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Latimer Tuition

One-to-one Russian tuition

Find a Russian tutor for your next step

Start with Cyrillic, develop conversation, strengthen the Russian you speak at home, or prepare for an exam. Choose online lessons around what you can already do and what you want to learn.

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  • One-to-one tuition
  • Pay as you go
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Russian lessons need not follow a school course. Tell us whether your priority is speaking, reading and writing, or a named qualification, so the tutor search starts with the right goal.

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Russian tuition enquiry

Tell us what you know, skip anything you’re unsure about, and add a short description if you skip both subject and level.

  1. Tutoring brief
  2. Contact details

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Tutoring brief

What level is the tuition for?

Choose a level

Choose a suggestion or type your own answer. You can skip this if you’re unsure.

This form works best for one learner at one level and up to six subjects. If your circumstances are more complicated, email us at Contact@LatimerTuition.com so you can explain everything properly.

How one-to-one tuition can help

  • Connect Cyrillic letters with their sounds and build readable, useful sentences.
  • Work on the gap between understanding Russian and speaking or writing it independently.
  • Practise the grammar, texts and assessed tasks required by your particular course.

Available tutors

Compare Russian tutors

Look for experience with your starting point: learning a new alphabet, developing home-language literacy, conversation or a named exam. Use the introductory meeting to discuss how the tutor would approach that goal.

Portrait of Stacy Jarvis

Stacy Jarvis

Music and Russian Specialist

Manchester, United Kingdom

£35.00 per hourDBS checkediAccepting enquiries
MusicMusic PerformanceMusic TheoryPiano+2 more
  • She currently teaches Music at a primary school and provides private Violin lessons to a diverse range of students, including children with SEN.
  • Holds a Masters degree in Musicology from the University of Manchester.
  • Currently studying for her Doctorate of Music at the University of Birmingham, focusing on the conceptualisation of artistic ideas in nocturnes.
  • Holds a Bachelors degree in Violin Performance from the Royal Northern College of Music.
  • Has extensive experience teaching violin and piano to students of all ages, from Year 1 primary students to adult learners.

Stacy Jarvis is a music educator and violinist who teaches Music, Violin, Piano and Music Theory from KS2 to A-Level, with experience supporting children with SEN and adult learners.

Send a quick enquiry from here and the Latimer Tuition team will pass it on to Stacy.

View Stacy’s profile
Portrait of Leon Eric Avrutin

Leon Eric Avrutin

English, MFL and Geography Specialist

York, United Kingdom

£25.00 per hourDBS checkediAccepting enquiries
11+ (general)English as a foreign LanguageEnglish LanguageEnglish Literature+8 more
  • Holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Law.
  • Leon also holds a Bachelors degree in Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures from the University of Padua, Italy.
  • Holds experience teaching students One-2-One, in small groups, online, and in person.
  • Leon isn't a formally qualified teacher, but does have experience working within the classroom, with individual pupils struggling with their courses.

Leon supports learners in English, languages and humanities from KS2 to A-Level, drawing on his modern languages background and experience of one-to-one, group, online and in-person teaching.

Send a quick enquiry from here and the Latimer Tuition team will pass it on to Leon.

View Leon’s profile
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Start with the Russian you already know

Speaking, listening, reading and writing can need different amounts of attention. A learner who chats easily with relatives may want help with spelling or formal writing; a beginner needs a manageable way into both the sounds and the script. Choose a starting point from the examples below, then narrow it to something you want to do independently.

Complete beginner
Combine a few Cyrillic letters with useful spoken language. An early goal could be recognising those letters without English prompts and using a short exchange with its meaning understood.
Russian spoken at home
Bring a short piece of writing as well as explaining what you understand and say at home. Reading, spelling and grammatical explanations may need separate work even when everyday conversation feels natural.
Adult conversation or family communication
Name the situation you want to handle: joining a family conversation, describing your day or asking follow-up questions. Practise listening and responding, then work on the words or endings that interrupted the exchange.
School or exam study
Share the course name, awarding body, exam year and recent work. A lesson supporting classroom learning has a different starting point from preparing for a particular speaking task or an assessed essay.

Give Cyrillic letters their Russian sounds

Some Cyrillic letters look familiar but represent different sounds. For example, Р/р represents a trilled r, В/в is approximately v as in “vet”, and Н/н is approximately n as in “net”. English sound comparisons are only a starting aid; listen to a Russian model as well. Cornell University’s alphabet guide sets out these distinctions.

Try this small reading exercise: look at Р В Н. Reading them with English letter values would lead you towards p, b and h. The Russian sound values here are r, v, n. Point to each letter while hearing the model, then read the sequence again.

For a follow-up, cover the guide and try Н В Р: the target sound order is n, v, r. These are letter sequences, not words. Being able to change the order without falling back on English values gives you a specific next step to practise before adding more letters.

Understand why книга becomes книгу

Knowing a word does not always tell you which form belongs in a sentence. Russian noun endings help show the word’s job. Here is a constructed beginner example using книга (kniga, “book”) and Я читаю (ya chitayu, “I am reading”). The Latin-letter versions are approximate reading aids:

  • Starting attempt: Я читаю книга (ya chitayu kniga), intended to mean “I am reading a book”.
  • Correction: Я читаю книгу (ya chitayu knigu), “I am reading a book”.

The book is what is being read: it is the direct object. For this noun, the singular ending changes from -а (-a) to -у (-u), giving книгу (knigu). This is an example of the accusative case, the form used for a direct object. It is not an instruction to add -у to every Russian noun. Cornell’s accusative guide explains the ending and its function.

To check understanding, cover the corrected sentence and write “I am reading a book” again. Then identify who is reading and what is being read. The aim is to explain the ending as well as reproduce it; a tutor can use the answer to decide whether to practise the same pattern or introduce a different one.

