mentoring

In small groups or individually

Participants:

1 person (in a group of up to 4)

Duration:

6 weeks

contact the mentor

Price

Individually - 477$
In a small group - 325$

We cover the following:

- creating language courses for your students
- working with materials and resources
- recycling.

For whom

Foreign language teachers.
By the end of the course you'll be able to:
- create courses to suit your learners' individual needs
- find and adapt materials
- facilitate revision.

How it works

- We determine your main goals and discuss your students' profiles.
- We devote 2 weeks to working on each of the topics, hence 3 more meetings.
- We have a concluding meeting to discuss what you have achieved and explore other professional development opportunities.

We use Zoom, Padlet and Google Docs/Forms.

Case of the month

In a small group - 325$

Mentoring in a mini-group.

contact the mentor

Individually - 477$

at your convenience

contact the mentor

Reviews from mentees

I decided to join Varvara's course because I was always inspired by the way she talked about her lessons in her blog.

I've been teaching for 9 years now and I've also graduated from a pedagogical university, still I felt that I had a lack of skills. Mainly in the area of planning classes and finding the right materials. My second big issue was imposter syndrome that didn't allow me to feel confident in my work.

What results did I get from the course?

1. Now I know how to prepare content for classes within 10-15 minutes.

2. My classes now are more personalized. I choose the topics for classes based on my students' needs and interests.

3. Students have more autonomy on my classes. They do most of the work - not me)

4. The most important result - I almost said goodbye to my imposter syndrome. I finally started working with groups and raised the price for my individual classes

I can recommend Varvara as a coach to all English teachers who want their classes to be more fun and productive at the same time, to all teachers who doubt themselves from time to time. I believe the course can be valuable for both teachers with experience and teachers who are just beginning their journey.

Aleksandra Batura

I've been teaching English for 7 years and at some point I realized that I'm a little stuck. Burnout, the imposter syndrome and a feeling that I'm doing something wrong have been following me throughout this journey.

A couple of months ago I came across Varvara's blog and it was truly life changing (and I mean it). After listening to a series of podcasts and reading some of her articles I realized I needed a kind of a training course that would get me back on track and Voilà! Varvara announces her mentoring project. Well, that was exactly what I needed.

So what have I achieved after completing the course?

1) First of all, I feel much more confident. My imposter syndrome is gone and now I'm 100% sure that I am a great teacher.

2) I can deal with any kind of needs my students have and base the framework on what they want to improve.

3) Using authentic materials doesn't scare me anymore. Searching and adapting materials turned out to be a fun thing to do, which doesn't take a lot of time.

During the course you get Varvara's attitude to the lesson preparation — they are not supposed to be time consuming. Plus, you perceive language teaching from an absolutely different point of view which actually makes you want to explore the methodology more. And, of course, you incorporate all the knowledge you get into your lessons, simply because there is no other option - that's how the course is built.

I would recommend Varvara's course for those who feel they are a bit stuck, who want to accept themselves as teachers and get rid of the imposter syndrome (zoom calls with the psychologists are something!!!), and also for those who are a bit sick and tired of a traditional way of teaching so to say, and want to try something different and more effective.

Elza Gizatullina

For the last year I have read a lot of ELT books, watched a lot of ELT videos, participated in some webinars. At some point I realised I had already accumulated some theoretical knowledge but had no clue if I was applying it correctly.

Why I decided to join:

1. to find a specialist who could look at my lesson plans, needs analysis and give the feedback on them.

2. to learn to adapt materials (that was my pain in the neck:).

3. to understand whether I need to have a one-year course plan (if we are talking about 1-2-1 or ESP classes)

4. to learn about lexis revision (how often and how)

5. to learn how to apply a task-based framework

What I have achieved and learnt due to the course:

1. how to carry out a needs analysis and personalise the classes

2. how to arrange lexis revision, adapt materials

3. how to apply a TBL framework (my student has already chosen the task - make a podcast)

Due to Varvara's immersion into my case, this top-notch course even exceeded my expectations! Now I have a few areas for my improvement.

I would recommend the course to anyone who wants to feel more confident about their classes and knowledge; who wants to know something new about themselves and their personality; who has no clue about their professional development.

It was a great time! Thanks a lot)

Olga Tareyeva

When Varvara announced her mentoring programme I didn't think twice. Being sort of a newbie to modern methodology, I grabbed the opportunity to work under Varvara's guidance as I find her ideology as a teacher really appealing to me.

Before the programme, I spent hours looking for "perfect" materials for my classes. I struggled with coming up with the ways for recycling and revision, especially for students who need to revise often. Tailoring a course to my students' needs felt like a real chore as I wasn't sure I was doing it right. Self-doubt was also a huge problem for me.

Having designed three courses as part of the programme, I now feel more confident and less stressed about it. Preparation time for the classes has reduced as I now know how to adapt materials to serve my purpose and in general how to get the most out of the resources and materials. Recycling has also become much less of a problem - Varvara has equipped us with several approaches to make it effective, varied and fun.

The cherry on the cake are two sessions with a psychologist. They are the gem of Varvara's programme and came as a real eye-opener to me.

I would 100% recommend Varvara as a mentor if you're:

- feeling overwhelmed by lesson preparation and workload

- haunted by the feeling that you're a bad teacher

- looking for fresh ideas and new perspective

- in need of a mentor with solid expertise to help you grow professionally

I personally would strongly recommend opting for group mentorship as 1) it offers a valuable opportunity to learn vicariously from other mentees' experience and work on the programme and 2) our zoom calls were so much fun - brainstorming, putting our heads together and all)

Lyudmila Misochenko

mentoring

In small groups or individually

Individually - 477$ In a small group - 325$

Individually - 477$
In a small group - 325$