About us

Culture- and education center MIR (MIR means “world” in Russian) is the WORLD of children and adults who are proud to say

“We are Learning Russian!”

The main activity of Center MIR is early language development of Russian-speaking and bilingual children aged 1-15 years.

In the WORLD of kids (1-3 years) and in the WORLD of pre-schoolers (4-6 years) Russian is taught while playing, using the immersion method. In a classroom children learn letters, listen to stories and participate in them themselves, draw and crafts, sing songs and dance, play mobile and board games, and all this in Russian.

In the WORLD of school children (7 years and older) children receive the true “Bukvar” (the first book in a Russian school, ABC-book). But despite the fact that children already would like to appear older, they with great pleasure continue studying Russian in a fun, playful way.

In Center MIR has not forgotten and adults - for you, we offer a variety of courses of Russian as a foreign language.

Regardless of the age, of our main approach is active communication, which allows both children and adults "live" each new lesson and not just learn new letters, words and expressions.

Classes are taught exclusively by Russian speakers, experts in early childhood development and work with bilingual children.

For more information about the classes in each age group you can learn in the "WORLD of kids" and the "WORLD of adults".

Our team

Yevgeniya D'Ottaviano

Professional artistic gymnast, qualified coach and choreographer, experienced in teaching children in Switzerland. Teacher of rhythmic and choreography.

Choreography classes not only support physical development of children but also enrich them spiritually. I am happy to give children the joy of movement, help them to listen and hear the music, to develop a sense of rhythm and the ability to manage their own movements. Sincere smiles of my young dancers, their hard work and new achievements is the best reward for my effort.

Nadja Hasler

Professional and experienced day care teacher and music teacher for pre-schoolers.

Children should live in a world of beauty, play, fairy tale, music, drawing, fantasy and creativity. Give the children every day all you know and can yourself.

Tuyana Khoroshevskaya

Director, responsible for organizational matters and core directions of center’s activity.

As a professional linguist and specialist in intercultural communication, I not only understand all the many-sidedness and complexity of bilingual children education, but also sincerely admire her. Bilinguals use different areas of the brain to perceive and recognize two languages, they are incredibly adaptive, and they can easily analyze subject matter. However, the bilingualism must be constantly “cultivated”, to become the unconditional advantage. Our center is famous for design and implement the newest methods for the education of bilingual children. Our team of unique teachers creates an individual developmental environment for each child, using the best practices. You can see the difference between "before" and "after" from the very first lessons. We provide bilingual children with continuous growth, helping to express and develop their cognitive and human abilities. In the future, our pupils find the best ways to achieve happiness and full self-realization in modern society.

Yevgeniya Hofmann

Professional music instructor, daycare teacher

From the very start of their fascinating lives, our children's future depends upon our investment into them.

It is very important to provide children with an atmosphere of fairy tale wonder, creativity and play, yet simultaneously instill responsibility, integrity, and independence.

If we give children the best we have within us, they will share with us their greatest successes, let us be part of their most honest and pure emotions, and simply inspire the best of moods!

Marina Kortmann

Teacher of the Russian language, preschool pedagogy and psychology, speech therapist.

The transfer of the native language of parents to children is a natural process, but in a foreign environment, its implementation acquires certain peculiarities and difficulties. Your child's bilingualism should not be viewed as a choice or a decision, on the contrary, it should be natural. I believe that by nature the child is endowed with activity and curiosity, he is able to self-development, including learning. It is important to maintain this need. And our primary task is to create the conditions necessary for its self-development, individuality, and internal capabilities. A warm and friendly atmosphere in the group helps to reveal the potential of children, develop their independence and confidence, and therefore motivate the natural curiosity of the child to the world of knowledge and mastery of the mother tongue. Learning a second language, native to the father or mother, the child learns its culture, thereby gaining a better understanding of himself: his behavior, attitude, mentality, character.

Aksana Nikitsenko

Primary school teacher with professional experience in Belarus. She teaches Russian language and Mathematics.

Most important when working with children is to preserve her individual, special way of seeing, thinking and feeling.

Natalia Sigrist

Founder of the Center MIR.

My children have inspired me to found the child center in the city of Schaffhausen. They grow in the bilingual environment and I would like both languages to become their native tongues. The most important task for us is to spark the children’s interest in the language, so that they would not lose it with time. This is the main goal of our center. If a child shows an interest in learning the second language we should give her this opportunity. The classes should help not only to deepen the language knowledge, but also to improve memory, mathematical skills and logic which allow children to grasp the abstract sciences better.

Katsiaryna Vertal

Primary school teacher and educational psychologist.

Jobs

The main secret of success of Center MIR is its young, friendly and rapidly growing team. We are pleased to welcome to our ranks talented, extraordinary, bright, energetic professionals who truly love children and love what they do. If you would like to join us, please send your resume by e-mail info@mir-sh.ch.

We are looking for native Russian-speaking, qualified music, math and science teachers.

Press corner

Articles about the activities of Culture and Education Center MIR in periodicals and online media.

26th August 2015

Article in the regional newspaper "Schaffhauser Nachrichten" [DE]

PDF, 111.67Kb

7th July 2015

Article in the regional newspaper "Schaffhauser Bock" [de]

p. 1-2

Less

Contact us

The classes are held in the building of Rudolf Steiter Schule Schaffhausenwhich is situated five minutes away from the railway station Schaffhausen by foot, at the following address:

Vordersteig 20 (Schule)
Vordersteig 34 (Spielgruppe)
CH-8200 Schaffhausen

You can reach us by foot (from Schaffhausen trainstation):

You can reach the school from the trainstation without crossing a street if you take the underpass "Landhaus-Bahnunterführung" and take the stairs on the left side of the firm "Unilever".

Then cross the garage forecourt and take the next stairs to reach "Beckengässchen". Follow this lane in the direction South and in about 100 m take the stair on the righ hand side to reach the territory of the school. Alternatively, you can reach "Vordersteig" through the roundabout "Obertor-Kreisel" taking the stairs next to the Georg Fischer memorial.

By car:

There are limited number of parking spaces on there territory of the school. They can be used only to bring and pick up children. Please follow the sign "Breite" to reach the school area. From the street "Steistrasse" turn to "Vodersteig". In appx. 100m turn left to the parking lot of the school.

Correspondence Address

MIR - Russische Sprache & Kultur Schaffhausen
Vordersteig 20/34
CH-8200 Schaffhausen

Telephone

+41 77 502 05 84

E-mail

info@mir-sh.ch

We are in Facebook

Trial lesson sign-up