Marta,hi, nice to know someone else from Scotland has found Max and Julia’s site. It really is amazing how much work they have out in to create all the podcasts, videos and what not, I don’t know how he does it. I only found the site a few months ago and I have to say my Russian is very poor, but I am making progress and really enjoying the material here. Just listening to authentic language is incredibly valuable. Anyway, I hope you are enjoying it as much as I am. How long have you been learning Russian for? Do you use it in your work or what? Hope you move goes well, John.

Max, I’m just about to take out a lifetime membership and wanted to say thanks to you and Julia for the fantastic materials you have produced. I am a German teacher at a school here in Scotland and, having wanted to learn Russian, searched long and hard before I came upon your wonderful website. You take exactly the right approach using Krashan’s comprehensible input theory and I would advise others trying to teach Russian, and other languages, to follow your example. I am very much a beginner, of course, so I have a long, long way to go before I can understand much, but learning is fun and for someone who has never been to the country, it is truly fascinating to get a glimpse of real life in Russia. Just to finish off, I have a very good friend, a retired languages teacher, who, you may be interested to know, was one of a few teachers selected to take part in an accelerated Russian language course taught by ex army linguists who had been trained during the Second World War. He became very proficient in Russian but he only taught it for a few years before Russian fell out of favour. Now, you can no longer study the language in Scottish schools, a sad fact, and a reflection of our government’s dilettante approach to language learning. Anyway, he also loves your work and like me wants to encourage you to keep doing what you are doing. All the best, John.