with great gusto, all the activities. I couldn't even get cross with the 15 year old boy who, during an extremely competitive running dictation, I caught using his mobile phone to photograph the text!

The teaching part of our visit was great fun and all the students clearly appreciated having native English speakers for a change.

In the evening, along with several students, we were royally entertained at Elena's with great Russian food, vodka and wine.

Sunday dawned with temperatures of minus 30 and our hosts swaddled us less than hardy Brits in about 10 layers of clothing before taking us to visit the local monastery. Whilst we sweltered in our woollen cocoons our eyelashes and all other exposed bits froze solid (and we have the pictures to prove it!) reminiscent of 'Scott of the Antarctic' -we're going to dine out on this for quite some time!

Vologda is famous for producing the best butter in Russia (I've bought nothing but since my visit!), lace making and carved wooden boxes. An afternoon visit, following delicious home-made Borsch at Elena's, took us to the Kremlin and its museum where we caught up on these local crafts and regional history.

Coffee and cakes at the local organic cafe rounded off the weekend before taking the overnight train back to the more mundane pleasures of Moscow.

15.01.2006 From March 3 to March 4 the Third Annual Conference of ATEEL will take place in Moscow. Representatives of the ATEEL schools from Moscow, Petrozavodsk, Vologda, Ukhta, Ekaterinburg, Krasnoyarsk, as well as potential ATEEL members from Ulyanovsk, Kemerovo, Ryazan, Omsk will participate in the conference. The schools' senior educational and administrative staff will hold various seminars on school management and teaching foreign languages, as well as discussing different questions concerning TEFL in Eastern Europe. For further information and participation please send an e-mail to info@ateel.org

10.10.2005 From October 7 to October 9 BKC-IH Moscow teachers Veronique Poulain (France) and Emma Stewart (Great Britain) visited Lingvoland school in Vologda, where they conducted several lessons for the school's students as well as a conversation class for the Russian teachers of English at Lingvoland school. The school organized a very interesting sightseeing programme including visits to the most popular tourist attractions of the city.

This visit is not the first one – the programm of cultural exchange started working in 2004 when two BKC IH Moscow teachers – Thomas Sealy and Daryl Coetzer – visited Vologda.

20.03.2006 A new language centre, Volga Dnepr School in Ulyanovsk, has joined ATEEL. The inspection was conducted by David Connolly, who spoke highly of the professionalism of the teachers and the high quality of language teaching. We are happy to welcome Volga-Dnepr school among our members!

17.03.2006 The 3rd Conference of ATEEL (the Association for the Teaching of English and European Languages) took place in Moscow from March 3rd to March 5th.

Representatives of the educational and administrative staff of EFL schools based in Moscow ( BKC-IH, Linguist, Lingva.ru, Globus) and other Russian cities (Krasnoyarsk, Vologda, Chelyabinsk, Petrozavodsk, Ulyanovsk, Kemerovo, Togliatty, Ryazan, Rostov-na-Donu, Saint-Petersburg) participated in the occasion.

The schools' senior educational and administrative staff conducted various seminars on school management, studying English abroad, teacher training, working with corporate clients, teaching kids and teenagers, as well as discussing different questions concerning the standards of the quality of teaching, curriculum and educational support for students and teaching staff.

The participants of the conference mentioned the importance of the annual meetings with their colleagues from various parts of Russia, emphasising the fact, that every conference gives a new impetus to their schools' further development and improvement.

06.09.2005 In May 2005 BKC-IH Moscow school, one of the members of ATEEL network, was accredited as an IELTS Testing Centre. The school was inspected by Cambridge ESOL, British Council, and IDP Australia. Until then there was only one IELTS Testing Centre in Moscow – the British Council.

01.09.2005 A new version of this website has been introduced! Welcome to visit our website!

25.03.2005 A new Language Centre, Petrozavodsk in Karelia region, has joined ATEEL. The inspection was conducted by BKC-IH Moscow DOS Wayne Rimmer, who spoke highly of the professionalism of the teachers and the high quality of language teaching. We are happy to welcome "Alternativa" Language Centre among our members!

05.03.2005 The 2nd Conference of ATEEL (the Association for the Teaching of English and European Languages took place in Moscow from February 24th to February 26th during the Educational Fair "Foreign Languages Plus".

