Special courses

more than just the language

Special courses are at the heart of what we strive to offer students at RLC: not just authoritative language teaching, but also access to a fascinating range of specialist areas of study.

Special courses are open to existing RLC students and newcomers. Scroll down to find out more about a particular course or look at our calendar to see what’s coming up over the next few months.

Courses for beginners

Free online Open Day

Free online Open Day

Date 23 Jun 2024Venue online

Chat to a teacher, try out a beginners' taster class or upper intermediate conversation class, have your level assessed, and find out about exams. Registration opens in April.

Russian shorts

A wonderful way to experience contemporary culture and authentic language – and to get the satisfaction of watching something complete from beginning to end!

There are no upcoming events at this time

Russian through film

Discuss classics of Russian and Soviet film and television

Conversation practice

Language extra

There are no upcoming events at this time

TRKI prep sessions

TRKI mock exams

Self-study mini-modules

TRKI self-study modules

All the short courses that I have recently taken part in have been outstanding. I especially enjoyed Phonetics with Irina and also today’s conversation class.

I really enjoyed the handwriting course . It was well thought out and worked perfectly using Zoom and What’s App . I especially liked seeing and trying to decipher examples of Russian handwriting.

The session with Maria was really good – a nice pace, mixture of activities and at the right level for our expertise. I would definitely love to join another session with Maria.

it was very useful and teacher provided individual feedback which was much appreciated

Maria’s teaching style is clear, enthusiastic, and very encouraging, and of course fun!

I really enjoyed the film that I studied with Tatiana …Tatiana explained the vocabulary/dialogue in the film really well. The exercises that were prepared to accompany the film were useful, enjoyable and tested comprehension well.

The course was brilliant. It was exactly at the right level and Maria was super encouraging

I enjoy the Conversation Club and it provides me with a very useful opportunity to practice my Russian on topics I may be unfamiliar with.

I have enjoyed immensely!! Maria is brilliant, very funny and really made learning fun!! There was no pressure and it was done at a very good pace for you to learn. I am glad I took part!!

It was brilliant! I really enjoyed both sessions…. I feel I learned a lot.

I thought the course was great, and I hope more of them can be organised!

I liked the opportunity for role-playing (reading the script) as well as watching and discussing the film. The language level seemed right for me.

I’ve had good fun, thank you! Especially the fact that it was gamified made it light and enjoyable. Maria is great and a great fit for these classes.

I really enjoyed the Conversation Club on Sunday. The format with the materials sent in advance is very useful and it is great to have interesting content.

The conversation club is really excellent. Actually I was quite scared the first time, as just talking Russian is a bit daunting. But it is a really friendly environment.

I really enjoyed working with other students at a similar level – and got a sense that we were working together and had common goals and objectives.

I really enjoyed the phonetics course and learned a lot. According to native speakers I know, my pronunciation improved significantly.

The highlight for me was the survival skills style games Maria led during the lesson…

Tatiana was a friendly and welcoming teacher so ideal in this setting where we had not met before.

In the Conversation Club, I never feel stupid when I can’t find the right way to express myself, which is 100% my biggest worry when I try to speak Russian.

The course has stimulated me to work on this more. The audio preparations, and the personal feedback from Maria were really constructive and valuable I found.

it was really helpful to expand my vocabulary in a different and slightly more complex direction, without grammar being the main driving force of the lesson.

She was very helpful and encouraging, I’d definitely recommend it to others. I particularly liked examining the historical letters and documents.

absolutely excellent, i am writing away pretty confidently now

Also, I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the Conversation Club on Sunday – although it was challenging, it felt very supportive and fun and Larissa was really encouraging and lovely.

I really enjoyed this session. Tatiana was really well prepared with loads of interesting exercises. I found it quite hard work, which is not a criticism!

I very much enjoyed the course, Maria is an excellent teacher, and provides excellent feedback. I think that the course is especially useful as Russian pronunciation is so dependent on stress, consonant quality etc.

it was wonderful for me to experience such a marvellous example of Russian/Soviet film-making, the way it conveyed subtle and sensitive emotions and the play of human relationships in such a short space of time

I found the session challenging. But I enjoyed the novel (to me) approach of using the short film as a basis for grammatical study.

I thoroughly enjoyed ‘Russian through film’. It was extremely well organised and I feel I got a great deal from it.

I really enjoy the Sunday Conversation Clubs. The atmosphere is relaxed and unpressured. The breakout rooms work like a charm.

The course was very interesting and lively, Victoria obviously knows her subject well. I enjoyed it very much.

The short film course I did with Tatiana was excellent. The film was entertaining and all the activities we did around it were useful.