First innovative smart school English First opens in Kazan

The new innovative school English First, the 35th in Russia and first in Tatarstan, on Thursday opened its doors on Bauman Street in Kazan. The new stage in a large-scale educational programme English for Republic of Tatarstan will allow people learn the foreign language with most innovative methods.
President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov and education minister Albert Gilmutdinov attended the opening.
English First is the world’s largest private school, numbering 400 branches in 60 countries. The company has helped learn the foreign language and receive a degree to over 15 million people worldwide.
Cooperation between Tatarstan government and English First began last year, when a large retraining programme for 3 thousand English language teachers and Universiade volunteers was launched. Another area of cooperation is teaching the language to officials.
The school in Kazan is designed for people above 18. Academic manager Madina Fidarova said training was held according to an innovative system (remotely, in mini groups, at workshops and LifeClub lessons). The combination of several types allows students in 1 year to go up 4 levels, from Beginner to Upper Intermediate.
First lessons for English language teachers were on Thursday held in the Kazan school. The school admits up to 70 people simultaneously. The cost of training is 4-5 thousand roubles a month. All classrooms are equipped with advanced multimedia devices and interactive boards.
“Good afternoon,” President of Tatartsan R. Minnikhanov welcomed all those present.
“Today is a pleasant day for us, we are opening a new school,” the governor said.
“Many things happen in life, mentality changes, as well as the tasks we face, things we never thought would be become relevant. It all began from the moment when Kazan applied for hosting World Universiade. We saw then how incompliant with the international requirements we were. One of them is knowledge of an international language.”
R. Minnikhanov went on to say that policemen, restaurant staff and drivers in the run-up to Universiade needed to learn English.
“We all need to learn English. It is simply necessary,” he stressed.
“I thank our partners for setting sights on Tatarstan and hope the republic will be a platform for developing the EF School in other regions,” R. Minnikhanov said.
EF general director Eduard Baldakov said English for Tatarstan was a unique project.
“No Russian region has this level of English training,” he said. “It testifies again to Tatarstan’s leading positions.”