GCSE and A-level Russian need different preparation

For learners taking Pearson Edexcel qualifications, GCSE Russian 1RU0 and A-level Russian 9RU0 have different assessment demands. Use the exact specification for your course; the examples here concern these qualifications and do not describe every Russian course taken in the UK.

Pearson Edexcel GCSE Russian
Listening, speaking, reading and writing each contribute 25%. Foundation and Higher tiers are available. Speaking preparation includes a role-play, a picture-based task and conversation. A useful practice task is to answer the actual prompt, add a relevant detail and check whether the required time frame is clear, rather than recite an unrelated memorised paragraph.
Pearson Edexcel A-level Russian
Students study two prescribed literary texts, or one text and one prescribed film, alongside listening, reading, translation and speaking that includes independent research. For a set-work essay, practise moving from describing an event to making a point about a character or theme, supporting it with a precise detail and explaining why that detail matters.
Choosing exam support
For GCSE, share the tier and the tasks that caused difficulty in recent work. For A-level, name the works you are studying and your research topic, if chosen. Look for teaching experience with those demands and agree how feedback will use the relevant assessment criteria.

Next step

Choose a tutor who can explain your next difficulty

Look beyond a broad description of language fluency. The useful question is how the tutor would teach the part of Russian you find difficult. Latimer offers a free introductory meeting to discuss goals, teaching approach and arrangements before paid lessons; it is normally a conversation rather than a full teaching lesson.

  • For a beginner

    Ask how the tutor introduces script alongside speech, models pronunciation and checks that you understand a phrase instead of only repeating it. Discuss how much English explanation you need at first.

  • For a home speaker

    Explain which situations already feel comfortable and where reading or writing becomes difficult. Look for an approach that uses existing spoken knowledge while teaching the missing skills explicitly.

  • For advanced study

    Bring an essay question, reading list or language task from your course. Establish whether you need help with Russian accuracy, close reading or the structure of an argument, and discuss the tutor’s experience with that kind of work.

Turn a first lesson into something you can practise

A useful first lesson should leave you with a clear task and a way to recognise improvement. The sequence below is a suggested approach to agree with your tutor, rather than a fixed Latimer programme.

  1. Show the starting point

    Bring recent written work, a text you found difficult or a description of a conversation you could not follow. A beginner can start with a few letters and a short spoken exchange; a home speaker may need reading and writing checked separately.

  2. Work on one identifiable difficulty

    Locate the problem before repeating the whole task. Did you mistake a Cyrillic letter, miss a word in speech, choose the wrong ending or answer a different question? Use a short model, an explanation and another attempt focused on that difficulty.

  3. Keep practice manageable

    For the alphabet exercise above, read the letters in a changed order. For the grammar example, reconstruct the sentence and explain the book’s role. Ask the tutor to choose an equivalent task from your own work and agree how much practice fits between lessons.

  4. Compare independent attempts

    Keep an early attempt and revisit a similar task later without the model. Look for the particular change you wanted: fewer letter confusions, a correctly explained ending or a more relevant answer. Use that evidence to choose the next lesson priority.

Arrange online Russian lessons around speaking and writing

Latimer’s service is online-first and one-to-one. Microsoft Teams is the default lesson platform, with another platform possible by agreement with the tutor. Before the first lesson, check that you can hear speech clearly and show written work. A notebook held to the camera or a shared document may suit different tasks; agree the method with your tutor.

If typing Russian is part of your goal, discuss a Cyrillic keyboard layout and a way to keep corrections alongside your original text. If handwriting matters for your course, bring handwritten work too. Tell the tutor about useful adaptations, such as a larger text display, a slower audio replay or written instructions alongside speech.

In-person lessons require an individual arrangement with the tutor. Share your location when enquiring if that is essential.

Next step

Tell us what you want to do in Russian

Include your starting point, the skill or course you want help with, and the times you can make. For an exam, add the qualification, board and exam year. A tutor-matching request is free.

Request a Russian tutor match

Support and clarity

Frequently asked questions

Straight answers to the questions people ask most often.

How much do Russian lessons cost?

Tutors set their own rates, and Latimer tuition is pay-as-you-go. Check the tutor’s profile for the displayed price, then confirm the lesson length and any materials you would need to buy. Compare the cost of a lesson schedule you can sustain, including the practice time available between sessions.

Do I need a native Russian speaker as my tutor?

A native-speaker label alone is not enough to choose a tutor. Ask about experience with learners at your starting point, how pronunciation is modelled and how grammar is explained. For an exam or university course, relevant assessment experience also matters. If you want extensive conversation in Russian, say so and discuss how much of each lesson will be in Russian.

How often should I have Russian lessons?

Choose a schedule around your goal, deadline, budget and realistic practice time. A weekly lesson with brief practice between sessions is one possible starting arrangement, not a fixed requirement. Agree a review point with the tutor and adjust using what you can now do independently. There is no promised number of lessons for fluency or an exam grade.

Can a child learn Russian without taking an exam?

Yes. Family conversation, understanding stories or beginning to read can be goals in their own right. Explain the child’s age and experience with Russian, and discuss the tutor’s experience teaching that age group. Choose a small, age-appropriate activity and check that the pace and instructions suit the child before planning a longer programme.

Can I focus on speaking if I struggle with reading Russian?

Speaking can be the main goal. Tell the tutor which conversations matter to you and how comfortable you are with Cyrillic. Translations and romanisation, which writes Russian using Latin letters, can help you use early examples. Agree how reading will be introduced so those aids support your progress and you can begin recognising the Russian words themselves.

Further information

Useful links and resources

Related tutor pages

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