Zelenograd Report

BKC IH Zelenograd is a well-established school founded in 1994. Currently we have around 400 students at levels ranging from beginner to advanced, and ages from 6 to 68. The majority of our students are teenagers and young adults, although the number of YL groups is growing all the time. We have had in-house business groups in the past, and another is planned for early 2002. We currently have 7 full time English teachers, a part-time German teacher, plus an ADOS. The facilities available for teachers and students are excellent. We have 3 different locations in the town (which has a population of about 200,000). In two locations there is a self-access centre for students, offering Internet access free of charge as well as use of the English Discoveries program. This is very useful for students who miss lessons through illness or generally want to "top-up" their skills. A comparative syllabus has been prepared so that every student is directed to the correct part of the program depending on where they are currently in the course book. There is also an extensive library, featuring books in the original and graded language, and English language videos.

Although we work closely with central school, we are big enough and far away enough to have a certain degree of independence. This is reflected in our choice of course books (which differs from the central school), and our teacher development programme, which features two seminars a month as a supplement to the monthly central seminar programme. Our future aims are to build on the growing market of Young Learners, and also to introduce TOEFL, and develop further the use of interactive computer programs like "Discoveries" in tandem with our regular classes.

Martin Ogilvy, ADOS Zelenograd