Hi, my name is Maryna and I am 35 years old. I was born in the Eastern Part of Ukraine. Ukraine is a pure bilingual country so am I. Thus, I am a Russian and Ukrainian native speaker. I was born in a big city called Donetsk. The city is really huge and extremely breath-taking. Donetsk could boast its modern architecture, it is crowded and simultaneously calm and relaxed. It is full of life day and night: music, lights, street noise, car horns. In Ukraine, Donetsk is known as a city of roses due to the amount of the flowers in parks, gardens, and alleys. There was a huge event in 2012 – Euro 2012 (a European championship in football.)

Unfortunately, in 2014 a war happened in my country, which is still going on, and I had to move to the centre of Ukraine, to Cherkasy city where I currently live. I had to leave my family there and move on my own. So my sister, my father, my little nephew, and new-born niece are still in Donetsk in war zone. Having living in Cherkasy I have met my husband. We don’t have any kids for now but we have wonderful cats Maine Coons: Bender and Jasmine. Contrary to Donetsk, Cherkasy is very small but infrastructure is really good.

Ukraine is one of the biggest countries in Europe. Russian and Ukrainian cultures and completely the same. Many foreigners coming to Ukraine love it here because of nature, hospitality, and … food. Ukrainian and Russian cuisine is variable (meat, fish, fruit, vegetables, etc.), delicious and mouth-watering. If you come here, you should try our traditional food, such as borshch, vareneekee, different salads. As for me, I don’t have my favourite food, all the dishes are really great. Ukraine is an old country, so here is a lot to see:

· The Carpathians and Bukhovel for those who love hiking in mountains and skiing/snowboarding in winter time  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8Uz49zaDd4

· Kyiv, Lviv, Dnipro, Odessa for those who love city breaks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADfWxJpf7TE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbm83eFLBFI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luqRI6nXUrI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWCwhFtZ8DI

· Lviv, Pink Lakes, Odessa, Khortitsa, Kyiv are places for those who love history and beach rests

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgS7FDqA2nQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfVOegHN18w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48FNiRO8Zqk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXR-34Ao-PU

In my free time I love reading books about psychology and psychosomatics, walking, singing, travelling and exploring new countries and cultures, cooking, doing yoga, fishing, learning new languages, and … teaching, of course. Yes, yes, I love my job so much that take it like hobby. I have been teaching for 10 years. I teach two languages: I teach English local people and Russian as a foreign language in LanguageConvo. In my classes, I always try to improve and develop, I look for different ideas, create new worksheets and communicative activities. Russian is not a language which is possible to learn without grammar rules.

Why? Because Russian is an inflectional language. It means that we don’t have a word ordering: a verb can be at the beginning, middle, or end of a sentence. Wrong endings can confuse a listener and even lose sense. When we learn languages, the best option is to surround yourself with the target language like music, films, books, thinking, games, youtube bloggers who talk about culture and traditions. In my opinion, people who study Russian can be really proud of themselves because it is a great and interesting challenge. Whatever language we study, it helps to reshape our brain, broaden horizons and outlook, prevent many brain deceases, and increase self-esteem.

I look forward to seeing you in my classes and with greatest pleasure I will share my knowledge with you!


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