Representatives of the ATEEL schools based in Moscow ( BKC-IH, Linguist , Lingva.ru , BKC Globus) and other Russian cities ( Uhta, Krasnoyarsk, Vologda, Yekaterinburg ) as well as potential ATEEL members invited from other language centers ( Perm, Ulyanovsk, Petrozavodsk, Kaluga, Sarov, Nizhniy Novgorod) participated in the Conference.

The schools' senior educational and administrative staff conducted various seminars on school management, studying English abroad, teacher training, working with corporate clients, teaching kids and teenagers, as well as discussing different questions concerning the standards of the quality of teaching, curriculum and educational support for students and teaching staff.

The members and potential members of the Association gave very positive feedback to the Association, acknowledging the necessity of a regular exchange of experiences between schools of foreign languages and confirmed their interest in joining ATEEL in the near future.

"All the sessions were very interesting and useful. Experience exchange and raising teaching standards are important issues for our schools, and such meetings help us improve our work and avoid many problems in teaching and management" - sais Vera Nesterova, head of "Alternativa" education centre from Petrozavodsk.

"Thank you for the opportunity to participate in the conference. All the information that we received during the conference was very valuable, and we hope for the further cooperation." Victoria Lapshina, Volga-Dnepr education centre, Ulyanovsk.

The president of the Association, Robin Mackenzi, handed out the ATEEL Certificates of the inspected schools.

Photos from the conference

19.01.2005 From February 24 to February 26 an annual conference of ATEEL will take place in Moscow during the Educational Fair "Foreign Languages Plus". Representatives of the ATEEL schools from Moscow and other Russian cities will participate in the conference, as well as teachers invited from other language centres. The schools' senior educational and administrative staff will hold various seminars on school management and teaching foreign languages, as well as discussing different questions concerning TEFL in Eastern Europe. For further information and participation please send an e-mail to info@ateel.org

20.12.2004 An annual inspection of the ATEEL school in Vologda took place from 11th December to 12th December. The inspection was combined with a teacher training seminar for the school's teachers. The high level of teaching foreign languages and the quality of the services provided was confirmed by the ATEEL representative.

27.11.2004 A number of seminars conducted by BKC-IH Moscow Teacher Trainer Joanna Graham (TEFL, Cambridge DELTA, IHC YL trainer, Cambridge CELTA trainer) took place in EstaInterlingua school in Ukhta.
The school gave very positive feedback to the Association, acknowledging the necessity of regular exchange of experience between the schools of foreign languages.
Joanna provided us with the answers to all our questions and suggested a lot of interesting ideas, which we are going to use in the future…We hope for the further cooperation.” (Janna Chebotareva, Principal of EstaInterlingua).
During the same visit an annual inspection of the School took place.
The inspection confirmed the high level of the teachers’ professionalism and quality of the services provided.

09.02.2004 February 4-6 The first interregional conference of the schools-members of ATEEL took place.

20.01.04 Two new schools joined the Association: O’key School of English (Krasnoyarsk) and EstaInterLingua (Ukhta). Welcome!

18.04.2003 Winners of the competition "Learn with us in England" have been announced!
They are: Kugeleva Elina – the first prize, Shurdova Yulia – the second prize and Vostrikova Tatyana the third prize. Congratulations!

14.04.2003 Two new schools entered ATEEL: International Language Center from Yekaterinburg and English Club from Chelyabinsk. Welcome!!!!

07.04.2003 After counting the results we've finally got the 10 best participants for the competition "Study with us in England". The results are here…

31.03.2003 ATEEL offers you to take part in an inquiry and get a discount at "Lingua.ru"

14.01.2003 ATEEL and the magazine “Formula of Career” are announcing the competition for our readers.
Two winners will be studying for two weeks at the best schools of England and the third winner will get a multimedia program "English Discoveries".

22.10.2002 in gymnasium №1508 there will be held a conference of educational organizations for children and teenagers. Representatives of the ATEEL are invited to participate.

21.10.2002 in editorial office of the magazine "Career" there will be a roundtable discussion "Language as a means of career advancement. Problems of teaching foreign languages in Russia". The official representative of ATEEL - Michael Bondarev - is invited to participate.

20.09.2002 - as a part of the international exhibition "Foreign Languages Plus" the first press-conference devoted to the creation of the ATEEL will take place. ATEEL is the first international organization of language schools in the CIS and Eastern Europe. You can apply on the phone: (095) 967-67-00 or by e-mail: smorodina@cooperate.ru