I was very impressed with this school

After a disastrous experience at the Proba School during summer 2018, I am very pleased to report on my time at Educa in St Petersburg during summer of 2019. I spent two weeks there, having the regular group course - four students and the teacher Nina - in the morning, and an additional session - four students and the teacher Liona - in the afternoon. I am a high school teacher of 30 years, as well as doing teacher training for 16 years at UBC, and so I bring an experienced and critical eye to this review. First, in my view, my teachers were very pragmatic about the occasional use of English words or phrases to facilitate challenging moments during lessons There are some schools and teachers who adopt a militant attitude toward this, forbidding outright the use of any English words during lessons, believing that students should use existing vocabulary to give meaning. This is a cute philosophy, but until students reach the B1/B2 level, it is often demoralizing and counterproductive. Second, in small group settings, the personalities and styles of teachers are very important, and I have very positive impressions of both of my teachers in that regard. They were enthusiastic, good-humoured, and passionate about their work. They knew when to interrupt and correct, and when to sit back and let students work on producing speech. Third, the administrative side of this business operates efficiently and competently. Weekly schedules for all students and classes are generated and visible, and payments and correspondence proceeded without any issues. Overall, I was very impressed with this school and my two teachers and I will certainly considering attending Educa again next summer.