Inna Hart
Founder of the School · Philologist · Educator with more than 30 years of experience teaching English and Russian in both the former Soviet Union and the United States
Director of the Russian School "Olimp," Potomac, Maryland, 2007–2014
Letter from Director
"Like many parents who are native Russian speakers, I have always been concerned with the challenge of preserving a child's native language when that child is born and raised in the United States. To say that preserving one's native language is difficult would be an understatement. Children forget their family's language with remarkable ease as soon as they enter an English-speaking preschool — and that's a completely natural outcome, since the surrounding environment shapes that choice. So how do we preserve and develop a family's language? I won't pretend it's easy: it's a long and demanding process that requires enormous support from parents, a structured approach to instruction, well-designed curricula that are both accessible and engaging, talented teachers, a supportive social atmosphere, a mindset geared toward success, and much more.
Our school provides children ages 3 to 16 with a quality education. Our programs are up to date and are based on methods developed and tested by our own teachers, as well as: for preschool age, the teaching materials of the Lomonosov School; for elementary school, the curricula for children of compatriots abroad (grades 1–4), developed by leading Russian authors on commission from the "Russkiy Mir" Foundation. For middle and high school age, we use adapted textbooks designed for schools in Russia. Because these programs were developed with the teaching of Russian as a foreign language in mind, they have proven highly effective in our setting.
We also offer a program covering the world around us, history, and preparation for the National Examinations in World Languages (NEWL). Kazakh language courses are available for both children and adults.
A great deal of attention is devoted to activities that build creative skills — such as mathematical logic, theater (both drama and puppetry), filmmaking, robotics, music, chess, drawing, and building with Lego Robotics, as well as Scratch and Python."
Sincerely,
Inna Hart
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