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How can teachers who don't speak Russian teach '0' level students to speak English?
This question is more easily understood if we consider the way in which babies are taught to speak. Babies are not born speaking the language native to their parents. Regardless, children eventually learn to speak. This is so because, with the help of parents who constantly repeat a given piece of language and who 'act out' its meaning, the child eventually acquires understanding and competence in using the 'new language'. Similarly, parents, without thinking about it, become masters at learning how to place language into context. Intuitively, they understand that words do not exist in vacuums. The adult language learner has an advantage over the child, however. Being mature, she or he is aware that the goal of the teacher's 'acting' is to demonstrate the language that the student is to learn. Likewise, the student is already capable of imitating sounds and speaking which the child must spend months, if not years, attempting to do. Thus, by the end of a TEFL Certification Programme, the EFL teacher has not only used those techniques described above, but has refined his or her ability to effectively use them, creating a confident, effective and well trained Teacher of English as a Foreign Language.

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What is TEFL Methodology?
TEFL methodology represents, not one, but a number of different techniques and strategies used to enhance a student's ability to learn English. It is a dynamic process involving both the teacher and the students, either as a class or individually. Language Link students learn English because they take an active part in this process. As such, our students don't just sit at desks, they interact with their teacher and other students through the use of role play, pair or group work, music, drama, conversation and other types of communication games and activities. Because TEFL methodology involves so many different techniques, a teacher MUST be taught them. It is for this reason that all Language Link teachers possess either a TESOL or CELTA qualification.

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What are the advantages of having a native English teacher?
Regardless of the language being taught, there can be no denying that the best teachers are usually those who both understand the intricacies of that language and are capable of competent performance in its use. Given these requirements, it can come as no surprise that the best teachers are usually those who speak that language as their mother tongue. With regard to English consider the following: native teachers have been speaking English ever since their earliest age. They have acquired the ability to properly pronounce words, phrases and sentences using the proper accent, stress and intonation to convey correct meaning to those words uttered. As important, they have learned appropriacy, which is culturally determined. Native teachers know how and when to use the various formal and informal forms of English, called 'register', in different situations so as to say and accomplish the same thing. In other words, native teachers have 'acquired' the inherent ability to use just the right word or grammatical structure in just the right situation. Likewise, native English teachers are born into the culture represented by the language being taught. As such, they bring to class a special ambience which is best described as portraying 'living language'. And this quality, above all others, is the property and domain of the native teacher.