Qualifications and Experience

Hello.

I am Alfiya Yakupova. I am a professional qualified and experienced tutor in individual and group Russian teaching. I have been teaching Russian for over 15 years. I have been in Edinburgh for almost 4 years and have been a tutor in Russian, freelance interpreter and translator for all this time.

I graduated from Irkutsk State Linguistic University in Russia in 1996 with MA degree in linguistics with specialization in translations and in teaching Russian, English and German. My master's thesis was presented in order to obtain the professional qualifications in Teaching and Translating.

In 1999 I studied at the Open Society Institute-Samara where I attended Soros Intensive Teacher Training Course for University Instructors in Samara Russia.

In 2000 I finished the course in 'Improvement of Professional Skills on Teaching Methodology of Foreign Languages' at Kazan State University in Russia.

In 2005 I attended the Conversational Spanish course in Spanish Centre of Education and Culture at Kazan State University.

Back to Russia I worked as a Lecturer in English at Kazan State Teaching University and at Kazan State University as a Lecturer in Russian and English. I participated as a tutor in English in the Presidential Programme of Russia by giving lectures on Business English for top managers, directors of companies and firms and businessmen to take part in international business as Russia opened up to worldwide and free trade. 10 of my former students went onto internships in Greece, Italy, Denmark, Germany and Japan after finishing this programme.

I am the author of four scientific publications in the field of linguistic relations in Russian, English and Tatar.

While living in the UK I have worked as a freelance tutor and translator for Scottish&Newcastle, Scottish Parliament, NHS and Rudolf Steiner School. I am really proud of the fact that among my students are people of different ages, knowledge of Russian and purposes of learning it and who are professionals in different fields for example in language and science teaching, sales and marketing, medical research, social work, to name just a few.